True or False Foreman is the physically strongest heavyweight champion

I would say yes he was. The pics of him lifting Stear calfs onto his shoulders..pulling jeeps and man handling tree stumps he had chopped with his axe are very very impressive.

 

Said before by you and as yet still unproven.

Show us some clips of Ali "manhandling" George and I'll buy it but until I see it (and I've watched the Rumble in the Jungle a whole lot of times) I'm calling BS on that claim.

Ali pulled (illegally) Foreman's head down from behind the neck with regularity but aside from that he showed no superior physical strength whatsoever. George bulled him to the ropes and shoved him off in the clinch whenever he felt like it. It's just that Ali boxed his ears off from the ropes and wore GF down until he gassed out.

Great boxing display from Ali but nothing to show he could physically match Foreman for strength imv.

 

Anyway Holyfield has said he was clearly physically the strongest man he fought. He's stated he's the only guy he couldn't budge in a clinch and seeing as he fought an old George not prime and fought physical beasts like Lewis, Bowe, Rahman, Tyson, Valuev etc etc that counts for a lot.

 

Carnera was probably the strongest man to have success at boxing. He just wasn't coordinated enough to be a powerful puncher.

 

I randomly clicked to the 4th round and in the first 15 seconds watched Ali walk George off the ropes, turn him, and guide him back into the ropes. I continued to watch him stifle George's attack by grabbing his head and controlling his stance and turning him. At 1:37 I continued to watch as George mounted an attack on the ropes which again Ali stifles with a glove behind the head and behind Geo's left, and walks George off the ropes... Then I got bored as my point was patently proven to be correct.

 

He did so through using superior leverage, not superior strength.

 

If Bruno was such a cake walk how come Foreman never fought him in his comeback........

 

Call it what you will. It's functional strength... and Ali doesn't really get the credit he deserves for it. I'm not saying that George wasn't a beast. Firsthand descriptions of his punching power, not in degree but in the quality of the power, are unique, to say the least. Guys describe the ring tilting from his jab, gravity changing...

But, heck, if you just want the superior strength as somehow quantified, you might want to look at Hasim Rahman and his legendary 500 pound bench press.

 

Holyfield was funny .. he said no one pushed George back .. you went around him .. Chuvalo said no one ever tossed hi around but Foreman .. I'd say he was as strong as any major heavyweight I can think of not on PEDs .. imagine him on them like a Lewis or a Bruno ?

 

Well now, you're talking 2 different animals here...young Foreman and old Foreman. The young Foreman would have destroyed Bruno...the old Foreman would have struggled with him (but still would have won)...

 

Impossible to say.

 

Only he didn't. He didn't outmuscle him in the least, he out leveraged him. Those are worlds apart when it comes to a strength comparison one v one.

 

They are different my friend. So when you say Ali manhandles foreman, that is disingenuous. Holding somebody's head down is a leverage thing. Minimizing blows because of the pressure you're putting on your foes shoulders and arms as they are trying to punch, doesn't mean you outmuscled him. He was trying to take Ali's head off, and Ali was trying to avoid it by doing everything in his power to minimize the blows. That doesn't mean he manhandles him. Lastly, George allowing Ali to move him a bit, means nothing. People move around all the time in clinches and "allow" themselves to be moved as to not waste energy trying to stop it (this isn't Greco Roman wrestling), and a circular movement is natural and occurs all the time in the ring. If George was actively trying to resist Ali and push back against Ali, Ali would have gone back, plain and simple. Him allowing Ali to move him some as he punching or getting ready to punch, doesn't mean he's stronger. Just my view.

 

These "strength" threads crack me up. There are a number of guys who might have been as strong as Foreman. How would we know?

 

He used his weight the best and squared up and leaned the best.