¿Who was physically stronger between George Foreman and Jack Johnson?

We'll never know. But we can say, Johnson was stronger compared to his peers than Foreman was.

 

Foreman easily.

 

I doubt any boxer was as physically overwhelming as Foreman was in his prime against his opposition. I remember clips of him just straight up sweeping people off of the ground up close with a spin or sending them flying halfway across the ring with simple framings and shoves. He was a 6'4 225 lbs legit HW going up against modern CWs and he sure as hell fought like it.

 

Ali was as strong as Foreman, maybe even stronger, which showed in the Rumble in the Jungle. Nobody was close to being as strong as Jack in his day.

 

I disagree. Ali was getting pushed back to the ropes in the early rounds and had to use his full strength just to hold onto Foreman. Even then he routinely got his grip broken by Foreman’s shoves and had to hold him by the neck again and again until he settled down. Only after Foreman gassed did Ali start muscling him around.

When I watch both Johnson seems more skilled than strong. People can stand up to him and move him in the clinch but Johnson always has the leverage and better positioning. Meanwhile Foreman literally moves people around with one arm and sends them staggering with a casual shove. He never even takes a step back. I remember a sparring footage of his where he just tugged his partner by the neck and the guy literally spun around and almost fell down. Dude was ridiculous.

 

Ali had better technique, he likely timed when Foreman was leaning in and used Foreman's weight against him

Johnson was short and had a low center of gravity

One way to look at it is Foreman would be way better suited for going into strongman competition than Ali and Johnson

 

"George was stronger but Johnson knew how to use the force better"

Now I'm imagining Jack Johnson force choking James Jeffries like he's Darth Vader.

 

I can try to find the clip on YouTube, but this guy sparred with 70's Foreman and said he was ridiculously strong. He had a crude method of framing people. If he missed you with the hook or you tried to block it, he'd simply pull you into the next punch moving your whole body with one arm.

 

Yeah it was Stan Ward I think. Interestingly he said Frazier punched him harder, but was quite confident in Foreman being the strongest guy among the bunch.

 

I think that's because Frazier always went full throttle in sparring punching sharp and viciously. Foreman tended to throw pitter patter punches and worked on timing and technique in sparring. Even in the 70's if you look at footage, he rarely threw with bad intentions against sparring partners and was quite relaxed.

 

How is this a serious question? Foreman was way stronger, and superior overall except for defense. He'd crush Johnson like a bug in the ring or any test of strength.

 

People have it correct, Foreman was outmuscled and physically matched in his prime but he likely has more “static” strength then JJ - (lifting heavy objects etc) but in the old timey ring, grappling and on the streets Jack Johnson would beat the funk out of George Foreman and appear a lot stronger… JJ knew how to wrestle and was conditioned for that sort of confrontation, GF was man handled by Ali, a moderately higher static strength ain’t relevant… or a 1 to 1 for grappling / ring strength and Ali demonstrated that the entire fight by easily locking him up and moving him around. @Seamus would know, @cross_trainer you grappled and I’ve tussled around with some comrades and the winner is the guy who does it more if he isn’t totally outsized.

 

I’m asking for the perspective of a grappler amigo… Johnson knowing how to wrestle will amplify his strength way, way higher then Foreman potentially being stronger if they were in a old timey boxing ring / street fight / grappling match it’d look boy (GF) against man (JJ) simply because JJ is not much smaller and has a way, way higher know how on grappling and genuinely did wrestle - I’m probably way stronger (lifting) then at least one Judoka black belt at my weight or near it but he’d toss me around like a grizzly bear.

 

Totally wrong. George said when he first started boxing it was so hard for him to NOT grab someone because that was his instinct. He's beat Johnson like a drum. Ali laid on the ropes and George punched himself out, he wasn't stronger than George, though he was definitely stronger than Johnson. Foreman would destroy Johnson in 2 or less. Johnson never remotely fought anyone as strong or as hard punching as George period.