It’s easy to compare old photos of Kevin to Phil… but not accurate.
Ever since Kevin Levrone has announced his comeback the internet has been on fire with much controversy and enthusiasm. Kevin Levrone has always been a black horse favorite – a bodybuilder who is on the small list of competitors who probably deserved at least one Mr. Olympia title but never got a chance to shine for one reason or another. Maybe it was just bad timing but everyone agrees that Kevin Levrone, trophy or not, is a truly talented and skilled bodybuilder.
So of course everyone is starting to get really excited. Why? Well there is an optimistic undercurrent of fans who want to desperately believe that Kevin Levrone can beat Phil Heath. Forget about Kai Greene’s constant crusade – Kevin Levrone can come back from retirement and take it all away. They are constant comparison photographs showing a side-by-side comparison of Kevin next to Phil. Hell, we even posted one up when he first announced his comeback. Most likely this is all good fun. A way of making the sport exciting when so much of the results seem obvious from the start.
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But there’s a very big truth that we all have to face. Kevin Levrone is not the man he was all those years ago. “But what about Dexter Jackson? He’s older and still lands in the top 5 at Mr. Olympia every year!?” Surely some of you are thinking that right now. But there’s a huge difference between an “older” competitor who has consistently prepped for Olympia year after year… and Kevin Levrone, who has been out of the game for so long he has a lot of work to do to catch up.
Age, lack of recent competition experience, and timing have everything to do with how Kevin Levrone will place at the 2016 Mr. Olympia. This may sound cynical – but there’s no way he will have the exact same iconic physique he carried back in his prime. Will he do well? Sure, of course he can! But will he do better than the genetic freak named Phil Heath who’s much younger than him? Probably not. It’s fun to see these comparison photos. To see how, if Kevin had a time machine, he might in fact give Phil a run for his money like many other competitors can’t in this era of the sport. But that’s all it is right now – good fun.
Maybe we’re being really cynical. Maybe we’re just old misers. But the main point we’re trying to make here is to not get your hopes up. It’s fun to fantasize about a major upset or some sort of crazy shift in dynamics up on the big Mr. O stage. But the last thing we want are foolish dreams getting dashed with disappointment come the big September weekend.
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Let’s all give Kevin Levrone our support. He’s one hell of a bodybuilder and we can’t wait to see him get back in action after all these years. There’s no point in ragging on a man sticking with what he loves. But let’s not kid ourselves here. Much like how ever US sports telecaster tried to convince the nation that the US Men’s Soccer team could win the Copa America this past month (Okay, so maybe a soccer reference won’t land here – but the point still makes sense)… being optimistic can be fun and exciting but if we all start taking it seriously – we all end up looking stupid.
Here’s to hoping Kevin Levrone can shock us all with a big comeback. But odds are Phil Heath will win it again this year. And maybe we should all just start getting excited about someone honing in on Ronnie Coleman’s unstoppable 8x Mr. Olympia record. We just might have a 10x Olympia champ on our hands in a few years. That’s a realistic thing to be excited about.
Let’s let the past lie and start looking at the future. Kevin Levrone might surely be a part of that future. But not in a major way in 2016. Maybe another year – but not this one.
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