Chris Cormier believes Keone Pearson will successfully defend his title in October.
The Men’s 212 division during the 2023 Olympia featured one of the most shocking results from the show. It is expected to be one of the best battles one stage once again come October. During a recent edition of The Menace Podcast, Chris Cormier and company discussed the division and he believes there will be a repeat champion.
“I have to go with the champion. No one has that. If you hit that with those quads, that’s going to make the judges be like ‘that’s our guy right there.'”
[RELATED: Keone Pearson Responds To 212 Olympia Controversy]
Keone Pearson emerged as a star in bodybuilding in a short amount of time. His pro career, beginning in 2016, started in Classic Physique before making the move to 212. He spent a few years in the division before going head-to-head and defeating Shaun Clarida.
Chris Cormier Details Keone Pearson’s Quads
Clarida played around with the idea of competing in Men’s Open during the 2023 Olympia. He qualified with a victory during the 2022 Legion Sports Fest Pro. He ultimately decided to return and defend his 212 title, which Pearson was able to take.
Chris Cormier discussed Clarida and believes he will come in with great size but Pearson could gain an advantage with his overall conditioning and thickness.
“Shaun, the Giant Killer, he looked like granite. Hard, hard like way, I won’t say way but he was significantly more dense and harder than The Prodigy. He looks like he should be looking right now but that was like the standard.
Those feathers on the quads like that. It was like okay, I’m in shape but that’s what we was always trying to look like at the height of this bodybuilding history.”
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Pearson has been focusing on fine-tuning his physique further coming off his first Olympia title. He has taken time away from competition in order to focus on details needed to repeat, primarily within his diet plan.Â
“He’s been training a lot harder and more concentrated on the diet year-round before he was able to let the foot off the gas through the diet and training in the offseason and then picking it up trying to ramp it up. It seemed like he stayed way more concentrated this year.”
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