by Christian Duque
Let me come out and say what no one else wants to. After all, I am The Iron Duque and you are reading an article at Iron Magazine. Of course I could do like everybody else and rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. I could say that everyone is leaving Matt and that nobody is ever going to come back. Not nick, not Shaun, not Brett.
I could say this but I would be pretty naive to believe it and even more naive to put it in an article for the thousands of you who are going to read it as it comes out. Let alone the tens of thousands that will have read it in the years to come. I will look like someone that didn’t know a thing about bodybuilding and more than likely someone with egg all over their face. So why do I say that? And why do I say that after Matt’s very moving official statement was put out on all the social media platforms today?
Well before I delve into that I want to touch upon that last point very briefly. I wanted to make sure that Matt put out a statement before I wrote this article. I didn’t want to be part of the snowball effect that we have seen across the industry. So many people are so quick to throw the book at a guru such as Matt. I’m also going to touch upon an a point made by Lee Priest which I think is a good one but it isn’t one that I entirely agree with. We will talk about that later in the article, but I would be remiss as a bodybuilding journalist if I told you that people have not come out of worse situations than that which Matt currently finds himself in.
At the end of the day, much like his statement said, you can’t take away from him the fact that Shaun took second place at this year’s 212 Olympia, and that Brett looked as amazing as he did. The reality of the matter is maybe Matt’s priorities were a little bit out of order with regards to bodybuilding, but it is by no means something he can’t come back from. In fact I would bet money that he will come back probably stronger than ever.
Now I don’t think that you can lay the blame for Nick’s shortcomings on Matt’s doorstep. Perhaps there’s a stronger case to be made in terms of Quinton Eriya’s case. But that being said, Nick has so many issues and obstacles to overcome with regards to his bodybuilding career that I don’t think it’s fair to blame Matt 100%. After all, this is not the first time that he’s dropped out of the Olympia, rather the second. Also Matt is not responsible for Nick’s injury. Matt is also not responsible for Nick looking like dogshit at the New York Pro. And now that Martin Fitzwater scored a top four placing at his first-ever Olympia, I think more people are starting to back pedal then before. Because I was pretty much called something along the lines of a fanboy and a quack for suggesting that Fitzwater beat Walker at the New York Pro. And the real the matter is he beat him there and like most of the commentators said during the Olympia weekend, had Nick showed up in Las vegas, Martin would have prevailed there as well.
Now the question is how much of Nick’s misfortunes are Matt’s fault? Well, I’m not really going to tackle that topic because I think that ultimately it’s very subjective and it isn’t really for me to decide. What I will say is Nick has been a mixed can of worms his entire career and I don’t blame his shortcomings on Matt. Quentin, on the other hand, may have a stronger case.
With regards to Shaun and Brett, I think they looked phenomenal. I also think Shaun cannot deny the fact that Matt took him to two Olympia wins when nobody was looking at Shaun twice for that title. He also helped Shaun defeat giants in Reno who outweighed him by a hundred pounds and some were a whole foot taller than him.
The reality of the matter is Matt has done right by Shaun’s side and the fact that Shaun cannot beat Keone at the present time is no indication that Matt has not done his job. Keone is aesthetically more pleasing and has the ability to put on more size given the fact that he has a bigger torso. Keone is also much younger than Shaun and let’s be honest has a look that more judges are going to favor. That being said Shaun has had a very good run with Matt by his side. He was able to slay giants in Reno, he was able to win an open show, and he was also able to win two Sandows at the 212 level. The fact he never competed at open Olympia is entirely on him because he could have and would have done very well like he did in Columbus Ohio in 2023 placing right behind Big Ramy.
Again we cannot deny the fact that Matt did his job with Shaun. Now the fact that Shaun wants to leave him that’s another story. I’m actually surprised Shaun didn’t leave him years ago when he was dropped by RAW, a company that Matt owns a piece of. But Shaun was loyal to Matt then and has chosen to leave him now. At the end of the day it’s just business, but I would be absolutely shocked if Shaun was not grateful for the many great accomplishments that he had with Matt as his coach. I don’t think anyone is denying that. I also don’t think Brett is denying it. But who knows? I don’t follow him as closely as I do Shaun. That being said both Shaun and Brett looked amazing this past weekend and we cannot take that away from Matt..
Now what is the big distraction? Well from Matt’s own statement it seems that he is focusing more on his family. His wife and his children. And again I don’t think that he was deserving of all the hateful comments left on those types of posts. When you’re talking about your family, your significant other, even your close friends, I don’t think bodybuilding fans should use those forums as a place to unload all of their anabolic-related angst. I think it’s an improper place and I think Matt has been through a lot.
Then of course there’s the issue of fake drugs and fake gear and again I don’t know anything about that. People say all sorts of things online, but that doesn’t mean it’s true. And that is a sentiment that I wish I could amplify to many of the so-called bodybuilding news platforms that purport to be journalists and purport to release actual news-based articles. When in reality all they’re doing is recycling rumors and trying to get as many clicks as they can. That’s not what I do, that’s not what this publication is about, and we absolutely refuse to lower ourselves into the swamp just to be relevant like that.
We’re relevant because we put out the truth. And again maybe that is me patting myself on the back and patting Iron Magazine on the proverbial back as well but hey we deserve the accolades. Again as I said, I was waiting for Matt to release an official statement before I penned this article. I could have been amongst the first to come out with a bullshit story and gotten a shit ton of views off of it, but that’s not my style – not in the past, not in the present, and hopefully to God never in the future.
I have to say that Matt will be back. I would be shocked if he doesn’t. He’s going to take a beating a little bit longer, but eventually the people that left him are going to try to come back. They’re going to use other coaches that don’t know their physiques at a time when they are no longer spring chickens. They are going to feel some hard knocks, their egos will be a little bruised, but I guarantee you they will come back. I almost guarantee that Nick and Shaun will come back. Again I don’t know about Brett, Quentin, or any of the others, I’d bet Nick and Shaun come try to come back.
As always I like to end my articles asking you, the faithful readers of Iron Magazine, what you think. I hope you enjoyed reading my article and I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. Be sure to share the URL to this article on all your social media feeds. I guarantee you it will draw a lot of conversation.