How is a 46 yr. old able to trade bombs in the 12th round????

Peds

 

Again, I clearly specified with my own thread early in the week that I was 100% convinced Hopkins & Pacquiao are clean. I'm sure in their own little way, they are just special.

Hopkins doing something amazing at such an advanced age can easily compare to Pacquiao beating bigger guys while moving up to a certain point.

I just wanted to point out the double standard when it comes to Pacman... If Hopkins gets a free pass, why can't Pacman ?

 

With today's scientific and medical breakthroughs, I am pretty sure it has to be some sort of drug to make him perform the way he did despite his age. Fact. :good

 

Christ Almighty, the most annoying thing here is that almost all of these posts about PED's and the supposed boxers who are using them are obviously created by those who have very little understanding (I don't necessarily mean qualifications but it would help) on training, nutrition and PEDS.
I have been around athletes of all kinds for 10 years, and sponsor a large number of bodybuilders who do use PEDS so feel qualified to speak on such issues. While I am no authority on picking who is using and who isn't there are clearly some identifying points which can't be disputed.

While I can appreciate the scepticism regarding Pac as his ability to maintain stamina and speed while increasing muscle mass and strength significantly (it's the combination here which is the worry not any of these factors individually) is exceptionally rare, to question Hopkins is silly.

Hopkins shows absolutely no physical signs of PED use, his muscularity is still minimal for his 6 foot plus frame and his conditioning has reduced ever so slightly with age and as his weight has increased - which is what would be expected from an athlete who looks after himself incredibly well, but is never the less suffering the inevitable decline of aging.

His stamina has fallen which he has dealt with by lowering his work rate and he also looks as if he has chosen to conserve energy by reducing his punching power somewhat (which is why he rarely gets Ko's these days).

He can trade so well in the twelth as he paces himself very well, has a minimal output and is an absolute gym rat. Simple as that, if that isn't obvious people need to do a little research.

For those who seem determined to speculate that he is using, feel free to enlighten us with what it is exactly you feel he may be using?

 

So can anyone take this miracle drug and become champion? :huh

 

You are one funny Hopkins fan.

For the sake of our dying sport, let go and support Floyd's Random Olympic Drug Testing. This is the only way to go. Fact.

 

What physical signs does he show?

I am not referring to his ability to fight, I highlighted the reasons why I think he still performs well in the original post.

Do you think his muscularity is unnatural for a 46 year old man who has maintained very low body fat levels all of his life whilst training hard?

At over 6 foot and around 10% bodyfat (even on fight night he would be no lower) at 175 lb's this is well and truly within the natural range for a guy who has a solid frame like him. Infact, I am sure he could hold quite a bit more muscle naturally as he looks to have great genetics, however he realises to do so would affect his cardio ability (which is more important to a boxer)

Can you show that he has put on significant amounts of weight in a short time while maintaining fitnesss, strength and speed?

The biggest problem with those who write about peds here unfortuantely have no idea what signs to actually look for.
I have no issue with those who question boxers or any athletes about PED use if there questing follows logic, with Hopkins I just can't see the logic though.

 

steroids

 

First off thanks for your feedback being somewhat in the field but here are a few pointers...

- Go look at Pacquiao's weigh-ins versus his live day weights when he was fighting at 130. Compare them with today's weigh-ins and his fight day weights. You'll immediately see and understand that the guy hasn't really gained much mass at all !!

His increased power is a prolonged myth here. He gets guys worn out by landing repetitious combos...rounds after rounds. No fighter can sustain being hit by hundreds of flush shots without having his face messed up... The other aspect is that he nails bigger guys with punches they never see coming, that's why sometimes they fall cause they get caught by something they simply couldn't defend against the impact.

Pacquiao now trains from day 1 to the last day without having to cut weight. That's huge in the world of boxing !! Cutting weight during training camp for most guys takes energy away...

- In regards to Hopkins, go back and watch all his fights in the last 10 years. Against Pascal he sustained a same or better work rate as he's possibly done in the last 10 years, all while pressing forward (chasing Pascal) non stop for 12 full rounds, which he hasn't done since fighting the much smaller DLH in 2004.

To me, if Pacquiao & Hopkins would be taking anything, it certainly would have to be in regards to their stamina, not PEDs based on strength, power or muscles mass.

In the end, I'm sure we're simply witnessing 2 special athletes and lets just appreciate them for it !!

 

Great post :good When Barry Bonds signed with the San Francisco Giants in 1993 he wore a 10 and a half shoe size. After he was in his forties his shoe size grew to 13 :admin Bonds, McGwire, Canseco, Sosa, Clemens all showed signs of steroid use. I don't see it with Hopkins :-(

 

I am certainly not saying Pac is using PED's. His circumstances are more suspicious than Hopkins' though.
Genetic factors are the biggest limiter to how much muscle people can put on, and unfortunately (particularly if the muscle gain is natural) some very clear compromises are evident.
Time and time again I see people who have put on 20-30lb's + plus over their natural size (natural size being defined as that in an untrained state) and cardiovascular fitness always suffers, as well as their speed.

Another issue which makes it much harder for boxers to put on muscle is that the cardio training they do is extremely catabolic. Basically, the body is designed to be fit or muscular and the ability to maintain muscle mass when 5+ hours of cardo is done each day is very difficult.
The higher the level of fitness tha harder it is to hold onto that muscle.

It's a reason why guys like Lacy and Urango get gassed. Get them to stop the weights for 6 months and focus on cardio training and there stamina will improve - though it may not make them any better as boxers!

Marathon runners and strength athletes are great examples here. The runner incredibly fit, but lacks any strength. The heavyweight olympic lifter incredibly strong but loses breath walking up a flight of stairs.

Comparisons to Adamek and Haye are good examples. Adamek displays exactly what you would expect from a fighter who has added muscle. His work rate has slowed and his phyiscal conditioning has deteriorated (as in he now carries more body fat) than previously.
Realistically (when you factor in the fact he now has no need to dehydrate for weigh in's) he is likely only carrying 10lb more muscle than previously.

Considering his total bodyweight the increases are very little as a percentage and perfectly feasible naturally. Haye is a little different, while he has put on muscle he was likely artificially reducing his weight before to a level where he was borderline malnourished.

In these situations athletes can usually put on muscle just by increasing their food intake (I've seen regular Joes's put on 10lb of muscle from doing nothing but this) - which is the reason Hopkins looked so much better at 175 than he did all those years at 160lb's.
With Haye I put the increases (which are actually far less than Pac's as a percentage when you consider that he isn't dehydrating anymore for wegh in's) down to that.

Again, I make no judgements on whether Pac is using PEDS, however I do appreciate that his situation is much more suspicious than any other boxer at the moment. I love him as a fighter though, takes on all comers and is unquestionably the best P4P at the moment considering his blitz through the divisions and his opposition.

My analysis here has nothing to do with which fighters I like, rather an objective view of physical factors taht are easily observed by anyone.

 

haha, dont bring hopkins into the floyd pac debacle

 

I guess one way of finding out is by asking him to take some tests.

If he says no, we're all within right to have suspicions.

For the record tho, i reakon he's clean!

 

I agree....

But if a 46 year old keeps trading punches with a contender in his prime then this man has to be automatically guilty! :good