Could the change in roadwork be behind the emergence of SHWs?

Although it would be cool to know names, he doesnt have to call people out like that.

 

Not knocking him at all-- I want to know what he's actually *seen*, as opposed to what he's read about or inferred. I'm not knocking him at all.

Sure, people who've undergone sudden physical transformations are obviously suspicious, but plenty of very big heavyweights of the past 30 years were big when they were very young and did not undergo such transformations. No basis for his huge generalization that the large heavies would all look underdeveloped but for roids. People who know how to eat and lift for gains can bulk up with or without peds.

 

Boxing appears to have been behind the curve. In the NFL the Pittsburgh Steelers were the cutting using DBall in the 70's. Watching Muhammad and Larry it is crazy how ignorant they were.

 

Has there been a change in road work ?
I think fighters do interval sprints as well as long slow runs.
And, actually, I seem to remember the old timers used to do the same thing, more or less.

Tyson Fury is heavyweight champion of the world, and I've seen his training. I've always said this "change to modern training methoods" nonsense is overstated, and Fury's training vindicates that. His "weights" regime is like watching a kid starting out, sloppy technique laughable on some basic not-so-boxing-specific exercises.
Boxers basically train the same they always did. They spar, they punch things, they condition their bodies for strength and stamina, and hit some things some more.
Even the fuss over Spinks and Holyfield in the 1980s was just mostly media interest gimmickry.
Besides, boxers and their trainings have always boasted of doing something new, special and/or secret in their training.

 

I agree.
I assume PEDs are widespread because they exist and a professional would be stupid not to use them. They exist in all sports, at all levels, and certainly at the elite level.
But the physique of most these fighters are not the evidence. Some of the users look unremarkable.
And Primo Carnera was huge a few years before synthetic testosterone was even on the market.

 

Muhammad Ali used drugs, including dangerous thyroid drugs. We only know this because his poor performance against Holmes was blamed on them. We have no idea what drugs he might have been given in the past, that he had no cause to complain about, ie. ones that enhanced his performance as intended.

Some of these athletes in the dark ages used drugs but didn't even have a clue what drugs they were using !

I think in other sports steroid use was fairly widespread before the late 1960s.

 

It's all speculation but I got the opposite impression. If he used the juice he wouldnt have been dabbling with a thyroid medication.


I dont think steriods were that common before 70s in the pro ranks., and very limited until the 80s. PED's consistred of speed and uppers previously.

 

Very true. Some dabbled with it but there was little true science behind its use. As the 80's and 90's unfolded it became a science and those that pushed its use became very adept.

Again there is typically a MARKED difference between the physical appearance of a PED user on vs off these drugs. This is most evident with the upper echelon fighters where they are putting huge efforts to push their body in training. The benifits of PEDS is the recovery time shortens between workouts so if you are motivated you can workout longer and more often.

 

Maybe its just me, but most of the heavys from that era were fat/overweight. Go right down the list, Weatherspoon, Dokes, Berbick,Page, Cobb, and so many others, most boxing writers during that era seemed to complain about the lack of conditioning for most of the top heavys. So if they were taking PEDS, they definitely did not look the part.

 

Without reading replies yet;

Could it be that interval training simply became more popular because athletes were getting bigger anyway, and had to find an alternative to traditional roadwork, but still train cardio?

 

While I agree, I think PED use has certainly become far more 'acceptable' among pro athletes (and at that, amateurs) and for me, the 80's is where it really started and has continued unabated to this day.

 

I find it strange that you take this stance. .

 

I don't think so. SHW's are usually but not always Eastern European more specifically Eastern Bloc. These countries have larger people on average than most places. We are only now seeing them in boxing because under the soviet rule they weren't allowed to go pro so the Amateur programs were boosted thus when the Soviet Union fell, they were allowed to go pro and had that ability to grow their skills in the amateurs. Those same programs are still around.

With these new super heavyweights coming in more super heavyweights from the United States have come out from the shadows because they are more accepted as there was a stigma around big men in boxing. They were thought to be unskilled and were known for being torn down like Primo Carnera and Jess Willard.