THE IRONY IS
THAT WHEN THE
OFFICIAL PHOTOS
FROM THE
CONTEST CAME
OUT, MANY OF THE
PEOPLE WHO
WERE TALKING
CRAP CAME BACK
AND DELETED
THEIR POSTS.”
disrobed to go onstage, and I ask
if he had any similar sort of moment
where he just knew he was going
to win.
“No. The moment you let super
confidence set in, you set yourself
up for the fall. I train to knock out
my opponent. I never want to leave
it in the hands of the judges. I didn’t
know that I won until they called
my name. I don’t like to be cocky—
the furthest I’ll go is to say I will
train and do everything in my power
to win.”
I ask him about the significance
of six, matching Dorian Yates’ O
record, tying Arnold’s six
consecutive wins—is the history
of it meaningful to him?
14
FLEX | MARCH 2018
“Absolutely. Dorian Yates is a
legend in my eyes. Arnold is the
greatest of all time. This is coming
from a kid from a small town in
Wales sharing accolades with
the greatest of all time. It was a
dream, and it is a dream I’m still
driven by.”
DEATH THREAT...
AT A SHOW?
The post-Olympia contests overseas
are usually a big draw for Lewis, but
the stars didn’t align in a way that
allowed him to participate in the 212
division contests in Prague and
Kuwait. “I really wanted to go—I’ve got
a lot of fans out there I want to meet,
but there was a conflict with the Flex
Classic, a contest in the U.S. I’ve
promoted for seven years now, which
was happening the same weekend as
the contest in Kuwait.”
Lewis did make it to the Asian Pro
212 in Seoul, South Korea, a contest
he’d won for the past three years.
This, too, proved more challenging
than in the past. He couldn’t find the
types of food he needed. No cream of
rice or chicken breast. He and Jose
Raymond and David Henry managed to
get food together that they could carve
up with and that Lewis’ digestive
system could handle.
After pre-judging, someone posted
photos from the contest’s pre-judging
that appeared to show Lewis in less
than optimal form. Never mind that
they were photos taken in between
poses, messages soon came in from
“fans” of another athlete in the contest,
attacking Lewis’ eventual win in the
show. The first messages were critical
of the physique displayed in the
photos, then they turned dark and
threatening, promising violence against
Lewis and his family.
“It was my last show of the year,
and I’d been through a lot, and here
I am getting death threats against
me and my family. It got so bad the
IFBB Pro League had to step in.
I just wanted to go home at that point.
I wanted to get out of there and forget
about them.
“The irony is that when the official
photos from the contest came out,
many of the people who were talking
crap came back and deleted their
posts. It was like, ‘Oh, look at that!
Flex actually did win.’ ”
SINISTER PLANS
What does 2018 look like to the 212
champ? Rest assured, he’s got things
to keep him busy bet