Boerboel Weight Pull, Honestly
Yes, Boerboels compete in weight pull, and they win titles. Here is the sourced version: how the sport works, why the pulling surface changes the number far more than the dog does, the biggest figures actually circulating, and where a son of our stud Peterbuilt Hakeem fits in, with every claim labeled by how well we can back it.
The short answer
Boerboels are real, titled weight-pull competitors, and the heaviest pulls in the sport right now are theirs. On May 9, 2026, at a UPF-sanctioned rail pull in Pittsburgh, two Boerboels each moved 22,039 lb: ColdRiver’s Sun WuKong and ColdRiver’s Mr. Wednesday, a son of our stud Peterbuilt Hakeem. Both figures are in the Unified Pulling Federation’s own published results and in each dog’s official UPF profile.[9, 10, 11]
Mr. Wednesday pulled that 22,039 lb at a body weight of 186 lb, about 118 times his own body weight, in 25.03 seconds.[10] That is a documented result on an official sheet, which is a different and much stronger thing than the numbers that usually circulate in this sport.
Three honest qualifications, because they matter. The pull was on rails, the lowest-friction surface, and rail numbers are not comparable to wheels or snow.[1, 9] It is a tie: both brothers moved the identical weight, so it is not one dog’s record. And while we checked all 1,485 published UPF events and found nothing heavier, UPF publishes no all-time records list and defines no “world record,”[13] so we do not call it one, whatever the event video’s title says.[12]
A Peterbuilt Hakeem son on the rig
This is where we have something no one else does. Per Cold River Boerboels of Pennsylvania, and consistent with our own program, ColdRiver’s Mr. Wednesday (born March 18, 2023) is a Boerboel sired by our stud Peterbuilt Hakeem out of the dam Black Iron Njombe, the same Black Iron dam line behind our own female Koda.[7] His littermate brother is ColdRiver’s Sun WuKong. We state the Hakeem parentage as reported by the kennels; it is consistent across both programs but we have not independently confirmed it against a registry pedigree, and we say so plainly.
What both brothers did on May 9, 2026 is not in doubt, because the sanctioning body published it. At the “Spring Into Bully Max” UPF weight pull in Pittsburgh, on rails, each dog moved 22,039 lb. Mr. Wednesday’s official UPF profile records exactly one pull: 22,039 lb at 186 lb body weight, 25.03 seconds, 118.49 times his body weight.[9, 10] Sun WuKong’s profile records three, topping out at the same 22,039 lb at 164 lb body weight.[11]
| Dog | Weight pulled | Body weight | Per lb of body weight | Time | Surface | Date | Placing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ColdRiver's Mr. Wednesday (listed as “Wednesday”) | 22,039 lb | 186 lb | 118.49x body weight | 25.03 sec | rails | May 9, 2026 | 4th, Unlimited 120+ |
| ColdRiver's Sun WuKong | 22,039 lb | 164 lb | 134.38x body weight | 23.22 sec | rails | May 9, 2026 | 3rd, Unlimited 120+ (MWP) |
| ColdRiver's Sun WuKong | 16,917 lb | 158 lb | 107.07x body weight | 19.31 sec | rails | Nov 8, 2025 | 1st, Unlimited 120+ (MWP/MWPP) |
| ColdRiver's Sun WuKong | 12,142 lb | 162 lb | 74.95x body weight | 13.22 sec | rails | Apr 12, 2025 | 1st, Unlimited 120+ (MWP/MWPP) |
Every row above is documented: taken from the Unified Pulling Federation’s own published event results sheet and each dog’s official UPF profile, not from a kennel claim or a press release.[9, 10, 11]
Why the biggest pull did not win the class
This is the part most coverage gets wrong, and it is worth understanding. UPF places dogs by weight pulled per pound of body weight, not by raw weight. So on May 9, both brothers moved the most weight of any dog there, and both were still beaten on placing by lighter dogs with better ratios, including Cold River’s own 128 lb Conquest, who won the class.[9]
| Place | Dog | Body weight | Weight pulled | Per lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Conquest (Cold River Boerboels) | 128 lb | 21,336 lb | 166.69x |
| 2nd | Amarillo (Travis Torrez, Presa Canario) | 125 lb | 19,834 lb | 158.67x |
| 3rd | Sun WuKong (Cold River Boerboels) | 164 lb | 22,039 lb | 134.38x |
| 4th | Mr. Wednesday (Cold River Boerboels) | 186 lb | 22,039 lb | 118.49x |
Mr. Wednesday is the heaviest dog in that class, which is exactly why the same 22,039 lb scores lower for him than for his lighter brother. It is also why “who is strongest” has two legitimate answers.
