I think Abel Sanchez ruined GGG. Look how much speed he's lost!

[_Rexy_]

Haha, no shít right. To top it off this guy thinks Kovalev won 8-4 vs Ward. You figured with the internet people would get smarter as time wore on --- nope.

Internet makes people dumber. I have no idea how everyone remembers what they scored fights from years ago lol. I think the first fight I had Kov by 1 point (which was the KD)

[eco1]

I know age can cause what I'm describing, but so can high altitude training and recovery, according to Victor Conte. Conte even said if GGG switched training locations, he could still recover some of the speed, power, and stamina he's lost, even at this age. Conte was specific that it is the altitude training and sleeping that is causing such a sharp decline, not age. If anyone out there knows GGG and cares about him, I hope someone actually gets that info to HIM! It's tragic that someone outside his camp could know this info that is key to helping not just GGG's career but his health and his body, but that he should be ignorant to it or not have anyone around who knows enough to be able to educate him about this. I'm sure he would fix the problem if he knew about it.

Victor Conte is not a Doctor, and if he was, there is no documentation about this specific case.

So that is only an opinion and conjecture.

[4truth]

Other than Conte, is there another source claiming that high altitude training affects speed? I know for a fact that it increases the oxygen carrying capability of blood, which is a good thing and obviously the reason for doing it.

[Luilun]

Ruined him to 20 Title defenses

[GelfSara]

I discovered this old video of GGG doing the mitts, and his muscles are so much leaner, he's so much quicker on his toes, and his hand speed, my lord his hand speed, it's like a completely different fighter. He actually looks athletic and explosive and reflexive here, as opposed to the plodding GGG we see nowadays.

https://youtu.be/2t9xf5uIFRQ?t=742

You can also see a much faster (even in 20z? gloves!) and much more powerful GGG in this vid from 5 years ago https://youtu.be/kRsxQ5uSP0Y?t=101.

Victor Conte has a theory that training in altitude into his mid-thirties has ruined GGG. Conte says after working out in the day, the muscles repair themselves while you sleep, but at high altitude in Big Bear, there is not enough oxygen in the air to fully repair your muscle fibers. Conte says in your twenties, the body's cells repair themselves so quickly that the body can basically compensate for the lack of oxygen in the air, but that if you keep doing it into your thirties, the body can no longer compensate, and your lean, "high twitch muscle fibers," which apparently take the most work to repair themselves, do not fully repair themselves. And I believe Conte said that as a result, the body will replace the lean muscle fibers with more bulky muscle because that's easier for the body to build.

Well, when you look at GGG now compared to when he was 30, all his muscles are the exact same shape and in the exact same place, but they're all saggy and bulky now (compared to before). Bulkier muscle takes more oxygen to operate, killing your stamina (GGG started slow vs both Canelo and Jacobs but still gassed by the 10th round, something he never did in his prime). Bulky muscle is also much slower and less explosive (GGG has struggled to land his power punches in recent fights going all the way back to Lemieux, with a few exceptions, and could not even knock down a welterweight in Kell Brook over 5 rounds because he couldn't catch Brook flush with many power shots due to his loss of speed).

At this point, as a GGG fan, I care less about whether he beats Canelo or not, and more about someone getting this information to his team so that he can change camp locations and hopefully undo some of the alleged damage to his body before his career is over and it's too late. Because it's clear looking at that old video, the rate GGG is losing speed seems abnormal even for 36 years old, and even if Canelo doesn't beat him, someone else is going to do it, and probably have a much easier time than people expect, due to how much speed and athleticism GGG is losing.

Disclaimer: This post contains my general recollection of what Victor Conte said in the interview. A detail or two may be off, but the conclusion about high altitude training ruining the fast, high twitch muscle is absolutely accurate to what he said.

I don't have the time to address all of the misinformation in the above, but do you understand why athletes from the 1960s onward have routinely altitude-trained, and why athletes* who are born and mature at altitude are viewed as having a significant advantage over those who are born and mature at sea-level?

As a general suggestion, also: Always try to familiarize yourself with both--or all probable--sides of an argument.

*If they compete in events which are significantly dependent on aerobic capacity.

[Larry the boss]

wtf??? that was 4 years ago...you do realize time exist right?

[_Rexy_]

Other than Conte, is there another source claiming that high altitude training affects speed? I know for a fact that it increases the oxygen carrying capability of blood, which is a good thing and obviously the reason for doing it.

I'd love to see the combined record of everyone who's trained out of Big Bear. I don't recall at what point during Oscar's career he started training there, but off the top of my head, there's only three L's between Gassiev, Golovkin, Barerra and Joyce.

(I know Abel trains more, but that's just off the top of my head)

[GelfSara]

I HAVE A DIFFERENT THEORY.

GGG was taking roids between 2010-2015.

Then VADA testing came, and he stopped taking them. Lost speed, lost power, lost muscle definition. BJS mentioned this as well.

If you are a fighter who uses PEDs, why would you discontinue PEDs and enroll in VADA testing if some of your opponents--including your biggest potential payday--are not enrolled? Why knowingly go into a fight with someone who is obviously, visibly doping without doping yourself?

Additionally, if you are arguing that GGG was using anabolic steroids in particular, how do you reconcile that with the fact that GGG has not only shown very little change in body composition from 2015 to May of 2018--in marked contrast to the Incredible Shrinking Canelo--but is now looking somewhat larger and more muscular than ever before?

[Motorcity Cobra]

Don't know if you're familiar with the aging process but everything you describe is natural.

[Motorcity Cobra]

You are a hell of a talker. I don't have the desire or energy to answer your small books. I don't agree with most of what you are saying. Who is Canelo? He is the biggest draw in boxing and like GGG he is in the top 10 PFP on almost everybody's list because he is a hell of a good fighter. That is who Canelo is. GGG vs Canelo is by far the biggest fight in boxing mainly because it's two of the best fighters in the world fighting each other.

This whole topic is one big wall of text