You know, it’s funny how things stick in your head. I remember sitting with my brother-in-law, watching one of Canelo’s fights a while back. Wasn’t even paying super close attention, more focused on the chips and dip if I’m being honest. But my brother-in-law, he’s a huge boxing nut, starts going on about how different Canelo looked compared to his earlier fights. Said he was built like a tank now.
Me? I couldn’t really remember his early days that well. But the comment kinda lingered. Then later, you hear all the noise about failed tests and stuff. Clenbuterol, right? It got me curious, not really about the cheating part, but just the physical change. Was it really that noticeable? I’m a bit older now, my own body’s changed plenty, not always for the better, ha! So, I figured, why not take a look myself? Just for my own curiosity, see if I could spot what everyone was talking about.
My Little Investigation Project
So, what did I do? Wasn’t anything fancy. I basically just decided to make a little timeline.
- Step 1: Picture Hunting. I started digging up photos online. Went way back, trying to find pics from when he was younger, fighting at lower weights. Then grabbed shots from around the time the controversy hit, and then more recent ones. Saved them all into a couple of folders on my computer, labelled like “Early Canelo,” “Mid-Career,” “Recent.”
- Step 2: Side-by-Side Look. Then I just opened them up, put an early picture next to a later one. Simple as that. I wasn’t looking for anything specific at first, just generally comparing.
- Step 3: Watching Old Clips. Pictures only tell you so much, right? So, I went and found some old fight highlights on the web. Watched bits from his fights against Mayweather, Cotto, then compared them to clips from the GGG fights and later bouts. I wasn’t analyzing technique, just looking at his build, how he moved, his general size in the ring.
- Step 4: Remembering the News. While I was doing this, I naturally remembered reading about the failed test. Didn’t dig deep into the science of it, just recalled the headlines and his explanation about contaminated meat. Added that context in my head to the timeline I was building.
What I Noticed (Just My Take)
Okay, so doing this wasn’t exactly rocket science, but it was interesting just going through the process.
Early Days: Yeah, he definitely looked leaner back then. Still muscular, obviously, he’s a pro athlete, but more compact, maybe? Especially when he fought at junior middleweight.
Middle/Later Period: Comparing those early pics and clips to the ones from around the GGG fights and after, yeah, there was a difference. He looked thicker, particularly around the shoulders and back. More dense, maybe? His neck seemed thicker too. Now, guys fill out as they get older, especially moving up in weight, so there’s that. Plus, training changes, diets change. It’s never just one thing.
Did I see proof of steroids? Nah, I’m just a guy looking at pictures and videos on my computer. You can’t tell that from just looking. But could I see a physical transformation? Yeah, definitely. He got bigger, more muscular over the years. The timing of some of the more noticeable changes seemed to be around the time he was moving up in weight significantly and, yeah, around the time the clenbuterol thing happened.
So, that was my little project. Didn’t solve any great mystery, but satisfied my own curiosity. It’s kinda wild how athletes’ bodies change over their careers, whether it’s naturally getting older, training harder, moving weights, or… other stuff. Makes you think.
