Joe Frazier competes in weight lifting contest

Like even "Big" 210-215lbs George Foreman amounts to a relatively weaker cruiser sized guy today.

 

When did Foreman ever weigh 210-215? He was 222lb as a 19 year old amateur ffs. He cut weight to around 217lb when he won the title and neve came in at under 220lbs again. More than likely without any peds. As an old man he was easily stronger than Evander Holyfield and Tommy Morrison, legit roided up athletes.

Foreman couldn’t make cruiser at any stage of his career without cutting a limb off. He was a legit heavyweight.

 

Good points!
Although saying relatively weak athletes for the time implies that the era was an aberration or it happened occasionally.
Actually only compared to the 4 decades since he retired-for the rest of Human History he was strong.
This is because weight training & scientific methods for enhancing muscle expanded dramatically-also how common & effective illegal PEDs have become.

Also considering his lack of technique & how strong he needed to be to be great, he was more than good.
I also do not recall there being a proportionate amount of testing for 60% of the muscle mass of a normal body-Frazier would do better below the waist.

 

He weighed in with combat boots with jeans on and wasn't dialled in or anything he'd make cruiser.

 

Ab-solutely!
Also part of the cutting was Saddler's crazy dehydration-he was a natural 230 lbs. or so guy.
And being very likely natural, & in his later career pulling trucks, is more impressive by far that the lesser strength the PED & science guys achieved.

That is a very good point!

 

If you trained to man handle guys you'll roll the ones who don't flat on there back. Dempsey would look a lot stronger then Foreman in the clinches and up on the chest. In a no holds barred he'd slam Foreman or Norton etc through the pavement.

 

Naturally 230lbs? Did you see him as a weightlifting old man at 230lbs chubby?

 

My (Journey)Man, you gotta be more precise with your figures!
Lesser posters than you are often called out as fudging the numbers-you likely do not mean to, but you could not dispute that Foreman was never 210-215 in his career.
He was ~ 220 with cutting & dehydration. More or less, what he weighed & what Saddler did is not in dispute.
I recall someone else saying he was 230 as an amateur, & yes he was in the 220's at 19 years old, & lean.

What he weighed as an "old man" does not speak to this.
However, you also have his comeback weight incorrect.
His lightest was 235 against Qawi-& it is well known he said he felt weaker then, & this source even describes him as "thin" then-an overstatement, but an excellent discussion of why he stayed heavy, generally (not counting coming down from 325 at the start of his run) stayed ~ 256-263.

So his whole adult life he easily could make 230 without being overweight-without draining-I recall him at 232 in one 1970's fight, on't know if he ever came in heavier then-& never at all overweight.
[url]https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/george-foremans-weight-for-the-dwight-qawi-fight.171689/[/url]

Also he likely lost muscle from draining for this fight.
So with it back, he would look leaner at that 235, not 230.

 

Man, Frazier's technique is so horrible...

It shows how little strength really matters in boxing. Even now most HW boxers aren't really strong relative to other athletes.

 

Foreman was flabby at 235lbs as a weight lifter in the juice circus era. As an old man he started hitting the iron. At 240+ he looked doughy. Old yes but irrelevant he was late 30s early 40s not 60. As a 220lbs odd fighter in his prime weighing in clothed an booted up he wasn't dialed in at all he was 15-20% bf he had room to lose. Against Lyle he looked flabby. He'd be a cruiser and Rocky would be 220lbs today...

 

I think AJ would do well in a modern day version of this superstar event.
They should make it, get him and guys like Ronaldo, Lebron and Usain Bolt to participate.

 

Joe Frazier was old school in his training. Yank Durham didn't implement weight or even like it for his boxers. Joe went along with that.
Joe was plenty strong, especially his legs.

 

He also can't fully extend one of his arms.

 

Joe Frazier definitely has the strength to lift 160 lbs, but he is completely lacking in technique.
If that athlete (pole vault) explained the technique to him for 5 minutes, Joe Frazier would lift 160 lbs every time.

 

Someone wrote once that Terry Norris could bench 350 at his 154 fighting weight much more than a Joe Frazier ever could. And Iḿ thinking so what? Do we think Terry Norris could beat Frazier in the ring? Its apples and oranges there are a lot of very athletic people in many areas that would leave elite level fighters in the dust but it doesnt matter in the ring. Michael Jordan was another species in athleticism next to Mike Tyson, but heś not beating Mike up. Great fighters need conditioning and training that applies to FIGHTING, what you see in most workout gyms has zilch to do with fighting. Why arent these Worlds Strongest man competitors getting in the ring? Because theyd be destroyed.