I agree. you hear all the time, even from other pro's that he was never in shape or that no one will ever know how well he could have done in the pro ranks. " Bullshit " I think most pros are lucky he never competed. I mean you dont have to be a rocket scientist to see that he would have done some serious damage. The pictures I have seen at his leanest are not too far out of contest shape and you could clearly see that if he had dieted down to contest shape what in fact he would have looked like. ( INCREDIBLE )
I think It was bob chic who tore him apart once in regards to how well Vic would have done. He would have done alott better than most of the pros we see today. Would have made Chic look like an ameture. Even In those pics, far out from contest shape he destroys bob chic. Hell, I even think hes better than Victor Martinez, and look at where he places today. Iv'e seen alott of pros in person and at my gym. ( incuding Vic richards ) and he had most of them beat.
Many bodybuilders look great......all by themselves. It's going toe-to-toe with other bodybuilders that separates the proverbial wheat from the chaff.
The simple fact is we have NEVER seen Victor Richards in top shape at a major show. I remember reading an article in either IronMan or MuscleMag International about Rich Gaspari. He stated that when he was coming up in the amateur ranks, he defeated Richards at a state-level show and Richards was none-too-pleased about it.
Cicherillo did lash out against Richards, but some would say that he makes a good point. Chic plowed away for years competing at the national-level, before finally hitting paydirt at the 2000 USA Championships. He's faced the best of the best in the USA. Richards, however, took the "back door", using his dual-citizenship status to achieve pro status by winning the Nigerian National Championships in 1992.
The speculation continues that Richards' ego could not bear him losing to someone much smaller than him (i.e. Labrada, Ray, Gaspari, etc.), which is why he, to this day, has never stepped foot on an IFBB pro stage. Richards' career has been sustained, because he's a enigma. People
think he could have dominated the pro stage like no other before him. Were that image to be smashed, with Richards actually competing (and being defeated soundly), the mystique of Victor Richards goes away, reducing him to what some call a "gym bodybuilder".
