Their meeting formed part of a benefit show for the Italian Hospital Fund. Harry Wills also fought Charley Weinert on a card that attracted tens of thousands of spectators and produced a gate estimated between $339,000 and $375,000. An injured toe had forced Walker to delay the contest from June 19, bringing ridicule from reporters who doubted that such a minor ailment required a postponement. Once he entered the ring, there was nothing timid about his performance.
The challenger attacked Greb’s body with heavy hooks and tried to turn the contest into a physical fight at close range. Greb answered with the relentless activity that earned him the nickname “The Pittsburgh Windmill,” throwing punches from awkward angles and using every legal and questionable tactic available to him.
Their second round became an early battle for control. Walker’s compact power presented a danger whenever he found room to punch, but Greb refused to let him work at a comfortable pace. He crowded the younger champion, struck during exchanges and forced him to fight through a constant stream of punches.
Making the performance even more remarkable was Greb’s severe vision loss in one eye, a condition he concealed throughout his career. Reports also claimed that he suffered leg cramps during the early rounds.
The champion’s experience and work rate began separating the fighters as the contest progressed. Walker continued landing hard blows to the body, yet Greb dictated more of the action through volume, movement, and physical strength.
Everything came down to a violent 14th round. A right hand from Greb badly dazed Walker before the champion drove him toward the ropes and unloaded. Walker later described himself as being knocked “ragtime” and moving “like a man walking in a dream.” He survived the attack, although he accused Greb of thumbing him in the eye during the round.
Fighting back fiercely in the 15th, Walker made one final effort, but it did not erase Greb’s work. Referee Eddie Purdy awarded the champion the decision after 15 punishing rounds.
Both fighters carried evidence of the battle. Walker was bloodied and battered around the eyes, while some accounts claimed Greb lost teeth during the fight. The result kept the middleweight championship in Greb’s hands and added another extraordinary performance to a career conducted at a pace almost unimaginable today.
After Tiger Flowers defeated Greb, Walker eventually captured the middleweight title in 1926. Greb died later that year at only 32 following surgery.
One more story from that night has survived for a century. Walker and Greb supposedly fought again outside a New York nightclub or restaurant, with Walker flooring Greb before police intervened. No contemporary newspaper account confirms the encounter, and people who accompanied Greb disputed it. The alleged “16th round” may be folklore. The first 15 needed no embellishment.
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