What canine weight pull actually is
Canine weight pull is a strength sport in which a harnessed dog draws a loaded cart or sled a measured 16 feet within 60 seconds, competing only against dogs in its own body-weight class. The dog that moves the most weight wins, and the achievement everyone actually cares about is weight pulled per pound of body weight, the pound-for-pound ratio.[1, 2]
The dog wears a padded freight or spreader-bar harness designed to distribute the load across its chest and shoulders rather than pinch, and the handler stands at the finish line and encourages the dog in with voice and gestures only.[1, 3] It is a test of trained, willing pulling power, closer to a draft-horse pull than to anything adversarial.
Why the surface changes the number more than the dog does
The single biggest reason weight-pull totals vary is the pulling surface, not the dog. A sled on snow fights the most friction and produces the lowest weights; wheels on dirt or grass sit in the middle; a low-friction rail cartrolls so easily that the numbers climb into the tens of thousands of pounds. The UKC’s own rules encode exactly this, capping how many multiples of body weight an advanced dog can be credited with by surface.[1]
| Surface | Advanced cap (UKC Div. B) | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Snow / sled | up to ~25x body weight | Highest friction; lowest weights. |
| Wheels on a natural surface (dirt, grass) | up to ~28x body weight | Middle of the range. |
| Wheels on an artificial surface | up to ~35x body weight | Less rolling resistance. |
| Rail cart | up to ~65x body weight | Lowest friction; by far the highest numbers. |
These are the top rungs of the UKC’s own Weight Pull Championship Point Schedule for Division B (the 30-point row for each surface), not ceilings on what a dog can move. For scale, a basic UWP qualifying pull asks for only 10 times body weight on rails, 8 on wheels and 3 on snow. They are shown here to convey how large the surface effect is.[1] Other federations run different apparatus and rules, and raw rail results elsewhere routinely exceed these multiples: at the UPF rail pull described above, the top dogs ranged from roughly 118 to 480 times body weight.[9] That is precisely why numbers from different bodies and surfaces should never be ranked against each other.
Who runs the sport
Several bodies sanction weight pull in North America, and their titles and numbers are not interchangeable:
- IWPA (International Weight Pull Association), a non-profit organized in 1984, runs roughly 100 events a season from fall through spring and scores wheeled and snow pulls separately.[2]
- UKC (United Kennel Club) runs a formal titling ladder, the UWP through UWPCH championship titles, with surface-based qualifying multiples.[1]
- APA (American Pulling Alliance) sanctions pulls with its own harness and welfare rules.[3]
- UPF (United Pulling Federation), a newer, brand-affiliated (Bully Max) promotional federation, is the body behind the reported 16,917 lb Boerboel figure. A UPF figure is a federation record, not a cross-organization or Guinness-ratified one.[4]
Is weight pull humane?
Yes, organized weight pull is welfare-regulated, and it is worth being clear about that because the sport is easy to misread. Across the major bodies, the handler cannot touch the dog during the pull and food, bait, whips, and pinch collars are prohibited; the dog is guided by voice and hand signals only. Abusive treatment is immediate disqualification, females in season, pregnant, or nursing are barred, and anyone tied to dogfighting is suspended or expelled.[1, 3]
A well-conditioned dog pulling a rolling cart into a wall of its owner’s praise is doing something it visibly enjoys. As with any strength sport, the responsible version is built on conditioning, fair weight classes, and knowing the individual dog, which is the same standard of ownership we ask of every Boerboel home.
