The Greatest Knockout Artist
of All time: Alcohol
Sadly, the Flowers fight would be Harry Greb’s last. At age thirty-two, he was about to meet the grim reaper. Evidently upset and rightfully so, he never regained full control of his life. He was in a vicious auto accident which scarred his face much more than all his fights. He opted for surgery on October 26, 1926. It didn’t go well this time and he died while undergoing anesthesia. It was such a tragic ending. He helped make boxing one of the best watched sports in the world and he was the best damned fighter in the world. His legacy speaks for itself; he beat them all, all the great ones; Gene Tunney, who was a pallbearer for Greb, Al McCoy, Gunboat Smith, George Chip, Bill Brennan, Jack Dillon, Maxie Rosenbloom, Mike Mctigue, Tiger Flowers, Joe Gans, Jeff Smith, Battling Levinsky, undefeated Tommy Gibbons, Johnny Wilson, Mickey Walker, Tommy Loughran, Jimmy Slattery, Kid Norfolk, Mike O’Dowd, Terry Kellar, Joe Borrell, Mike Gibbons, Australia’s Eddie McGoorty, Bryan Downy, Frank Mantell and scores more. Fighting bigger men wasn’t a big deal for Greb. Wow again. Greg beat some eighteen world champions in all, seven of them light heavyweights and one future heavyweight champion. Greb won over 260 fights, lost 19 and had 18 draws. Excuse me but the great Sugar Ray didn’t measure up at the higher weights.
My final positive bias is this: just how much better would Greb have been if he had two healthy eyes and had slowed down on boozing and the nightlife? As best I can guess, he kept his boozing hazards at bay with his insane fight schedule. Otherwise this super fighter might have gained the heavyweight crown. He was a bit better than Stanley Ketchel and Ketchel came close against Jack Johnson. Ketchel’s partying and womanizing got him killed in a love triangle while in his twenties.
The list of big name fighters who succumbed to booze goes on and on. I wanted to mention the heavyweight Jimmy Young because he was a friend of mine. Back in the 1970’s Jimmy came to El Paso and stayed a week with me and my son Les. He had made some good money and lost a disputed decision to heavyweight champion Cassius Clay (Muhammed Ali). He was barely over two hundred pounds but fit, slick and one of the best defensive fighters of his era. After he went back east, something went dreadfully wrong over the years. After beating George Foreman he fought Ken Norton and was clearly the winner. Disgustingly, the judges gave the fight to Norton. Jimmy went downhill fast after that lousy decision. He never could get his mind right again. He eventually suffered from dementia pugilistica and his thinking went down the drain with his affliction leading him into alcohol and drugs. Like my once rich brother Bud, a great jockey and entrepreneur with an unquenchable thirst for alcohol, a homeless Jimmy Young suffered a heart attack in January of 2005 and a few weeks later he was dead. He died in his hometown of Philadelphia , Pennsylvania .
Drink, Drink, Drink,
Ein zwei drie vier
Lift your stein and drink your beer
Ein zwei.drei vier
Lift your stein and drink your beer
Authors note: A great song by Mario Lanza but too much drink will whip anybody’s ass. Not one person in recorded history has defeated alcohol, not even the near indestructible Harry Greb.
.......(To be continued in Part II ( Jose Napoles, Reuben Olivares, Roy Jones, Tony Ayala, Wilfred Benitez, Johnny Tapia, Bobby Chacon, Ricky Hatton, Bernard Mays, etc.) Stay Tuned, Sources will be at end of Part II).
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Part II - The Greatest Knockout Artist