The Greatest Knockout Artist
of All time: Alcohol
Harry Greg didn’t brood over the difficult loss to Tunney. He was back in the ring at the Polo Grounds in New York on August 31st 1923 for a world middleweight title fight against world champion Johnny Wilson, another hall of fame boxer. Still tentative because of how his style was affected in the Tunney fight by the referee, the usually dual orthodox/unorthodox Greb fought orthodox but with some rough inside tactics to gain the upper hand and win the middleweight championship. The good times were on again and so was the partying.
Greb always needed money as his weight class didn’t get paid the bigger bucks the heavyweights enjoyed. He entered the ring a dozen more times before his rematch with Johnny Wilson. Again, Greb fought more conventional but was never in any danger and retained the title over fifteen rounds. Ten fights later, he took on a defense against Ted Moore in Yankee Stadium and though he had to lose over ten pounds close to fight time, won nearly every round to retain his title.
Next up for Greb was the highly rated toughie and skilled Tiger Flowers. A darling of the crowds as he blazed to a 70-8-3 record, he would give Greb fits for much of the
Fight at Fremont , Ohio on August 28th, 1924. Flowers was every bit the equal of Greb in the art of fighting and even in being just as orthodox or unorthodox when necessary. What he didn’t possess and what cost him a close decision was his lack of a hammering punch. Greb won the fight based on his harder punches. So who was the next big challenge for Greb?
The ever busy Greb steamed through twenty-one more fights before a huge money opportunity arose: popular welterweight champion Mickey ‘Toy Bulldog’ Walker. Walker was a southpaw with a record of 50-9-1 and had been on a big winning spree and wanted to move up in weight and eventually challenge Greb. The opportunity came on July 2nd1925 at the Polo Grounds in New York before fifty thousand paying fans. It was a fun fight for Greb as he dominated Walker for an easy unanimous decision. Regrettably, there was more fighting between the two in the next few hours. As one might guess, Greb was at a favorite club drinking champagne and beer, paying an orchestra so he could dance with the ladies and partying which was his thing after big fights. Walker was out on the town too and somehow found out where Greb was drinking. Rumors say that Greb showered him with champagne and Walker , first friendly, got upset and invited Greg outside to settle matters in the street. Greb acknowledged his wish but while taking his coat off was sucker-punched by Walker . No problem, he recovered and the two went at it with a local policeman finally breaking up the fracas. Even tired and boozed, Greb never shunned a good match with gloves or fists. Greb had been Ring Magazines first fighter of the year and reportedly got into a fist fight with Jack Dempsey when the latter edged him out one year, an event that pissed Greb off. Unfortunately, fate would soon deal Greb a tougher hand then his opponents and alcohol could to that point in his life.
Grebs only good eye, the left, had over the past few years become weak and blurred; in fact he was nearly half blind in that eye and yet he was still winning most of his big fights. Only two weeks after the Walker fight he clobbered another great champion light heavyweight champion to be, Maxie Rosenbloom. Poor Maxie had the wind taken out of him by Grebs body shots early on and was dropped in the sixth round. He staggered through to the finish with Greb winning so easily that he might have let up just enough for Rosenbloom to survive. Remember, Greb needed all the fighting rounds he could get because he seldom went to the gym. With Rosenbloom so innocuous, Greb just toyed with him.
Now, consider this most unbelievable ‘Believe it or Not ’ story’ of all time. We know Greb had a detached retina before the first Tunney fight. Eventually he went blind in the eye and couldn’t sleep at night. Later, he actually took a little time off from boxing (he averaged over 20 fights a year for near thirteen years) and with his wife, secretly went to Atlantic City for an operation to replace his eye with a glass eye. The surgeon did a marvelous job and secured the new eye with sheep muscle. Greb returned to fighting and boozing and after scores of victories as a near-blind man and having over 300 rough bouts in his miraculous career, his body tired just a smidgen; but that was enough in an era of dozens of tough middleweights and light-heavyweights.
On February 26, 1926, Greb risked his title against Tiger Flowers, who had been bested by the champion in a previous meeting. Flowers came in with a record of 110-13-5 and it was his time to shine as he cut Greb’s only eye in the third round and severely hampered the champion’s vision. Still the decision was met with disgust by the fans and by the experts. Frank Getty of the United Press said that Greb was stronger and the harder hitter and never should have been given anything less than a draw. He pointed out that Greb hurt Flowers numerous times and had him in deep trouble. Regis Welsh of the Pittsburg Post had Greb winning 8-5-2 on his scorecard. One has to accept the judge’s decision and Greb did but would surely be ready for the rematch. But to be in shape after some partying, he whipped Art Weigland to build up his speed and then took an outdoor fight against the famous Joe Gans. Fighting furiously, effectively, and courageously, even with a heavy rain drenching the fighters the last five rounds, Greb trounced Gans.. From all appearances and from the roar of the fans, Greb was in top form and ready to get his title back from Tiger Flowers.
The major fight went down at Madison Square Garden on August 18, 1926. It was a bang-up fight with Greb seemingly winning a big majority of rounds over Flowers. He was really sharp and as fast as when he was in his twenties. Even blind in one eye and half blind in the other he dominated the fight and Frank Getty wrote that Greb easily won the fight. Regis Welsh gave nine rounds to Greb, four to Flowers and two even. Astonishingly, the judges again disagreed and gave Flowers a point’s victory. Shock prevailed. Many of the experts blamed the loss on Walt Miller, Flower’s manager. Before the fight he milked the press by stating that the fight was already in the bag for Greb from what he was hearing behind the scenes and the gambling pundits. Welsh became furious as he claimed that the judges overreacted to Miller’s claim. Even Greg couldn’t believe the judging. He was wronged and damned mad about it. He flat out told anyone within shouting distance “Well, that was one fight I won if I ever won any.” Flowers had a short stint as champion as Mickey Walker stepped up to dethrone him.
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