Boerboels are titled weight-pull dogs
This is not a novelty. At a UKC-licensed weight pull hosted by the Cascade American Pit Bull Terrier Club (Longview, WA, September 2024), South African Boerboels each placed first in their weight classes and carry earned UKC titles including UWPCH and UGWPCH.[5] The breed’s heavy, deep-chested, well-muscled frame is exactly the build the sport rewards in the upper weight classes.
If you want the wider context of how the Boerboel’s strength compares to other breeds, and why strength and bite force are two different things, read our Boerboel strength guide and our bite-force page.
Is it a record? What we actually checked
The event video calls it a world record.[12] We wanted to know what could actually be said, so rather than repeat the phrase, we checked. We downloaded and parsed every results sheet UPF has published, all 1,485 events from 2014 through 2026, and extracted 11,626 individual results.[13]
What that shows: 22,039 lb is the heaviest weight in UPF’s published results archive, and it is a two-way tie between the two brothers, not a single dog’s record. Before May 2026 the archive’s high was Sun WuKong’s own 16,917 lb from November 2025; before that, no pull in the entire archive had ever exceeded 14,890 lb.
| # | Weight | Dog | Breed | Body weight | Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1= | 22,039 lb | Sun Wukong (Cold River Boerboels) | Boerboel | 164 lb | Spring Into Bully Max, 5/9/26 |
| 1= | 22,039 lb | Wednesday (Cold River Boerboels) | Boerboel | 186 lb | Spring Into Bully Max, 5/9/26 |
| 3 | 21,336 lb | Conquest (Cold River Boerboels) | Boerboel | 128 lb | Spring Into Bully Max, 5/9/26 |
| 4= | 19,834 lb | Hamilton (Travis Torrez) | Presa Canario | 112 lb | Spring Into Bully Max, 5/9/26 |
| 4= | 19,834 lb | Amarillo (Travis Torrez) | Presa Canario | 125 lb | Spring Into Bully Max, 5/9/26 |
| 6 | 18,332 lb | JT (Emmanuel Faxio) | American Pit Bull Terrier | 38 lb | Spring Into Bully Max, 5/9/26 |
| 7 | 17,076 lb | Alucard (Cold River Boerboels) | Boerboel | 97 lb | Spring Into Bully Max, 5/9/26 |
| 8 | 16,917 lb | Sun Wukong (Cold River Boerboels) | Boerboel | 158 lb | Back At It Bully Max, 11/8/25 |
So here is the precise, defensible claim, and the reason we phrase it so carefully: 22,039 lb is the heaviest weight recorded in the Unified Pulling Federation’s published results archive (2014-2026), on rails, tied between two Boerboel littermates. It is not a ratified world record, because UPF publishes no all-time records list and defines no world-record standard.[13] It also cannot be ranked against the IWPA or APA, whose events use different surfaces and rules.
Method and limits, so you can judge the claim yourself: we parsed every published event PDF and validated each row against the arithmetic check that weight pulled divided by body weight equals the sheet’s percent column. Thirty-one events yielded no parseable rows: 13 because UPF published a header-only sheet with no results, 14 because they were not weight pulls (mill race, wall climb, lure course), and 4 international events recorded in metric, which we read by hand (highest there: 5,104 lb). Those gaps sit in years whose ceiling was around 9,000 to 15,000 lb, so they do not plausibly hide a heavier pull, but we would rather show you the hole than pretend there is none. Retrieved 20 July 2026.
Who ran the event, and why we mention it
One more thing an honest page should disclose. Small specialist dog sports run on a very small pool of volunteers, and roles overlap in ways that would look odd in a big-money sport. At this event, per UPF’s own published documents, they overlapped like this:
- The pull was organized and chief-judged by the same person, Erica Noseworthy, who also entered and placed her own dogs in it that day.[14, 9]
- Eli Carver, who owns both 22,039 lb dogs, appears on UPF’s own published roster of U.S. judges.[15]
- Bully Max is the event’s named sponsor and co-presenter, and is also the party that publicized the result as a world record.[14, 12]
- At the November 2025 pull where the previous 16,917 lb high was set, Sun WuKong was the only dog entered in the 120+ class, so that first place was uncontested. The weight he moved is unaffected by that; the placing is.[11]
None of this is evidence of wrongdoing, and we are not suggesting any. Volunteers wear several hats at almost every small pull, the weight is loaded and measured in front of everyone present, and there is video of the pull. We set it out for one narrow reason: it is why we describe 22,039 lb as the heaviest figure in a federation’s published results, judged by that federation, rather than as an independently audited world record. Those are different claims, and the gap between them is the entire point of this page.
