Which old timer gets the furthest in this era if they had the roids of today?

That’s easy to answer.

Peter Courtney.

The only way is up…..with max. room for improvement.

If only he had access in 1894, he would’ve knocked Corbett’s block off in Edison’s Black Maria, thereby securing an actual shot at the title to knock Corbett’s block off again.

The rest of the HW contenders are PED Pete’s oysters thereafter.

 

Ya know what, I'm going to go for Harry Greb. PEDs improve recovery time and he was constantly fighting. For sure he had an endless series of minor woes that reduced his effectiveness in the ring. Secondly PEDs help muscle mass and power. Greb wasn't particularly heavy handed, and that is one of his few "faults" as a boxer if you can call it that. Crank up his power a couple of notches and he'd have been even more dangerous.

 

jack johnson would be my pick.

 

Jack Dempsey
Or Joe Louis.

 

Dempsey

 

It's Sam Langford.

9 division champion from Lightweight to Heavyweight and nobody would do a thing about it, aside from Usyk and maybe Fury.

 

Joe Louis would never lose at some monster weight with injectables for horse stamina… Chisora has stamina like Frazier and he’s a house… imagine Ol Joe? I’d assume he’d be putting on 20-30lbs of tissue, provided he lifts.

 

Can you imagine how explosive SRR would look with the best PEDs money can buy (and mask)?

 

PEDS isn't going to turn an ectomorph into a mesomorph. Ali was an inch taller and had the same frame as Arnold. Imagine Ali at 240 pounds with all the attributes he had when he was lighter. Peak Arnold weighed 235 pounds.

 

No Ezzard Charles? Fine I'll do it myself imagine if he actually was healthy during his time at HW and LHW. In today's divisions he would dominate at least 4 and probably be competitive in a 5th.

 

Charles was unhealthy at light-heavyweight?

 

Didn't he start suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease around that time or am I misremembering?

 

Theyd probably help all of them. People dont cheat by taking them because they dont work.

 

The guy who would probably benefit the most from PEDs would be some fighter from the past who was tall for a weight class but was not physically strong enough naturally. Tall, thin people, obviously have always had the reach and length advantage, but before PEDs many of them weren't strong enough or durable enough to be top fighters. The day before weigh in assists PED users too. The leaner fighter has more muscle weight and muscle has more water than fat, so the fighter who is leaner can dehydrate more for weigh in and regain the weight with fluids by the next day.

Regardless, any fighter that used PEDs would be leaner, stronger, and faster than they would be without the PEDs. If there was a test that could detect all PED use, the top fighters of today would probably look more like the top fighters of the 40s-50s. You wouldn't see the freakishly tall fighters that are common in boxing today.

I suspect that by the 60s-70s PEDs were prevalent in boxing. By then the 6-3 (now most top heavyweights are 6-5 and taller) heavyweights were agile, and could move, and were becoming common. Prior to then, 6-3 and above heavyweights were rare and what they gained in height they lost in athleticism.

Rocky, exactly, athletes take PEDs because they work.