Holyfield's amazing transformation

Oh, a blogspot said it. Well, then it must be true. My bad.

No doubt that Holy put on a substantial amount of muscle and I think most of us believe that steroids and HGH were involved, but that picture is in no way accurate as to how Holy of 1990 looked like. That's all.

 

Holyfield was a big time juicer but I would be more surprised to hear guys weren’t on the juice in his era.

 

This is an instructive case. Many people make irrational & unfair assumptions when discussing PEDs, based upon not just naivete, but also the opposite, cynical assumptions absent good evidence.

Going from the general to the particular & Holyfield's case, most boxers are not proven to use anything, but some % of those who never test + or have other evidence against them must be guilty.

But it is also irrational to assume that everyone or almost all people were either using regularly, or did for a time. Without specific evidence, it is foolhardy to assume it is only a significant minority, or the vast majority, or something in between.
You cannot "reason" out how folks weigh the advantages & incentives, their health, the fear & derision & punishment if they get caught, how common it would be to feel like a fraud if you cheat & lie...
Just saying "everyone must be on them" is as foolhardy as believing nobody ever gets away with it. Or that most who are convicted got false positives or some innocent substance was contaminated (though occasionally that happens).

The problem with just looking at someone is that UNLESS they get really massive, beyond what could be achieved naturally, &/OR get big very quickly (at least when already having some muscle)...It is almost impossible to know if they just had excellent genes & training & maximized nutrition.

And some who use never get very big! Either due to the drug maximizing strengh not bulk, or they did not use it enough or efficiently, &/or their genetics are poor for mass.

Now for Holyfield. Aside from likely his neck & surrounding areas like the traps, the total mass he put on would not be above what SOME guys can do naturally.
His neck measuring-not just a shirt collar-& when lean at 19 & a 1/2" is very suspicious.
Oh & it is well documented that using PEDs seems to disproportionately develop these areas. The receptors for exogenous testosterone are more reactive there.
And unlike Tyson he was not big when a poor unconnected kid even before boxing.

He did get large fairly rapidly, still that is not definitive, working with strength experts like Lee Haney, did he get big too implausibly quickly?
By the way, his actual weight for his height was not a lot for a modern HW, by any means.
That is because of what nobody is mentioning: his lower body, ass & legs, never got at all large!
And that is normally where folks have ~ 60% of their muscle mass.

BUT I am very surprised that nobody mentioned the pretty definitive evidence that Evander used drugs.
Here from his wikipedia page, references cited, there really is no credible way he was not a juicer.
Nobody knows this?

Allegations of steroid and HGH use

On February 28, 2007, Holyfield was anonymously linked to Applied Pharmacy Services, a pharmacy in Alabama that was under investigation for supplying athletes with illegal steroids and human growth hormone (HGH). He denied ever using performance enhancers.[50]

Holyfield's name does not appear in the law enforcement documents reviewed. However, a patient by the name of "Evan Fields" caught investigators' attention. "Fields" shares the same birth date as Holyfield, October 19, 1962. The listed address for "Fields" was 794 Evander, Fairfield, Ga. 30213. Holyfield has a very similar address. When the phone number that, according to the documents, was associated with the "Fields" prescription, was dialed, Holyfield answered.[51]

On March 10, 2007, Holyfield made a public announcement that he would be pursuing his own investigation into the steroid claims in order to clear his name.[52]

Holyfield was again linked to HGH in September 2007, when his name came up following a raid of Signature Pharmacy in Orlando, Florida.[53] Signature Pharmacy was under investigation for illegally supplying several professional athletes with steroids and HGH.[54]


I am the first one to say do not assume a man is guilty.
Unless you at least have overwhelming circumstantial evidence.
But there really is no doubt about Evan Fields.
And he did not just dabble.

To me this definitely subtracts from his all time ranking.
Whatever bravery & accomplishments, if you need to artificially transform your body & strength to excel or be an ATG in a division...

You would not do as well without this.
Effectively you stole some wins & glory & money from others who would have won or been champ without cheating.

 

And Vitali? He got actually got busted for juicing. His little bro also put on 25-30 lbs of muscle after turning professional at 220 without losing much in terms of speed and mobility. Completely naturally? Yeah right.

 

Additionally, Holyifeld's hair fell out in conjunction with the weight gain which is consistent with steroid use, and the heart issue was consistent with HGH use.

 

At cruiser EH had a great stamina base.He was from the outset working v hard on putting muscle.the 5 years from CW to 208 lbs vs Foreman he did that.it was all dry hard muscle.No water bloat.13 lbs in 4 years was pretty steady and evidence of Evanders great dedication

 

This matter is very serious....I wasnt aware of this "Evans Fields" episode.The evidence seems open and shut.

We are living in a time where statues and reputations are being corrected .Do you think the two Tyson wins should now be seriously reconsidered in their true context of one guy ...this ...Evan Fields on steroids and hgh,epo and who knows what ?....the Evan Fields episode is just months after both fights...?

 

The neck is a strait up giveaway he wasnt natural.

 

They should & have been reconsidered in that those who value fair competition & assessing what someone can do naturally feel it erodes his standing & accomplishments.

His great strategy, courage & work ethic cannot be doubted.
The trouble is twofold: that he cheated-& in a significant way-& that it seems likely that he needed to juice up to reach the level of upper body size & strength to execute that strategy so well against Tyson.

Just without the clinching allowed I feel he would have lost.
But how could he have been so shockingly strong-on still relatively thin legs-to handle Tyson that way naturally?
Unlike Tyson he did not have that same natural muscle & level of strength.

 

I think the first photo is real. Probably a photoshoot for a boxing mag shortly after beating Dwight for the 190 lb title.

 

His fights with Foreman and Douglas proved that he didn't need additional power.

 

Roids.

 

He was already 208 lbs. vs. Foreman, he added only ~ 9 lbs. afterwards.
But whatever he may have taken until that point, he needed all the strength he could get to fight bigger men like Bowe-when he first gained more weight-& handle Tyson in the clinches.

 

While I think young Evander was as dedicated and hard a trainer as any champ we've seen, at some point I think he may have taken a shortcut or two; not saying what they were, but I recall Hatfield saying something along the lines that Holyfield did like to party a bit too much - I want to say it was a response to a question on his now-defunct Dr Squat website, I can't seem to find it anywhere else

 

You are using the most unconvincing non-evidence ever-that he liked to party? That means nothing at all.
But do you not read the threads before you post? Again, here is the heavily citationed relevant section of Evander Holyfield's Wikipedia page.

Allegations of steroid and HGH use
On February 28, 2007, Holyfield was anonymously linked to Applied Pharmacy Services, a pharmacy in Alabama that was under investigation for supplying athletes with illegal steroids and human growth hormone (HGH). He denied ever using performance enhancers.[50]

Holyfield's name does not appear in the law enforcement documents reviewed. However, a patient by the name of "Evan Fields" caught investigators' attention. "Fields" shares the same birth date as Holyfield, October 19, 1962. The listed address for "Fields" was 794 Evander, Fairfield, Ga. 30213. Holyfield has a very similar address. When the phone number that, according to the documents, was associated with the "Fields" prescription, was dialed, Holyfield answered.[51]

On March 10, 2007, Holyfield made a public announcement that he would be pursuing his own investigation into the steroid claims in order to clear his name.[52]

Holyfield was again linked to HGH in September 2007, when his name came up following a raid of Signature Pharmacy in Orlando, Florida.[53] Signature Pharmacy was under investigation for illegally supplying several professional athletes with steroids and HGH.[54]

Now does this not represent overwhelming, multiple strands of evidence from escellent sources?