Cleve Dean - The Strongest Arm Wrestler Ever
The Iron Gospel
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Cleve Dean - The Strongest Arm Wrestler Ever
Cleve Dean looked less like an arm wrestler and more like someone who had wandered in from another category of human being entirely. A hog farmer from Georgia standing roughly 6'7" and weighing close to 480 pounds during his rise, Dean entered serious competition in the late 1970s and almost immediately began overwhelming established champions. In November 1978, after winning the heavyweight title at the World’s Wristwrestling Championship in Petaluma, he faced undefeated champion Virgil Arciero in Las Vegas and beat him 2–0. For much of the following decade, simply getting through Cleve Dean became an accomplishment of its own.
But his legend was built on more than his size. Dean possessed enormous hands, wrists and forearms, competed successfully with either arm, appeared at the 1979 and 1980 World’s Strongest Man competitions, and later became part of the strange golden age when arm wrestling briefly crossed into mainstream American culture. Stories of his strength became increasingly difficult to separate from folklore—including exhibitions where ordinary men supposedly lined up one after another and were dispatched almost instantly. Behind the mythology was a genuinely dominant athlete whose physical proportions may never be seen at an arm-wrestling table again.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleve_Dean
https://www.thearmwrestlingarchives.c...
https://valdostadailytimes.com/2023/0...
Cleve Dean Interview at the Miller Beer Co...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arm_wre...
20 Comments
Then you show Bobby Hopkins who beat Cleve once, but you don't say anything about that??
It would be like an average grown man ArmWrestling against 500 kids. The power difference is so big that it doesn't tire out the adult to pin one kid after another. Same thing would likely happen with Cleve vs normal men
At that time John was about 6'1 225lbs, Sly was 5'10 205. So, yeah Johns the bigger human but not by a huge margin. Cleve actually competed in that same tournament, but you'd have to ask John or one of the guys there what place Cleve won. Keep in mind that this was VERY far from peak Cleve Dean - he was really sick but still beat a lot of guys.
Even today, Cleve Dean's strength is legendary, and a lot of people wonder what would happen between a peak Cleve and a peak Levan.
Cleve Dean - The Strongest Arm Wrestler Ever
The Iron Gospel
69,451 views
Cleve Dean - The Strongest Arm Wrestler Ever
Cleve Dean looked less like an arm wrestler and more like someone who had wandered in from another category of human being entirely. A hog farmer from Georgia standing roughly 6'7" and weighing close to 480 pounds during his rise, Dean entered serious competition in the late 1970s and almost immediately began overwhelming established champions. In November 1978, after winning the heavyweight title at the World’s Wristwrestling Championship in Petaluma, he faced undefeated champion Virgil Arciero in Las Vegas and beat him 2–0. For much of the following decade, simply getting through Cleve Dean became an accomplishment of its own.
But his legend was built on more than his size. Dean possessed enormous hands, wrists and forearms, competed successfully with either arm, appeared at the 1979 and 1980 World’s Strongest Man competitions, and later became part of the strange golden age when arm wrestling briefly crossed into mainstream American culture. Stories of his strength became increasingly difficult to separate from folklore—including exhibitions where ordinary men supposedly lined up one after another and were dispatched almost instantly. Behind the mythology was a genuinely dominant athlete whose physical proportions may never be seen at an arm-wrestling table again.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleve_Dean
https://www.thearmwrestlingarchives.c...
https://valdostadailytimes.com/2023/0...
Cleve Dean Interview at the Miller Beer Co...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arm_wre...