strongest fighter pound for pound

[red cobra]

Not the hardest hitter, but in terms of sheer physical strength, pound for pound.

[My2Sense]

Henry Armstrong would probably get my vote for #1.

Les Darcy, Dick Tiger, and Dwight Qawi are honorable mentions.

Barbados Joe Walcott probably belongs among here as well, but that's just going by accounts of him.

[red cobra]

Good picks, esp. Tiger.

[WhataRock]

Armstrong surely.

Probably Langford aswell...Fenech, Williams, Duran, Wilde

Manny P gets a shout for me aswell...He is as strong as any of the guys he has fought at these higher weights and I remember he apparently used to manhandle welterweights when sparring for fights at feather.

[red cobra]

Dulio Loi, Gene Fullmer and Oscar Bonavena come to mind.

[Bill1234]

Jake LaMotta was very strong. I don't think anyone ever came close to out muscling Big George.

[Sweet Pea]

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[red cobra]

No, no one has outmuscled big George, that's for sure.

[red cobra]

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One strong dude...

[Bummy Davis]

Sailor Tom Sharkey was a strong one...Langford,Tiger, Lamotta,Armstrong

"Sailor" Tom

[Seamus]

Terry Norris bench pressed 325 whilst weighing 155. Strong motherfucker.

For proven applied strength in combat, Monzon was VERY strong. And Foreman at 500 pounds would still be pound for pound in the running. At 220, he was just scary.

[Xplosive]

Well obviously overall... I'd say Foreman was the strongest fighter of all time.

P4P....Qawi @ 175 and Tiger @ 160 immediately came to mind.

[My2Sense]

Armstrong peaked at 130, yet regularly outmuscled welterweights and even a natural jr. middleweight, while never really more than a jr. welterweight himself.

That's damn impressive.

[red cobra]

Rocky Marciano is an obvious answer...forget that he's dwarfed by modern day heavyweights, he was p4p one of, if not the strongest fighters of all time...a fact that was almost universally agreed upon in most most boxing writers and people in the sport.

[slugger408]

Marciano, Tua, and Lamotta stick out in my mind.

more recent, James Kirkland at 154

[he grant]

Tiger
Barbados Joe
Foreman
Langford
Marciano
Jeffries

[pare]

Armstrong surely.

Probably Langford aswell...Fenech, Williams, Duran, Wilde

Manny P gets a shout for me aswell...He is as strong as any of the guys he has fought at these higher weights and I remember he apparently used to manhandle welterweights when sparring for fights at feather.

interesting about pac. i don't recall him doing much grappling type stuff or close quarters body work. he seems to be more of an in andout fighter.

[gooners!!]

Duran, Mosley.

[JohnThomas1]

Jeff Fenech.

[Ezzard]

Mickey Walker has to be in with a shout for this one as well as Tony Zale.

Chris Eubank was an amazingly strong fighter.

[Popkins]

From the past: Dick Tiger (a beast for all-time)

From the present: Manny Pacquiao (looked strong as a bull at light-welter only a year or so after being a super-feather)

[McGrain]

Mosley.

Really strong guy.

I'd probably go with Armstrong.

[gigogreco]

my vote goes to... drums please.. tank abbot:yep

[MrMarvel]

Armstrong. Look at the way he bulled middleweights around the ring. Amazing. Duran was a bull, too.

Foreman was extremely powerful.

[IntentionalButt]

First thoughts:
Tiger, Briscoe, Monzon, even Valdez though less so than the others (what an era for iron-cast MWs!)
Ibeabuchi
Echols
Galaxy

[cotto20]

.Armstrong
.Tiger
.Lamotta
.Jeffries
.Marciano

[gooners!!]

..............Chuvalo

[Bobo Teebaggen]

Armstrong was a beast for his size, Foreman was a monster too....Currently Kirkland and Urango are some beastly fighters.

[Russell]

Marcos Villasana and Khaosai Galaxy

[Bill1234]

..............Chuvalo

Yeah, he is one strong guy, even to this day. If I remember right, when he fought Frazier, at one point Frazier tried to push him back, and Chuvalo just stood there, Joe wasn't able to budge him.

[abraq]

Oscar Bonavena was as strong as George Chuvalo. I think Jose Manuel Ibar Urtain was strong too.

Tiger has already been mentioned, but in those days amongst the smaller fighters, Vicente Saldivar was very strong. P4p, IMO, Fighting Harada and Lionel Rose were strong too.

A while later, Trevor Berbick was physically strong too. Don't go by what Tyson did to him. And talking about Iron Mike. Why has he been not mentioned? Ah, Liston. Are we not forgetting him too? And how about Firpo? Jumbo Cummings, the last guy Frazier fought, was nothing else but strength. P4p Holyfield did quite well too. He was never really pushed around by the Super Heavies he had to fight.

Ron Lyle matched strength with George Foreman quite well. And Foreman could well have been the strongest of them all.

From the MWs, Hagler was strong enough to deserve a mention. So too does Juan Domingo Roldan.

