Prince
Board Sponsor
Many bodybuilding fans have been writing all over the message boards and Facebook groups asking this very question. And actually quite a few readers of Iron Magazine have contacted me through my Instagram and X accounts asking me what my thoughts are on The Persian Wolf taking back the Sandow in just a few months in Las Vegas. I don’t for a second think he doesn’t have a good chance especially after having won the Arnold Classic earlier this year in Columbus, Ohio. I think that Hadi has a tremendous physique and was able to do things that very few others could. Long before Derek, Hadi made the decision to cross over and fight for the top title. This is no small achievement.
For years he was considered to be a top challenger to the Welsh Dragon Flex Lewis and although he could never beat Lewis he set his sights on a title far bigger and far more prestigious title – the open Mr Olympia. There was a year where he won the people’s award but didn’t win the title. There was another year where he did. And there was another year when he took second. He has experienced defeat, victory, and now he is on the verge of quite possibly becoming the second man in 60 years of Olympia history to win back the Sandow. I think that the circumstances that allowed for Jay to win in 2009 were quite apparent. He lost the title to a competitor that while very good would not have been able to beat him at his prime. That is no disrespect to Dexter Jackson but I think we can all agree that Jay Cutler was off in 2008 and he was arguably off in 2007. He had just come off of a long run battling the greatest bodybuilder of all time in Ronnie Coleman. In 2006 he deserved the win but by 2007 he became bored with the sport. When he put everything into coming back and winning the title in 2009 the writing was on the wall. The title was his for the taking. Can we say the same thing in 2024 about Hadi?
Well that really depends because a lot of fans don’t believe that Hadi should have lost the title to begin with. They believe that he looked good enough to win in 2023 and should have been able to have done just that. What does that even mean, good enough to win?
https://www.ironmaglabs.com/2024/will-hadi-reclaim-the-sandow/