JO Sports, Inc.
HISTORY: Edward Henry Greb (June 6, 1894 – October 22, 1926) was an American professional boxer. Nicknamed "The Pittsburgh Windmill", he was the American light heavyweight champion from 1922 to 1923 and world middleweight champion from 1923 to 1926. He fought a recorded 298 times in his 13 year-career, which began at around 140 pounds. He fought against the best opposition the talent-rich 1910s and 20s could provide him, frequently squaring off against light heavyweights and even heavyweights. Greb had a highly aggressive, very fast, swarming style of fighting and buried his opponents under a blizzard of punches. He was elusive with very good footwork to jump in and out on opponents. He was also a master at dirty fighting and had no qualms about employing all manner of dubious tactics, such as spinning his opponent and using the heel and laces of his gloves. Greb often got as much as he gave and unbeknownst to the press continued to fight a number of matches even as he became blind in one eye, due to an injury suffered in an earlier match. The 'Pittsburgh Windmill' was also very durable, suffering only 2 TKO losses in his whole career. The first was in his seventh bout when he was knocked out by an opponent who heavily outweighed him, the second happened 3 years later when Greb broke the radius of his left arm. Greb finished the round but was unable to continue the fight. Greb's ultimate weakness may have been his lack of knockout power; although he was able to hurt and bust up many opponents due to the constant onslaught of clean punches he landed on them, he rarely stopped them. He launched a vicious beating on Gene Tunney on two separate occasions, cutting him and hurting him badly, but was unable to knock him out both times. It was the same process with many opponents. Widely considered one of the best fighters of all time, Greb was named the 7th greatest fighter of the past 80 years by the Ring Magazine, the 5th greatest fighter of all-time by historian Bert Sugar and ranked as the #1 middleweight and the #2 pound-for-pound fighter of all-time by the International Boxing Research Organization. Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Greb as the #3 ranked middleweight of all-time and #17 greatest pound-for-pound fighter ever. Offered here is an original, large format photograph of Harry Greb as light heavyweight champion which he has boldly signed and inscibed to his trainer.
FULL DESCRIPTION: This is an original, large format, promotional photo of Greb in period dress. Photographer stamp for Apeda at lower right. Bold, clear image. Corner creases. Clipped corners and edge wear, all outside the image and autograph. Tape repair on back to reinforce corner. Boldly signed in fountain pen, "To a Real Pal and "Trainer" Joe Sanders With best Wishes from Harry Greb." Not stained. 11" x 14." Exceptionally rare. Comes with full letters of authenticity from PSA/DNA with their cert # AL39811 and Beckett with their cert # AC01264.
