Miami Mayor Francis Suarez seemingly mocked New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani for "attempting" to bench press at the annual Men’s Day event in Brooklyn over the weekend. Mamdani, 33, a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist, is looking to become the Big Apple's next mayor in November.
"Socialism vs Capitalism," Suarez said.
In the video, Mamdani needs heavy assistance from a spotter to bench press 135 pounds for two reps. For non-lifters, a standard Olympic barbell is 45 pounds.
Both plates are 45 pounds each. 45+45+45=135 pounds.
Suarez is a bit stronger, to put it mildly. In fact, the 47-year-old Republican might want to challenge Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is ripped, or Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, an Army veteran, in a bench press contest in the future.
In his contrasting video, Suarez appears to bench 225 pounds (although the plates appear bigger than normal) for 13 reps without assistance from the spotter behind him.
Four 45-pound plates plus the weight of the barbell = 225 pounds.
Suarez's video also has John Cafferty's "Hearts on Fire" playing as a backdrop, which was featured in the 1985 movie Rocky IV. The scene shows Rocky, played by Sylvester Stallone, intensely working out in the lead-up to his fight against Russian heavyweight Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren, who's also preparing for the bout with a fiery workout of his own.
The U.S. and the Soviet Union, at the time, were in the midst of the Cold War, with capitalism and communism ideologies at the forefront. The Soviet Union also had significant political and economic influence on Cuba during the Cold War, which officially ended in 1991.
Suarez is a Cuban-American.
Rocky goes on to knock out Drago in the movie's final scene. Sorry to ruin it for you if you haven't seen it yet.
And if you think benching 225 pounds is easy, think again.
According to one report, about 0.4% of the general population can bench 225 pounds once, or around four out of 1,000 people. The number is likely slightly higher when surveying routine gym-goers, but still impressive nonetheless.
Suarez did it 13 times.
In fact, Suarez's bench would stack up fairly well against NFL draft prospects, who are in some cases 25 years younger than him. Of the list, Suarez's bench was equal to or better than nine players from the 2025 draft class, with Cincinnati guard Luke Kandra having the most repetitions at 33.
