Most physically powerful boxer...

Enjoy the novelty for all that it's worth. (And may you never become jaded.)

 

James Toney. How the hell does a grossly overblown super-middleweight hold his own against most heavyweights? And it ain't just steroids. The guy is phenomenally strong considering what his natural weight ought to be.

Butterbean... at least for a few minutes before he has a heart attack.

No way Liston beats Foreman at any age, in their prime or not. Foreman was always naturally bigger and stronger. Liston's vulnerability was the robotic way he threw his jab. Leotis Martin timed him perfectly over Sonny's static, predictable jabs. Muhammad Ali's "phantom punch" in the rematch with Liston was also a perfectly timed right over a mechanical Liston left.

 

Primo Carnera

 

Kimbo







:yep

 

Holyfield, who came from Cruiser, definitely handled Tyson strength wise as you say. Big punching isn't physical power, i'd say Tyson doesn't even warrant a mention in this thread.

 

Watch that knockout carefully, frame by frame. Compare it with the right hand Ali used to KO Zora Folley in round 7. Virtually identical.

From http://www.boxing-memorabilia.com/biofolley.htm

"Ali knocked Folley out in the seventh with a right hand of similar speed to the one that had finished Sonny Liston."

One of Ali's carefully crafted techniques was to square off slightly from the waist up, while keeping his feet properly positioned. You can clearly see Ali anticipating the opponent's left jab, ready with a quick, light, right hand, thrown a little high and very slightly looped over the opponent's left shoulder. It was a perfect technique for taller opponents who didn't throw many left hooks.

It was also the very same technique that left Ali vulnerable to left hooks from Henry Cooper and Joe Frazier. Notice how often Ali got caught with solid left hooks and how relatively seldom he was nailed with rights. It was a tradeoff, one that usually worked in Ali's favor.

Look at the stats, level of competition, style, size, everything. Foreman was clearly bigger, stronger, more versatile (tho' this showed up mostly in ver. 2 of Big George), with a less predictable offense. Liston's offense was so mechanical he resembled a 1950s sci-fi robot. That's why Ali and Leotis Martin were able to time Liston's jab so easily - and Martin had to come off the canvas and overcome a near kayo to do it.

Even an old George Foreman was able to beat a younger, faster man with a better jab and outside game - Michael Moorer, who was a southpaw on top of it all.

Ken Norton was as big and strong as Liston, with nearly as good a jab, and was technically better overall.

Liston was maybe 6'1" and no more than 220 lbs. in his best shape. Foreman was 6'4" and the first "super-heavyweight" of the post-modern era who didn't look like a gawky freak at that size. If anything, he was underweight and starved at 225 lbs.

Liston was a tough customer, no doubt, but he wouldn't hold up against Foreman, if for no better reason than because Foreman held an edge in heart. Liston, like Mike Tyson, tended to cave in mentally after a few rounds against a good opponent if he met firm resistance.

 

my pick goes to big george

but i believe that ron lyle or frank bruno could easily be just as strong.... easily just as strong

 

It's really impossible to say, because of a variety of factors.

Firstly, manhandling someone in a clinch is as much a test of balance and leverage as pure strength. Punching power is not a good indicator of strength at all.
By definition, a big muscle is a strong muscle, but other factors like tendon strength and natural leverages play a big role.

If all the champions of say, the heavyweight division, were to perform a certain series of lifts such as the squat, bench press, military press, deadlift and barbell row then maybe we'd get a clearer picture of their raw strength in relation to each other.
Even here though, the tall guys like Bowe, Lewis, Carnera etc. with long arms, backs and legs would be at a disadvantage compared to the shorter guys like Marciano, Frazier etc.

In that case, we'd have to include some other strength-related movements like a farmer's walk or something like that. It's really impossible to accurately guage raw strength from one individual to another.

I have heard of some boxers performing rather remarkable feats of strength though. Louie Espinoza was said to be able to bench press 320 lbs. as a featherweight.
Evander Holyfield regularly repped out with 360 lbs. on the bench press and Tyson was said to bench press 240 lbs. as a 14 year old.

Paul Anderson has already been mentioned, but Franco Columbo (2x Mr. Olympia) dabbled in boxing as well, and he could perform a 750 lb. deadlift.

 

Foreman or Jeffries. Liston has to be up there.

 

:yikes POUND FOR POUND, MARCIANO. POUND FOR POUND ASIDE, FOREMAN.

 

Pound for Pound, Khaosai Galaxy, Saddler and Marciano.

 

In Liston's only non controversial loss,Martin bombed an exhausted over the hill Liston.A younger man who kept awy from Liston,until he seen Sonny breathing with his mouth open.Perfectly timed? it was more like Sonny was to tired to hold up his big arms.The Liston of 1960,would left Leotis a quivering wreck.

 

Foreman, Tyson than Liston.

 

What about Holyfield outmuscling Tyson in their two bouts?

 

Holyfield was strong but he doesn't belong to the 'physically powerful boxer' class.
Plus, allow me to emit some doubts about his cleanless (don't know if that word exists) with all those rumors about roïds...