He's not exactly the best, but Jem Smith was pre-steroids (indeed, pre-basic-nutrition-or-sanitation), but looked like a tank. 5'8.5" and up to 212 at that height. Some of the pictures of him look like a much more recent fighter. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jem_Smith#/media/File:Jem-Smith-c1885.png He wasn't huge compared to later guys, but considering the options available for training, food, and public health at the time, he was a very muscular man.
I would say Wladimir Klitschko, he has always had great physique, and today he is in great physical shape...
IMO, in reasonable terms, they don't get better conditioned or better built than this pair. Carson, Ali and Norton. Doesn't get anymore 70s than that. A true Golden Age for boxing. Carson side kick Ed McMahon wasn't a small fella himself. Go to 17:50 for the weigh in. This content is protected
Flipping the premise for a moment, how about the least impressive physiques.? I don't mean the obvious, like overweight Butterbean types or the like. Easiest to make the point which an actual example. IMO, Gene Tunney. Certainly, demonstrably well conditioned, strong, athletic etc. but nothing too startling about his build. Compare his flexing his back muscles on the old newsreel to Jack Dempsey doing same. Well, there is no comparison. In appearances, in all respects, Dempsey appeared exactly as one might think a fighter should look. The epitome. Besides his obvious fighting abilities, I think his overall appearance to some extent lent this huge fan base, including those accrued years after his actual career.
Realistically no way did Ken Norton have a better physique than Steve Cunningham, Timothy Bradley or Mike Weaver but Norton did come from a more popular era and stood out more so he will get more mentions.
Back in the early 90's a British Middleweight.....can't for the life of me remember his name but he was domestic level....came into a shop I was working in at the time & kept insisting that I felt his chest & abs, absolutely rock hard they were. Right character he was. This thread just reminded me of it.
Johnny Nelson and Carl Thompson were two other Brits who deserve a mention in the best physiques department: This content is protected
The 80s/90s American heavyweight Mike Williams is worth a mention. He looked like a character from a Rocky film - which is probably why he ended up in a Rocky film.
When commentating on Shavers v Roy Williams, Ken Norton noted that Shavers did weight work and how it lent to faster fatiguing of arm muscles. Now Norton had said on other occasions that he didn’t do weights himself. I believe that in so far he didn’t do weights in any significant way. The younger Norton was just genetically well muscled and cut. He didn’t have that tell tale, extra muscle mass. However, post career, Norton also said that he wished he had got into weights sooner. Don’t know if he was implying that he meant he began weights later in his career or post retirement. Norton did appear to upsize a bit in muscle mass in later fights without gaining fat. He was 205 lb for the first Ali fight but later comfortably carried 220 lbs, even 224 lbs, when he fought Shavers.
Dude was a unit. I wonder what vocations or training pursuits he had otherwise that might’ve lent to his build which doesn’t appear simply due to genetics.
