who where the most physically strong boxers for each weight class?

muhammad ali was physically very strong - maybe more than foreman. i wonder if HE could lift a baby calf - probably. ali gets the nod from me in physically strongest

 

Good list, but I would have Duran there at LW, and McClellan only fought one fight at SMW, it was also his last fight as he was left blind, deaf, and paralyzed as a result of the beating he took at the hands of Nigel Benn.

 

Don't forget the two Jack's. Johnson and Dempsey.

 

Surprised I'm the only one that mentioned The Barbados Demon Joe Walcott the guy was an absolute beast he was only 5 foot 1 or 2 and weighed around 140lbs and still managed to deal with heavyweights. Here is an extract from an article about one of his fights against a heavyweight.

"Joe Walcott, the welter-weight champion, and Fred Russell, of Minneapolis, went six rounds to a draw here tonight. Russell, who is a heavy-weight and big at that, was unable to do anything with Wolcott, and it certainly appeared as though the latter was entitled to the verdict, having forced the fighting throughout. When the men shaped up for action, there was so much disparity in their sizes and the affair looked ridiculous. Walcott's head just reached Russell's waist line. The men fought but 2 minutes, however, when it was plainly evident that the little negro was perfectly able to cope with his big opponent and rather enjoyed holding up Russel's 215 pounds when they clinched. Before the round ended Walcott dropped Russell with a right to the jaw. In order to land the blow Walcott had to jump off his feet fully six inches. Russell took the count of nine and rose to his feet groggy. He appeared timid during the next four rounds and kept well covered, but managed to land several hard swings on Walcott's head to which the latter payed little attention. In the last round Walcott reached Russell's stomach with a number of hard swings and had the big fellow so weak, that although weighing nearly a hundred pounds less he was able to push Russell all over the ring when they came to a clinch." (Durango Democrat)

 

Jim Jeffries was strongest HW i would say.

 

Man barbados joe must have fought some really crap heavweights to do what that report suggests.....Or that report is a load of nonsense.....

 

two brawling south americans look strong, oscar bonavena and luis angel firpo.....

 

ali was physically stronger than both of them imo; if we're talking about strongEST then these very strong mofos don't make the list imo

 

..both look to have possesed raw, natural strength.....chuvalo is another..not a weightlifter, not a strongman in the accepted sense, just a raw, powerful guy.....

 

Ali wasnt stronger than either, both were bulls.

 

Jeff Fenech would have thrown around Wilfredo Gomez physically with ease. Much. much stronger.

 

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He was, however I'd say Lewis and Liston would be (at least) on a par with him as far as 'raw' strength goes.


Decent list, GRH. :good

 

Agreed. Both in the top 5 of all-time HW strength assuming we're talking about champions or top contenders here.

 

I beg to differ. He was able to clinch and tie up George Foreman rather easily and this was based purely on physical strength (not the other factors that let him win like speed or accuracy). That's one indicator he was stronger than Foreman. Sure, conditioning and heart influence Ali's ability to handle Foreman's body shots (who else but Ali could have withstood that?) but physical strength counts big time to. His ability to take those body shots indicates his physical strength but if you don't buy this - how do you explain him handling Foreman like that? Foreman could do nothing against the stronger Muhammad Ali like he did to Joe Frazier - else he would have done something about it. Lots of people to this day complain about Ali's holding (clearly it was bad for George) but Ali was able to force his way.