Originally scheduled for June 19 before being postponed because of a foot injury suffered by Walker, the championship finally went ahead before a massive crowd in a benefit event for the Italian Hospital Fund that reportedly generated a gate of approximately $375,000.
Walker attacked Greb’s body from the opening bell, ripping left hooks to the ribs and under the heart. The younger challenger won the opening round and continued punishing Greb’s midsection through the early stages, forcing the champion’s corner to deal with leg cramps between rounds. Contemporary reports described the second round as one of the finest ever witnessed because of the breathtaking pace and constant exchanges.
Greb gradually adjusted after the opening rounds. Beginning in the fourth, he increased his movement, fired punches from every angle, and began overwhelming Walker with superior volume. Even while absorbing heavy shots, Greb famously jogged back to his corner between rounds to demonstrate that he still had plenty left in the tank.
Both fighters paid a heavy price. Greb reportedly spat out several teeth during the fight, while Walker fought through a bloodied nose. Neither man gave ground, answering every hard shot with punches of their own.
The decisive moment arrived in the 14th round. Greb unleashed a furious attack and landed a sweeping right hand that badly hurt Walker. The challenger later admitted the punch left him feeling “like a man walking in a dream” as Greb poured on punches with Walker trapped near the ropes. Walker survived the assault and finished strongly to take the 15th round, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Greb’s lead.
When referee Eddie Purdy raised Greb’s hand after the unanimous decision, the battered champion had successfully defended his world middleweight title in one of the defining victories of his career.
The rivalry did not end there. According to boxing folklore and Walker’s own later recollections, the two champions encountered each other in a New York nightclub later that evening. An argument escalated into another fistfight before police intervened, creating one of the sport’s most enduring legends.
Greb lost the middleweight championship to Tiger Flowers the following year before tragically dying in 1926 following complications from surgery. Walker captured the middleweight title later that same year, adding another world championship to a Hall of Fame career.
No known film of the contest survives, leaving newspaper reports from 1925 as the only detailed record of one of boxing’s most memorable championship fights.
