With the 2024 Mr. Olympia contest approaching in five months, fans and bodybuilding veterans are analyzing the Men’s Open lineup. In a recent YouTube video, Dexter Jackson opened up on who could become the next long-reigning champion. Additionally, he explained why Nick Walker can’t defeat Hadi Choopan on the sport’s biggest stage.
In 2023, Derek Lunsford unseated Hadi Choopan as Mr. Olympia with ironclad back shots and a dominant posing routine. This victory cemented Lunsford as the sport’s first-ever two-division Mr. Olympia champion. With the Sandow trophy regularly changing hands, the bodybuilding community is unsure who will walk away in triumph later this year In Las Vegas, Nevada.
Aside from Choopan, a handful of contenders have their eye on gold, which includes 2022 Olympia third-place finisher Nick Walker and 2023 Arnold Classic winner Samson Dauda. But with other notable threats such as Andrew Jacked, Brandon Curry, and Mamdouh “Big Ramy” Elssbiay looming in the background, the annual event promises to be filled with non-stop action and unpredictable storylines.
Dexter Jackson Talks 2024 Mr. Olympia Contenders, ‘I Don’t Think Nick Can Beat Hadi’
Due to his muscle mass, fullness, and density, Jackson argues that Nick Walker cannot defeat Hadi Choopan on the 2024 Mr. Olympia stage.
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“First of all, Nick, I don’t think Nick can beat Hadi. I think right now, Hadi is probably — me personally, I like them all but from top to bottom, muscle mass, fullness, I mean he got that old man muscle. He’s got a lot of dense muscle. Hadi is very hard to beat when he’s in shape.”
Cicherillo concurred with Jackson, underlining that the reigning champion Derek Lunsford is the only man who can give Choopan trouble.
“He’s missing very few things. The only guy that could beat him, well obviously, Derek beat him, but he’s got to have Hadi off a little bit to do that in my opinion. Samson beats them all. If he had Dexter’s conditioning, nobody beats Samson for the next five years,” shares Bob Cicherillo.
“Yeah, 100 percent,” says Jackson.
If Jackson had to pick who could go on a run and win four Mr. Olympia titles, he believes that distinction would go to Samson Dauda, but only if he brought the same conditioning as Hadi Choopan.
“If you had to pick one guy to have a run of four, five, six Mr. Olympias, who would it be? asks Terrick El Guindy.
“I don’t see nobody doing that. If Samson can nail the conditioning, if Samson had Hadi’s conditioning, he could do it but I don’t see nobody winning four straight right now,” shares Jackson.
Cicherillo states that there are no contenders who he believes could become a long-reigning titleholder, like Ronnie Coleman or Phil Heath.
“Dexter is always dead on the money. First of all, I agree with you Dex. We got some better talent coming in. I think it’s well-timed because it looked like we had a little slump there for a while. You got some talent coming in. Quinton Beastwood, you got Samson, you got Andrew Jacked. You got some big boys coming in that got a little bit better shape, better balance, they are big guys, over six feet tall,” shares Bob Cicherillo.
“I don’t believe even with the current stack that we are going to see in our lifetime a seven or eight-time Mr. Olympia winner. These are generational and we kind of used ours up with Phil Heath.”
Due to genetics, Cicherillo doesn’t think Dauda can achieve the same conditioning levels as Hadi Choopan.
“Samson Dauda is never going to have conditioning like Hadi Choopan or Dexter Jackson okay? He doesn’t have that in his genes to do it. My point is, he doesn’t have to be the world’s most ripped guy on stage, he just has to be conditioned enough,” explains Cicherillo.
Dexter Jackson laid out paths to the 2024 Mr. Olympia victory for a handful of top contenders in the Open class.
“Derek has to contain, Derek has to be much better from the front,” says Dexter Jackson. “Hadi, I think there’s not much that he can change. He can try and, I mean, his legs, even his waist is not that smaller than Derek’s but his legs are so round that his waist still looks round. It don’t look too blocky. Hadi doesn’t have to change much.”
“Samson needs conditioning. He needs to be the best Samson he has ever been in order to win. Brandon Curry, conditioning. If Brandon can get into condition like a Hadi, he can win. Andrew needs to get bigger. He needs to be bigger, fuller, and for him to win, I think he has to bring his hamstrings up as well.”
‘The Blade’ believes Walker should focus on size instead of trying to match the conditioning of his rivals.
“Nick, I think Nick needs to be big Nick and not come in trying to be super shredded, trying to come into match Hadi’s conditioning. He needs to be big with conditioning of course, but don’t try to match condition.”
The 2008 Mr. Olympia has doubts about Ramy’s ability to come back and find success.
“If Big Ramy competes, going back to the Arnold, that Arnold that he did after the Olympia, yeah, he come in like that, I don’t think he can win. I don’t think he’ll ever win again. I think he can put himself back in the mix again if he can duplicate that conditioning he had at the Arnold Classic.”
Jackson isn’t the only name in the sport assessing Big Ramy’s future in the IFBB Pro League. Recently, bodybuilding veteran Shawn Ray took a closer look at the former two-time Mr. Olympia’s potential. He underlined that the 2024 Mr. Olympia is a ‘make-it-or-break-it year for Ramy.
All roads lead to the 2024 Mr. Olympia competition set to celebrate its 60th anniversary. Don’t miss the bodybuilding action unfolding from October 10-13 later this year.
Watch the full video from the Olympia TV YouTube channel below:
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