Since you have such great doubt, what exactly is your reason for thinking Johnson is stronger than Wladimir Klitschko? ( Keep in mind, testimonies of how strong he was from observers at the time are meaningless, given that they weren't around to compare him to Klitschko. ) For me, I have no solid evidence myself as to who had superior strength, but at least in Wlad's case, we have some things to work with. 1. We know he was a great deal larger than Johnson in both height and weight. 2. We know he is an avid weight lifter, something that wasn't typical of fighters 100 years ago. 3. We have a lot more footage of both Klitschko's fights and training sessions. 4. We know that he defeated men who were much larger than Johnson's opponents on average, and still ended up with a much better win KO/Ration. Johnson may have liked hugging and grabbing on the inside, whereas Klitschko prefers to keep his distance, but this is not necessarily an indication of Jack having superior strength. It is simply a preference in fighting style and nothing more.
Ah but the key diffence here is that Evander Holyfield ACTUALLY PROVED, that he could wrestle with some of those big guys, whereas Johnson was tyically the bigger man in the ring when he fought most of his opponents. Another thing to consider, is that Holyfield visibly possesed greater muscle mass, and was additionally a near 2.5 inches taller. He was the bigger man. Lastly, while strength may not have everything to do with actual power, Holy did manage to stop or KO a larger percentage of men, who themselves were bigger than Johnson's opponents, or even Johnson himself. As you said before, we can't assume anything on the matter, but if a hypothesis were needed, I think I'd go with Holyfield.
I'm assuming this was nothing more than mere heresay, and I can tell you that even if it were true, it means absolutely nothing. The only way that a human being could control a hoarse tied to his bicep is if the animal was cooperating with him. I don't care if he was the strongest man in the world with every drop of juice available from modern chemistry pumped into his veigns. If a full grown healthy hoarse wanted to resist, he would have damn well taken his arm off, or at least dislocated his shoulder, and screwed him up badly.....Never mind TWO hoarses....
LOL Hoarse meat is popular in some parts of the world, but I think a gun or some form of slautering tool is used for apprehending them. Not biceps...
The 80s got better as time went by, I still think they were a bad hw era and today´s era is as bad. A chagaev, Povetkin or even a Valuev or a Ruiz would ranked then similar to what they are ranked now.
Well, fighting for 40+ rounds it that clinching style needs a lot of strength. Something Klitschko never did. I also don´t prefer Johnson because he is stronger in the clinches but because he was more experienced there and did some work there. Wlad loves to clinch but he does nothing in the clinches while Johnson throws bodyshots and uppercuts. Johnson has the upperhand there.
Okay, but what you're basically saying is that Johnson had proven STAMINA over many rounds as well as being more ACCUSTOMED to fighting in the clinches. If that's all you're saying, then I agree, but this does not necessarily amount or equate to being STRONGER...
Well, we don´t know who is stronger and in my original post I said I think Johnson is but even if so his experience and workrate in there gives him an advantage over Klitschko. The only thing Wlad does in the clinches is hug you and lean on you that doesn´t need much strength if you compare it wto the work Johnson does there. If Wlad had to face Johnson in the clinches Wlad would have to work too and that would tire him badly because he isn´t accustomed to it. And given Wlad´s and Johnson´s style I think the fight will be decided in the clinches, Johnson has the edge there and so I lean to Johnson. If Wlad could keep him at the end of his jab things might be different but I doubt he can.
I have to agree with Magoo about this. If there's anything that modern training has produced, it's more strength. You can't have both more stamina and more strength. Besides, Wlad is really good at tying his opponent up to the degree he can't throw a meaningful punch, including against many fighters much bigger and probably stronger than Johnson. And i think you said it yourself: all Wlad has to do is get in position and lean on Johnson, which costs little energy, whereas Johnson will either have to actively fight it or get shoved around.
Klitschko is a bad match up for him. Johnson is smaller so may have advantages in things like agility. I don't see it being enough to turn the tide as Wlad is pretty strong in areas commonly attributed to small men i.e. movement and speed.
Wlad never fought any guy who is even near the class of Johnson in the clinches and you think Wlad would manhandle him? When they clinched Johnson handled Willard quite well and that guy was better in the clinches than Wlad and equally strong.
What makes you say that? Wlad has 20 pounds of muscle on Willard, is way better schooled, more experienced, more training, and is basically better in any way outside of durability and stamina.
Acutally, I pick Willard to beat Wlad because of his durability, stamina and punch. So, Wlad has 20 pounds of muscle more than Willard but what does that mean. Muscle isn´t always the same. An example: When we built a garage our neighbours hepled us, one was a truck driver who hit the weights in his free time quite extensivly, the other one was a roofer who never did weights just did his job. Both were between 1.90 and 2.00m, quite big fellas - I´m only 1.74 meters so I always felt a bit inferior when we were together . When we were roofing the truck driver wasn´t able to do the same work as the roofer. Yeah, he did weights and had more muscles but he couldn´t carry the same amount of roof-beams as the roofer. Same, here. Wlad gained his muscles through doing the weights. Guys like Johnson and Willard gained their muscles much more naturally and more designed for what they did in the ring. That makes a difference imo.