We would say exactly the same about a result of our own, and the dogs in question are sired by our stud.
How we source and verify these numbers
Weight-pull claims travel fast and lose their context along the way, so we sort every figure on this page into one of three buckets, and we tell you which is which:
- Documented: tied to a sanctioning body’s own results sheet, dog profile, or official rulebook. Every pull figure in the table above is in this tier, taken from UPF’s published results and profiles.[1, 9, 10, 11]
- Reported: announced by a company or in a press release but not independently audited, like the November 2025 pull’s press coverage.[4]
- Kennel-reported / first-party: stated by a dog’s own owner on their channels.[7]
A worked example of why this matters: when we first researched this page, the 22,039 lb pull existed only as a kennel claim and an event video, so we published no figure for Mr. Wednesday at all and said why. UPF posted the official results in July 2026, and the number moved into the documented tier, where you now see it. We would rather be late and right than fast and wrong.
Two things we still will not say. We do not call 22,039 lb a “world record,” because UPF publishes no records list and defines no such standard.[13] And we do not compare it to figures from other federations, because it was set on rails and bodies like the IWPA run only wheels and snow.
It is the same standard that makes our bite-force page the honest one in a field of invented numbers. If you can point us to a documented result we have missed, we would like to hear it through our contact page.
Boerboel Weight Pull FAQ
Can a Boerboel do weight pull?
Yes. Boerboels compete in organized canine weight pull and earn titles. At a UKC-licensed pull in September 2024, South African Boerboels placed first in their weight classes and carry advanced UKC titles such as UWPCH and UGWPCH. The breed's heavy, well-muscled build suits the sport.
What is the Boerboel weight pull record?
The heaviest documented Boerboel pulls are 22,039 lb, achieved by two littermate Boerboels on the same day: ColdRiver's Sun WuKong (164 lb) and ColdRiver's Mr. Wednesday (186 lb), on rails at a UPF-sanctioned event in Pittsburgh on May 9, 2026. Both appear in the federation's published results. UPF publishes no all-time records list, so we call it the heaviest documented figure rather than a world record.
How much did Mr. Wednesday pull, and is it official?
ColdRiver's Mr. Wednesday pulled 22,039 lb at a body weight of 186 lb, in 25.03 seconds, on rails, on May 9, 2026. It is official in the sense that it appears on the Unified Pulling Federation's own event results sheet and in his individual UPF profile. He placed 4th in the Unlimited 120+ class, because UPF places dogs by weight pulled per pound of body weight, not by raw weight.
How much can a Boerboel pull?
It depends almost entirely on the surface. On a low-friction rail cart, UKC rules allow an advanced dog to be credited with up to about 65 times its body weight; on snow, only about 25 times. That is why the same dog posts very different numbers at different events, and why a single 'how much can a Boerboel pull' figure is misleading.
Is dog weight pull cruel?
Organized weight pull is welfare-regulated. The handler cannot touch the dog or use bait, whips, or pinch collars during the pull, and guides it by voice and hand signals only. Abusive treatment is immediate disqualification, females in season or pregnant are barred, and anyone tied to dogfighting is expelled. It is a harnessed strength sport, not a fight.
What surface gives the highest weight-pull numbers?
Rail carts. A low-friction rail cart rolls far more easily than wheels on dirt or a sled on snow, so rail numbers are by far the highest. Ranking snow, wheels, and rail figures against each other as if they were the same achievement is the most common mistake in weight-pull claims.
Is the 22,039 lb pull a world record?
It is the heaviest weight in the Unified Pulling Federation's published results archive: we parsed all 1,485 published UPF events from 2014 to 2026 to check, and nothing heavier appears. But UPF maintains no all-time records list and defines no world-record standard, so no body has ratified it, and it is a tie between the two brothers rather than one dog's record. It also cannot be ranked against other federations, since it was pulled on rails and bodies like the IWPA run only wheels and snow.
