Toney Freeman joins a growing collection of athletes and experts who believe Flex Lewis has a strong shot to win the Mr. Olympia 2020.
One thing that will make the Mr. Olympia 2020 exciting is the fact that Flex Lewis will be competing for the first time in the Men’s Open division. Lewis is a 7x Men’s 212 Olympia champion and announced last year that he would be moving up to Men’s Open after retiring from the Men’s 212. It’s unknown what his heavier physique will look like as he has not competed in any other Men’s Open competitions before his debut at the Olympia. In our latest GI exclusive interview, Toney Freeman joins a growing list of athletes who believe that Flex Lewis can win the Mr. Olympia 2020.
Flex Lewis’ legendary status in the Men’s 212 division has brought him to supernatural levels of myth in the industry. So it was shocking to hear back in 2018 that he would be retiring from the division. He later confirmed that he would move up to the Men’s Open and make his debut at the Mr. Olympia 2020.
Without ever seeing him maintaining a Men’s Open physique, it’s hard to tell exactly how well he will do on the Olympia stage. What we do know is that he was near-perfect for his entire run competing in the Men’s 212 division. If he can bring that same level of physique at a bigger size – he can be a true threat to the Men’s Open Olympia line up.
But can he win? That’s the question on a lot of people’s minds as they wait for the Mr. Olympia later this December. Some dismiss him right away, not for lack of talent but for lack of experience in this heavier weight division. Other think he can place in the top 5 but not win the whole show. But there are some who are surprisingly confident that Flex Lewis can win the whole show. Throughout our series of interviews, Jerry Brainum and Hidetada Yamagishi have both stated he has a fair chance to win the whole show. We can now add Toney Freeman onto that list as well.
During our conversation with Freeman, he was almost baffled at his own response to our question. Can Flex Lewis do well at the Mr. Olympia 2020. Freeman believes that Lewis can win it all in his very first Men’s Open appearance. Why exactly does he believe that? Because Freeman has seen Lewis’ physique weighing at a higher weight.
Toney Freeman reflects back to earlier in the decade where he went out on the European tour. This is a typical series of big bodybuilding competitions after the Mr. Olympia. Freeman recalls seeing Flex Lewis weighing at around 230 pounds. What Freeman saw shocked him. With the added weight, Lewis’ physique was still incredible. It’s something that Freeman had rarely seen in his life.
“I’m a tell you, Flex Lewis, I can see him winning. I can see him winning it first time which is a very hard thing to do,” Toney Freeman states in our interview. “But I’ve seen Flex at 228, 232 [pounds], I’ve seen him… We went to Italy to guest pose together. Man, that ain’t what they want bro. Him at 232 is… I’m sorry.”
Vlad then chimes in to clarify. Is Flex Lewis at over 230 pounds too much? Does he not look as conditioned? Freeman responded:
“I’m just saying. There ain’t too many humans that have ever existed that can ever beat that. So I don’t know what he’s coming in at and he’s improved so much since then.”
Freeman goes on to say that Flex Lewis was always “killing himself” to get down to the lower weight limit. It seems Freeman is implying that Lewis was naturally born to build up to a larger size. Perhaps increasing mass won’t be too challenging for him.
Toney Freeman goes on to call Flex Lewis at a higher weight the “craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” Big and exciting words as we all wait with bated breath for his reveal later this December.
You can watch Toney Freeman’s full comments on Flex Lewis in our latest GI Exclusive interview segment above.
