by Christian Duque
The question of whether or not an athlete’s time has passed is one that no one really likes to talk about, especially not the athlete. But as the old saying goes you have to strike the iron while it’s hot.
For The Persian Wolf I would say that was several years ago. When he made the decision to leave the 212 for the open it seemed like all the stars were aligning for him; however, I feel that his reluctance to move out West, especially to the United States, caused a severe setback for him in terms of his career.
The reality of the matter is he chose to remain in one of the most isolated countries in the world. Every year the question of whether or not he can get a visa to even compete on the best stages on the planet remains in question. This is not good in terms of him being able to line up various business opportunities in the fitness industry. It also creates an impasse for anyone that wants to go to see him. It’s not like Iran is a top destination for many westerners around the world. In fact, the state department highly cautions against any travel to that particular country. But in addition to the fact he refused to move to the United States, he has largely been dependent on a manager who he no longer works with. Right now his only lifeline is to his coach, which also happens to be his sponsor.
When Hadi won the People’s Champion award everybody in that auditorium thought he was going to win the title. And he could have won the title but didn’t. It was at that moment he should have done the Arnold Classic or at least maybe a couple of different shows and won some key titles around the world. He should have done countless guest posing appearances. He should’ve capitalized on that prestigious title but he did not. He became just another champion who does one show a year.
The problem is his placings started to suffer and now in 2022 I honestly don’t know if he can even remain in the top six, let alone the top three. The question of whether or not his time has passed is a very relevant one. And it’s one that I don’t think has escaped his coach, who also happens to be his sponsor.
With Hany now working with Derek Lunsford, Chris Bumstead, and Brandon Hendrickson, many fans are wondering how long it will be until he requires The Persian Wolf to really step it up. That being said this particular competitor has had some accusations made about him with regards to site enhancing and I am certainly not going to make any accusations here, but I will say that in terms of his physique it is very possible that we have seen the best of him that we will see. If that is the case and the highest he could get was third and I don’t know if he would be able to surpass those placings moving forward. The reality of the matter is he may want to do more shows than just the Olympia. That would be my suggestion although I don’t think it would be one that he would take into account. Once top competitors get used to competing only once a year that is all they know. That is all they want to know.
I have never been a fan of automatic qualifications and so long as a competitor is in the top six they never have to qualify again. I think that’s a problem not only because it does a disservice to the fans and does not grow the sport but it puts all of the competitor’s eggs in one basket. If Hadi took a place out of the top six in 2022 he may not want to re-qualify for the 2023 competition. He may quit.
Now I know that many people reading this article are probably scratching their head, dumbfounded, that I would even suggest that someone who has been in contention to win the competition would not place in the top six, but this year‘s event has a very very deep lineup. And let’s not forget that Hadi is a former 212 competitor. That does not mean that he is at any disadvantage in terms of his physique, but he is considerably shorter than many other competitors he is going up against. And he can only put so much muscle on his physique. So at one point or another height will factor in. And while bodybuilding is not a tall man’s sport, it’s also not a short man’s one either.
I honestly don’t know what Hadi will do if he does not get a good placing. That being said I don’t anticipate he will do much better than fourth or fifth. I would love to be totally wrong, but I feel like I’m totally right. If he were to place outside of the Top
6, I don’t think it would be a stretch to say he would get dropped from his supplement sponsor and probably need to find himself a new coach. Given the fact he no longer works with his longtime manager, 2023 could be a very bad year for The Persian Wolf if he took a bad placing in Las Vegas Nevada. Again, I hope I’m wrong but I really feel like things could go south in a very real kind of way.
What say you? I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. As always thank you for reading my article, here, at Iron Magazine.
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