Stanley Ketchel the strongest and hardest hitting middleweight ever?

He was a tough, strong man, there's no doubt about that. But of all time, I don't know.

 

How can anyone know if/when he took backwards steps without having seen the vast majority of his fights?

Besides which, reports do say he was either matched or outmuscled at close quarters at times by Papke and Frank Klaus.

 

So had Papke.

 

Jack Johnson man-handled Ketchel so I wouldn't say he had heavyweight strength.

He was a strong, durable and hard-hitting middleweight without a doubt though.

 

Hardest hitting give or take.

Strongest is harder to say.

Read up on acounts of his fights with bigger fighters and you might find the evidence to suport your asertion that he was among the strongest.

 

It's fun to contemplate what would happen between fighters from different eras. Stanley Ketchel has been said to have tremendous power and did put Jack Johnson down on the seat of his pants for a brief moment; certainly nothing to sneeze at. Could he have clobbered Robinson, Greb,Walker, Monzon, Tiger, Hagler, Hopkins, Roy Jones etc.? We can speculate what might happen. I think that down through the decades fighter's skills have improved with better training techniques, better conditioning methods. Certainly there is more knowledge of nutrition which aids today's athletes. I have my doubts that Ketchel could have defeated very many of the great middleweights that followed him because of the advancement in overall boxing skills as compared to 1910 and before. Give Stanley Ketchel those added bonuses and he very well could have been numero uno power and strength wise.

 

Both you and McGrain have posted sensible replies to this poster,dont hold your breath for a sensible rebuttal.