Jose Raymond is considered by many fans and fellow bodybuilders to be one of the greatest amateur and professional competitors of all time. He was a mainstay of the Olympia scene from 2008 until he called it a career in 2018. He is a former Arnold Classic 212 champion, and if it hadn’t been for the race of the A seven-time Olympia 212 Flex Lewis champion, Raymond could have won at least one Olympia in his career.
“The Boston Mass” joined Dennis James, Milos Sarcev and Chris Cormier for a recent episode of “The Menace Podcast,” and Raymond shared his thoughts on the current crop of competitors in the 212 Division. Besides former champions Shaun Clarida and Kamal Elgargni, Raymond shared that he is a fan of Ukrainian Oleh Kryvyi.
“He’s amazing too. It was unfortunately forgotten last year,” he insisted. “Crazy, short, thick and wide conditioning. He might need a little more leg sweep, but he’s very dangerous… I’d put him in the top five.
As James had done with other guests, he put Raymond on the spot and asked him for a top five prediction for this year’s Olympia 212 contest, and Raymond was quick to comply.
“Clarida, Kamal, Kerrith Baijo, Oleh and Bryan Balzano.”
Cormier noted that Keone Pearson was conspicuously absent from this list. Raymond shared a positive opinion of Pearson, but explained why he wasn’t on the list.
“That’s how difficult this decision is. He’s clearly the winner if he’s 100%, but I don’t see him being 100%. I have not seen it again. The builds he’s made so far will be beaten by those guys I just talked about.
The only way to see how Raymond’s predictions pan out is to be in Las Vegas for the 2022 Olympia weekend on December 16.e up to 18 years olde or by watching the pay-per-view on OlympiaProductions.com .
You can see this full episode of TMP as well as all episodes of the show by subscribing to the Muscle & Fitness YouTube Channel. New shows air every Sunday at 3 p.m. EST.
