Who was physically stronger between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson?

Holyfield was stronger, but he was dedicated to overall athletic performance with weights. Tyson didn't really use weights in his first career focusing on calisthenics and boxing exercises (heavy bag, jumping rope, etc). In his 2nd career he did do more weight training, but still not as much as Holyfield did.

 

Mark Clayton was unnaturally strong for his size, and one of the better athletes in the
history of the N.F.L . He doesn't get the credit he deserves, along with his side kick
Mark Duper who also was a superior athlete and one of the fastest men in N.F.L history.
Much respect to Dan Marino giving them the credit they deserve.

 

He smoked Mark Gastineau in the weightlifting competition. If he could military press 270 I suspect he could bench a lot more. Yeah, the Marks Brothers were really good, and Mark Duper was really fast.

 

Holyfield, it’s a large part of how he beat Tyson.

 

Tyson may have had more natural, thick set functional strength but Holyfield developed more than Mike over the years, and became a stronger man I think. He developed into a beast with great functional, situational strength. It would not surprise me if he had a big bench; itself, not a brilliant metric for overall strength, and had lots of gym stamina because he developed from a naturally gifted athletic build rather than Tysons tight wound ball of last twitch fibres.

I was a big presser in my younger days, and decently strong overall. I tried to build a good blend of gym strength, strongman type strength and functional wrestling/physical intervention strength whilst never forgetting that the most important 'muscle' I possessed is the one between my ears. Anyone who can bench over 100kg (220lb) is stronger than Joe Average, particularly for reps.

 

There are weight classes for powerlifting. Bodybuilders aren't as strong as powerlifters because they train for aesthetics and powerlifters for strength in three distinct exercises within a set weight class. There have been some very, very strong bodybuilders regardless.

 

That makes me feel better about my 245 pound bench at 182 pounds. I also used to run seven miles five days a week.