[Bummy Davis]

Rocky Marciano is an obvious answer...forget that he's dwarfed by modern day heavyweights, he was p4p one of, if not the strongest fighters of all time...a fact that was almost universally agreed upon in most most boxing writers and people in the sport.



Very true LB4 LB one of the strongest

[Xplosive]

Tyson deserves mention too I think.

Aaron Pryor also was extremely physically strong.

[ThinBlack]

Joe Walcott, Foreman, Dwight Davidson, Juan Roldan, Victor Galindez.

[Manassa]

The strongest fighters will generally have short, stocky limbs, thick joints and bones, and low muscle insertion points (i.e., not peaked biceps but long and full).

Rocky Marciano certainly fits this criteria. He still looked like a small power lifter even with all that cardiovascular training.

In contrast, there are also slim fighters who seem to possess an extraordinary quality of muscle fiber and central nervous system function and surprise you with how strong they are despite their apparent fragility. Carlos Monzon for that.

There are leverage advantages and disadvantages for both builds.

[DrMo]

Roldan, I dont know any other fighters who wrestled a bear.

[freddieoj]

The strongest fighters will generally have short, stocky limbs, thick joints and bones, and low muscle insertion points (i.e., not peaked biceps but long and full).

Rocky Marciano certainly fits this criteria. He still looked like a small power lifter even with all that cardiovascular training.

In contrast, there are also slim fighters who seem to possess an extraordinary quality of muscle fiber and central nervous system function and surprise you with how strong they are despite their apparent fragility. Carlos Monzon for that.

There are leverage advantages and disadvantages for both builds.

Monzon, Lewis and Quartey were all extremely strong, yet dont fall into the Lamotta/squat type frame, if we're talking pure brute strength then you must go for guys like Foreman, Rahman, Mosley guys like that.

[TBooze]

He did not have much of a career as a boxer, but I reckon pound for pound Danny Hodge maybe the answer.

[johnmaff36]

Im gonna throw randy turpin into the mix with the usual suspects

[big man]

Kostya Tszyu was very strong in his day.

[Nightcrawler]

Roldan, I dont know any other fighters who wrestled a bear.

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[Seamus]

Rocky...


Kansas.

[red cobra]

Victor Galindez was very strong.

[Vic-JofreBRASIL]

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[PowerPuncher]

There's lots of different types of strength and knowing how to push someone around and take them off balance makes you look stronger than you are. You can bull some around while being weaker than them if you know what you're doing. If you have stamina you can also keep bulling someone around when they're tired. Everyone who is saying Armstrong is wrong, he knew what he was doing in there with his leverage and had the stamina to maintain his effort so looks strong but he wasn't that strong in reality.

[AlFrancis]

Harada!

[Duodenum]

Hamsho deserves a mention. Bobby Czyz said in a mid-ring interview immediately after their bout that Mustafa's superior mature physical strength was the direct reason for that outcome (and Bobby was hardly a 90 pound weakling beach puny).

Watching Minter-Antuofermo I & II (especially with the way Alan manhandles Vito in their return), then Hamsho-Minter, we are looking at remarkable duels of physical strength.

Dwight Davison had been a star wrestler in high school, and the squat undefeated Curtis Parker (a pocket Frazier who later came out on the short end with Hamsho twice) actually got wrestled to the floor while desperately trying to bore his way in. Later, although Dwight allowed Sibson to completely outhustle him (in what looked like a walking tank job to me), Tony couldn't budge Davison. The late 1970s and early 1980s were a remarkable era for block of granite middleweights. (This was an extremely unfortunate time for the likes of Parker to be competing.)

[Del Boy]

While not the best boxers weren't carnerra and Willard circus strong men? Surely they deserve mention

[he grant]

Can anyone imagine George Foreman on juice like the Klitschkos ? He was a 220 plus monster naturally ....

Seems Jack Johnson has been left out and he was exceptionally strong ... many of the names mentioned are right on ..

Dick Tiger
Dwight Qwai
James Jeffries
Chuvalo
Terry Norris
Lennox Lewis

[bodhi]

So many knowledgable people posted so many names, yet no one mentioned Emile Griffith. Shame on you, people.

[AlFrancis]

Dennis Andries, his biggest asset was probably his strength.

[Legend X]

Baby Arizmendi and Henry Armstrong come to mind.
I love those guys.

[red cobra]

So many knowledgable people posted so many names, yet no one mentioned Emile Griffith. Shame on you, people.
Forgive the oversight bodhi..but in another thread I cited him as one of the strongest fighters p4p.

[MadcapMaxie]

I think P4P it would have to be Khaosai Galaxy the man was several weight classes above his opponents in regards to strength, built like a brick shit house to boot. Nobody not even prime George Foreman looked as strong in the ring as did Galaxy he looked like a powerfully built man pushing around little boys (i know theres a diff in quality of opponents). Nobody could out slug him, nobody could push him around, nobody could back him up just a physical beast.