Harry Greb
Harry Greb was an American professional boxer who fought from 1913 to 1926, and held the American light heavyweight title from 1922 to 1923 and the world middleweight champion from 1923 to 1926. Nicknamed "the Pittsburgh Windmill", Greb fought 299 times during a 13-year career, taking on any opponent that would fight him, and defeated many of the top rated fighters of his era from welterweight all the way up to heavyweight, and is considered one of the greatest boxers of all time.
Greb was known for his aggressive fighting style and strong chin, and despite his relentless fighting leading him to eventually lose sight in one of his eyes later in his career, he continued to fight on. He holds the record for fighting the most boxing hall of fame opponents, defeating 16 out of 17 of them. Greb is also notable for being one of the only champions of his generation to regularly accept fights against the top rated black fighters of his era. He is ranked by BoxRec as the fourth greatest boxer of all time, pound for pound, as of May 2025 and was also named the fifth best pound-for-pound boxer of all time by Sports Illustrated in 2012.
Fighting style
Greb had a highly aggressive swarming style of fighting, aided by quick movement and notable toughness. He also used dirty fighting tactics, including spinning his opponent and using the heel and laces of his gloves. Greb suffered several injuries in his career, including blindness in one eye. Greb suffered only 2 TKO losses in his career. The first was in his seventh fight when he was knocked out by Joe Chip, who heavily outweighed him; the second happened two years later when Greb broke the radius of his left arm against Kid Graves. Greb finished the round but was unable to continue the fight.Professional career
Harry Greb was born as Edward Henry Greb to a German immigrant father and mother of German descent, Pius and Annie Greb, who raised him in a working-class household. Greb began his professional boxing career in 1913, fighting mostly around his hometown of Pittsburgh. By 1915, he was fighting world-class opposition, notably Hall of Famer Tommy Gibbons and reigning middleweight champion George Chip, whom he faced twice during 1915–1916 in non-title fights. Greb would lose both fights by "newspaper" decision, which he would later avenge.Greb would fight 37 times in 1917, winning 34 of those fights either officially or unofficially. Among his defeated opponents that year were the reigning light heavyweight champion Battling Levinsky, former light heavyweight champion Jack Dillon, middleweight George Chip and heavyweight Willie Meehan, who had beaten future heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey earlier in the year.
Despite all these results, Greb was still denied a chance to fight for a title. A February 1918 newspaper draw against Mike O'Dowd, who would go on to win the middleweight title during the year, and a newspaper loss to Billy Miske did not help in his effort. Greb would win his next 52 fights in a row. During that stretch, he beat future light heavyweight champion Mike McTigue, heavyweight contenders Billy Miske, Mike Gibbons, Bill Brennan, Jeff Smith, and Leo Houck 3 times each, and Battling Levinsky no less than four times during that stretch in newspaper decisions. Levinsky was the reigning light heavyweight champion at the time.
Vision problems
In 1921, during a fight with light heavyweight Kid Norfolk, he was thumbed in the right eye, which is believed to have resulted in a retinal tear. The injury would eventually lead to permanent blindness. Greb won via a ten-round newspaper decision and was eligible to fight for the middleweight title. It is commonly believed that Greb completely lost sight in the eye after his fifth bout with Bob Roper, after which it took almost two months to recover. He was seen in a hospital with patches over both eyes. He kept the injury a secret from all but his wife and closest friends, fooling physicians during pre-fight physicals by memorizing the order of the letters on the eye chart.Greb vs. Tunney
On May 23, 1922, Harry Greb was matched with Gene Tunney, the undefeated American light heavyweight champion. In the first round, Greb immediately fractured Tunney's nose in two places and then proceeded to open a deep gash over his left eye. According to eye-witness reports, Greb was subsequently forced to intermittently commission the referee to wipe off his bloodstained gloves with a towel. Throughout the bout, Greb would repeatedly petition the referee to stop the fight while a determined Tunney concurrently implored him to allow the contest to continue. Round after round, the beating continued, with Tunney refusing to submit and smiling during the bloodshed to keep the referee from halting the match. At the end of fifteen rounds Greb was crowned champion unanimously. This was the first and only professional loss in Tunney's career, with the bout being hailed as the Fight of the Year for 1922 by the Ring Magazine.After defending his title against Tommy Loughran, Greb granted Tunney a rematch. In a hotly disputed battle at Madison Square Garden in February 1923, Tunney regained his title by a highly controversial split decision. Multiple eyewitness reports state that Greb controlled the fight and battered Tunney, cutting and rocking him from punches on more than one occasion. But Tunney could fight back, unlike in the first encounter, and at some points, was competitive with Greb. The crowd booed heavily when Tunney was announced as the winner.
Greb and Tunney would meet three more times, with Tunney successfully defending his regained title in another fifteen-round about and then fighting to a no-decision newspaper draw, wherein most newspapers reported Greb the winner. Referee Matt Hinkel stated he would have ruled a draw, so the record books have it that way. The fifth battle was reminiscent of the first fight in their series, except this time, it was Tunney bludgeoning Greb for the duration of the bout. According to Tunney, near the end of the match, while the two fighters were locked in a clinch, Greb straightforwardly asked Tunney not to knock him out. Tunney reputedly consented to this request and later acknowledged the incident as the highest tribute he received in his career, stating, "Here was one of the greatest fighters of all time laying down his shield, admitting defeat and knowing I would not expose him." Tunney would go on to beat Jack Dempsey for the heavyweight title. Greb remained the only man ever to have beaten Tunney, and Tunney would be among the pall-bearers at Greb's funeral.