AJ - The Weight Loss

[SAPFO]

He started his career pretty slim, although still a big guy. He then had an unusually huge shot term gain of muscle, some would say akin to a man on the juice. And most recently, he drops all the body armour, and comes in like a stereotypical man now off the juice.....

I’m not making any accusations, I’m just making a comparison.

[Controversial]

He has said he always hit the weights hard and would try and lift the most he could, he has laid off the weights and sparred a lot more, his body now not so pumped up.

[dbf]

He has said he always hit the weights hard and would try and lift the most he could, he has laid off the weights and sparred a lot more, his body now not so pumped up.

This isn't accurate. He hasn't said he always hit the weights hard. In fact he's often said he doesn't do any typical weight training, such as bench pressing, power lifting etc, often saying he preferred explosive pylometric exercises and body weight resistance exercises. He said in this camp his focus was on boxing and not strength and conditioning (not to be confused with 'hitting weights hard).

He never tried to lift as 'much as he could' in fact he often favoured lower weights and higher reps - he's gone on record about this numerous times over the years.

[Controversial]

He has said he always hit the weights hard and would try and lift the most he could, he has laid off the weights and sparred a lot more, his body now not so pumped up.

This isn't accurate. He hasn't said he always hit the weights hard. In fact he's often said he doesn't do any typical weight training, such as bench pressing, power lifting etc, often saying he preferred explosive pylometric exercises and body weight resistance exercises. He said in this camp his focus was on boxing and not strength and conditioning (not to be confused with 'hitting weights hard).

He never tried to lift as 'much as he could' in fact he often favoured lower weights and higher reps - he's gone on record about this numerous times over the years.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07wxzn7

Listen to him last week before the fight, he said 'I used to try and squat 200kg (440 lbs) and bench press a house', that suggests he was lifting heavy and he said he won fights using brute strength.

[dbf]

This isn't accurate. He hasn't said he always hit the weights hard. In fact he's often said he doesn't do any typical weight training, such as bench pressing, power lifting etc, often saying he preferred explosive pylometric exercises and body weight resistance exercises. He said in this camp his focus was on boxing and not strength and conditioning (not to be confused with 'hitting weights hard).

He never tried to lift as 'much as he could' in fact he often favoured lower weights and higher reps - he's gone on record about this numerous times over the years.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07wxzn7

Listen to him last week before the fight, he said 'I used to try and squat 200kg (440 lbs) and bench press a house', that suggests he was lifting heavy and he said he won fights using brute strength.

Fair play, I hadn't heard that before and have heard him dispel the fact that people thought by looking at his physique he was lifting heavy. It seems he did used to lift big. You were accurate - apologies!

[Controversial]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07wxzn7

Listen to him last week before the fight, he said 'I used to try and squat 200kg (440 lbs) and bench press a house', that suggests he was lifting heavy and he said he won fights using brute strength.

Fair play, I hadn't heard that before and have heard him dispel the fact that people thought by looking at his physique he was lifting heavy. It seems he did used to lift big. You were accurate - apologies!

No worries bud, the slimmer AJ would certainly suggest he laid off the heavy weights for the rematch.

[Bard of Boxrec]

I remember bemoaning his muscleman approach when he was coming through, why do they do it? He should have just stayed leaner throughout, it wouldn’t have made any difference to his power or the results of his fights. Now he’s had to cut muscle and that can’t help, compared to if he’d just been leaner to begin with. Roy Jones was ruined when he tried to cut back down to 175 from heavyweight.

[forcefraser]

If AJ fights like that from now on he is not gonna fill Wembley Stadium

People want action and brutal knockouts. That's life. He has to deliver what they want.

[emallini]

Losing weight is just a calorie deficit

[lillywhite14]

Didn’t he lift big before he started boxing? I remember him talking about being skinny, then moving away from Watford and hitting the weights.

He’s actually a fairly lean bloke, naturally.

[samwbr]

He will put some back on if it's Pulev next.

[Bard of Boxrec]

I hope not. Doesn’t matter anyway what he weighs against Pulev, that one’s over inside 3, but it’d be easier for rest of his career if he stays lighter now.