Jim "The Boilermaker" Jeffries? Perhaps not the strongest ever, but in his era, he might have been. So many of the greats from back then thought he was the best ever.
Foreman in terms of physical strength. Not sure why people are saying Lewis? Remember when Rahman manhandled Lewis in the interview they had together?
I also think Ali was deceptively strong
A lot of good names suggested already. I think I'd go with Big George too if I had to guess. Wasn't ripped like some of the guys we see today but he had that natural country boy strength while being huge. His punches didn't even have to land all that cleanly to down/hurt guys and he rarely ever took a step back in the ring.
Marciano was a bull
Interestingly enough: marciano was purported to be amazingly strong physically... Apparently Goldman noticed it when he decided to train him.
Most supposed strong guys are assumed to be the bigger guys, but thats an error. For example, while a guy like Canera was very well built, Valuev is weak for his size and has gigaintism. How about a guy like Hank Amstrong who fought up weight classes and was built like a greek statue?
I heard hasim rahman has a 500lb bench.
But in terms of functional, in ring strength, i'd have to say lennox lewis, he was strong AF and used that strength
in fights.
Dont be stupid, there's no way in earth he benches anywhere near that, have you seen pics of people that can actualy press that kind of elite level weight?
The most naturally gifted boxer in terms of bruit strength? has to be George Foreman! There was a point during the Evander Holyfield fight where he started to defy the laws of newton physics! The punishment he absorbed from Holyfield's punches was immense.......
Plus Foreman could knock out his opponents with really bad technique at times, arm punches or just by sticking his arm out! George Foreman was the boxing equivalent of the juggernaut.