Sources & further reading
- [1] Official UKC Weight Pull Rulebook (surface classes, the 16-foot pull, titling ladder, welfare rules). United Kennel Club. https://www.ukcdogs.com/docs/rulebooks/weight-pull-rulebook.pdf
- [2] International Weight Pull Association: About / rules (non-profit organized 1984; wheels and snow scored separately). IWPA. http://www.iwpa.net/
- [3] American Pulling Alliance: rules and welfare provisions. American Pulling Alliance. https://www.americanpullingalliance.com/
- [4] Bully Max press release: African Boerboel 'Sun WuKong' reported to pull 16,917 lbs at a United Pulling Federation event (Pittsburgh, PA). Bully Max via PR Newswire. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bully-max-dog-sets-world-record-for-heaviest-weight-pull-302313000.html
- [5] UKC official weight-pull results, Cascade American Pit Bull Terrier Club (Longview, WA, Sept 2024): titled South African Boerboels placing first in class. United Kennel Club. https://www.ukcdogs.com/
- [6] Whole Dog Journal: canine weight pull explained (ratio vs. absolute; 'Banzai,' a 43-lb AmStaff, reported at 3,900 lb). Whole Dog Journal. https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/activities/weight-pulling/
- [7] Cold River Boerboels: kennel channels documenting ColdRiver's Mr. Wednesday and ColdRiver's Sun WuKong (owner-reported). Cold River Boerboels. https://www.coldriverboerboels.com/
- [8] The Boerboel's Bite Force: what the science actually says (companion page; strength is not bite force). Peterbuilt Boerboel. https://www.peterbuiltboerboel.com/the-boerboel-breed/bite-force
- [9] Official results sheet, 'Spring Into Bully Max' weight pull, 5/9/26, Pittsburg PA, rails: the Unlimited 120+ class showing Wednesday and Sun Wukong at 22,039 lb. Unified Pulling Federation (UPF). https://unifiedweightpullfederation.com/assets/files/events/events_6a5b6241a0346.pdf
- [10] Official UPF dog profile, 'Wednesday' (Cold River Boerboels, Boerboel): one recorded pull, 22,039 lb at 186 lb body weight on rails, 25.03 sec. Unified Pulling Federation (UPF). https://unifiedweightpullfederation.com/pdfs/profiles/dog_pdf_6a5d26ea399c0.pdf
- [11] Official UPF dog profile, 'Sun Wukong' (Cold River Boerboels, Boerboel): three recorded pulls, 22,039 / 16,917 / 12,142 lb, all on rails. Unified Pulling Federation (UPF). https://unifiedweightpullfederation.com/pdfs/profiles/dog_pdf_6a5d2610969e6.pdf
- [12] Event video: 'World Record Pull: COLDRIVERBOERBOELS Mr. Wednesday and Sun WuKong pulls 22,039 pounds' (posted by the event host and presenting sponsor). Bully Max (YouTube). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKKNzMHwGY8
- [13] UPF published results archive and event index (no all-time records list is published by the federation). Unified Pulling Federation (UPF). https://unifiedweightpullfederation.com/results
- [14] UPF event listing for the 5/9/26 pull: 'Presented By: Unified Pulling Federation & Bully Max', 'Organizer: Bully Max / Erica Noseworthy', 'Chief Judge: Erica Noseworthy', 'Sponsor: Bully Max', 'Type: Weight Pull - Rails'. Unified Pulling Federation (UPF). https://unifiedweightpullfederation.com/events/details.php?id=1919&source=results&year=2026
- [15] UPF published roster of U.S. judges and wall-climb belayers, listing Eli Carver (Cold River Boerboels) and Erica Noseworthy. Unified Pulling Federation (UPF). https://unifiedweightpullfederation.com/pdfs/pdf_68715f1fc4ae5.pdf
Last reviewed July 2026. Pull figures are transcribed from the Unified Pulling Federation’s published event results and official dog profiles, retrieved 20 July 2026. Figures are labeled by verification basis: documented, reported, or kennel-reported.
The line behind the pull
The athletic build that suits weight pull runs in the Hakeem line. Meet the stud behind it, and the puppies we have coming from these bloodlines.