Is Holyfield an example of how PED's really did take a fighter to the next level?

Some would say he never beat Bowe with them.

 

I love these people that act so naive.
Of course he took steroids and its been documented.
He started off as a lightheavy went up to cruiser and then heavy.
And yes steroids aided him in that.
I've sparred with people who were on the juice before and after.
And let me tell you when they were juiced they had INSANE strength.
Known alot of people on the juice even when I was in High School.
Yes you still have to workout and eat right but the gains from roids are out of this world!!!?
Give you a quick example:
A family member of mine started lifting weights in High School. Never took steroids. Worked out all the time. Got stronger year after year. Senior year he had put on maybe 30lbs in four years. Strong as a bull.
Friend of mine started lifting his freshman year.
Worked out all the time. But he added steroids his sophomore year.
By his junior year he had gained 45lbs of SOLID muscle. He was a freaking MONSTER who was freakishly strong.

 

There was some study I saw once with 4 groups over a certain amount of time
Group A) no roids, no working out
Group B) roids, working out
Group C) no roids, working out
Group D) roids, no working out

Group A built no muscle, group B built 12 pounds of muscle, group C 3 pounds, and group D that didn't work out at all but did roids still gained 6 pounds of muscle. That stuff works.

 

Its actually insane when you actually feel the difference.
Like some of the guys I sparred with who were never trying to hide that they juiced were just so freaking strong.
I mean it was like you were sparring a heavyweight and the guy was really only a welterweight.
And like I said I had sparred some of the people BEFORE they juiced and the difference between the strength they had while juicing was out of this world.
Also no a guy that was about 155/160lbs and he liked to lift weights and he also juiced.
One day we were messing around the bench press and he and another guy got into who was stronger.
The other guy outweighed him by about 40lbs but didn't juice.
The non juicer got to 285/290lbs........ The one that juiced? Did 350lbs!!!!

 

Even if we accept that he was on some kind of HGH protocol, which seems very likely, we don't know when he started with that and if he was on more regular steroids before.

Let's say he was clean at CW. He was right at the limit at his last fights there, which suggests that he was a bit over 190. Maybe 195 if he didn't have to make weight, but could also be more. From there he then put on some 15 lbs of lean mass. Is that doable over 8 moths at the age of 26 without PEDs? No expert, but at the very least it seems to require a very large change in diet and training, and he certainly did change things up.

 

His era is interesting because it was just open season.

What's amazing is that today the HWs are even larger.

People who were picked to be pro HWs hitting their prime with Holyfield were probably getting involved with trainers in the late 70s? @cross_trainer could this be indirect evidence that boxing trainers at that time weren't considering steroids because they were still assuming that a guy who is 6'6"+ 250+ couldn't box for 15 rounds?

Otherwise they would have been scouting kids that size instead of the Tysons and Holyfields?

 

Holyfield’s weight gain isn’t that unusual. Lennox Lewis gained just under 30lbs of lean muscle during his career too. It was the 90’s so probably all hitting the juice way easier back then. With Holyfield the skills were already undoubtedly great and peds wouldn’t have given him any more heart or that warriors code in abundance.

 

Thanks,

 

Did Lewis gain that weight after the age of 28?

 

If Holyfield is an example of gaining muscle mass with the help of PED's, his journey through categories is his career.
By that logic, Thomas Hearns would also use PED's 101%.
The question is whether there is a top sport at all without any use of PED's ever.
PED's are also used by cyclists, who look like atomweight boxers.

 

The difference is Hearns FORCED himself to make Welterweight- it was not a natural weight for him.
He's 6'1 he isn't suppose to weigh 147lbs.
And as you usually get older you do pick up weight.
Hearns at cruiser had no muscle definition like he did at middle or Lightheavy.

 

That is an excellent point about Tyson, when he couldn't come forward he stood straight up in front of whoever was in front of him, all target . That's why I think Tyson would have been killed against a Foreman or Liston type fighter

 

Holy was 26 when he bulked up. By that age Lewis was barely 230.

 

He only stood up/squared up post prison when washed up...................he was half the fighter he was before prison , he fought on pure talent after jail and Evan Fields still needed all the PED's in the world and literally threw everything but the kitchen sink at Tyson to get a standing TKO in the eleventh hour