by Christian Duque
As many of you know, I’m a huge supporter of William’s. I think that he brings a great deal of class and professionalism to the stage and he is one of those veteran competitors who should be appreciated for all of his contributions to the sport over the years. He has won the Arnold Classic on two different occasions, he nearly won the Olympia in 2019, and he continues to be a driving force in the sport. I think that he’s a role model for a number of reasons, particularly, not too long ago when he took an entire year off to focus on friends and family and his physique. When’s the last time somebody on this level did that? And it was important that he did that because afterwards he had one of his most successful years ever. Then he reminded everyone at the Olympia what kind of caliber athlete he is. The same thing happened this past weekend in Detroit.
Bonac didn’t go in and get an easy win. He went into the Detroit Pro and he fought hard. He held his own and he prevailed. I have to say that I have tremendous respect for William because he never walks into a show and lets his resume do the talking. This is not an individual that lives off of his past. This is not a guy who expects anything to be handed to him. He’s a hard worker and he earns everything. He is often ignored by the media because he’s not a trash talker, but he stays true to his values. Many times pundits do not handicap him in favorable positions, either. To other guys, this can easily be a problem. We have seen top bodybuilders lash out at the media when the media doesn’t show them love. But not William. He knows that the work needs to be done in the gym and in the kitchen. And he knows that the vindication comes on stage.
And this is something that I wish Nick Walker and other Instagram bodybuilders took to heart. Nick is a guy that has won the Arnold Classic, he is a guy who was runner-up at the Olympia, but he is somebody that is relying way too much on social media. He’s relying way too much on likes, double taps, and reposts. You don’t win bodybuilding shows on a phone. You win them on stage. And even though William was not the most conditioned athlete at the Detroit Pro (that was Sasan Heirati), ,William dominated with his structure and muscle bellies. His posing was also instrumental. He knows exactly what to show the judges and what to downplay. A lot of this is strategy. Guys on Bonac’s level know how this all works. Plus, the Detroit Pro had a solid black background with excellent lighting. William knew exactly how to win this contest. And that’s exactly what he did.
Even though Nick and I do not often agree on things, actually let me walk that back. We actually do agree on a lot of things, but I don’t agree with his style of blocking dissenters. If you’re going to have the most successful YouTube channel in the sport, in my humble opinion, you should allow all voices to be heard. I think that both Nicks have this problem.
Nick Miller (Nick’s Strength And Power) and Nick Walker both have me blocked. And both have me blocked because they don’t like my opinions. Well I’m sorry but that’s not the way journalism works. Now far be it for me to criticize the most popular YouTuber when all I have is 25,000 subscribers and most of them are dormant because they didn’t ring the bell three years ago when YouTube made the change, but i’m still a part of the media. I believe that if you’re going to be a great writer you need to be able to listen to different perspectives. And if you start blocking people nonstop because you don’t like what they have to say, then you’re going to be left talking to yourself. In any event, I wish that Nick Walker would take a page from William’s playbook. because he needs it now, more than ever!
William was not even talking about any kind of trash before the show. That’s simply just not his style. For years the media has been trying to get him to talk smack. Even when he had a brief rivalry with “Sugar” Shawn Ray, he still didn’t let that consume him. Again, this is a very old school bodybuilder and he understands what he brings to the table. He’s also not playing silly games.
Sometimes people look at a competitor’s age and start speculating when they are going to retire. Other times, they look at a competitor’s placings and say “well it’s only downhill from here.” Those types of games are not anything that William subscribes to. He doesn’t have to. And to tell you the truth, his big win in Detroit is going to afford him the ability to hunker down and prepare for the Olympia in peace. There is no need to continue doing more shows. Will he? Well that comes down to his prerogative, but if it were up to me? I would advise him to stop competing until the O, give his body a break, and then come back full throttle to Las Vegas, Nevada. And why that strategy? Because he has a very good chance of winning the Olympia in 2025.
That’s right folks, you heard me clearly. And if you didn’t – let me repeat it. William Bonac has a fantastic chance of winning the 2025 Mr Olympia. The same fantastic chance that he had in 2019. And a lot of that is attributed to the fact that he has trained sensibly, that he took a full year off, and that he is not trying to reinvent the wheel. He is not trying to reinvent himself or drastically change his physique. He knows what is good for him and he’s perfecting it. And when you’re dealing with somebody on that level, that is not going to fall prey to gimmicks and trends, but is going to stay the course, then you have a serious contender for any title. And anybody that places second or third to William should be very proud of themselves because they took second or third to a bonafide living, breathing, bodybuilding legend. That is exactly who William Bonac is.
But even with this big win in Detroit, you can bet your bottom dollar that the bodybuilding media will still not show him much love beyond next week. Again, I don’t think it’s personal but he just doesn’t do it for them. They want sensationalism, they want clickbait, they want rivalries instead. I mean we can see what some of these bums are trying to do with Derek and Martin. There is no feud there. Those guys do not have any issue with each other. But it’s that boring marketing approach of creating problems where there are none in order to create some buzz. That’s not the kind of buzz that William is about, tthat is not the kind of buzz that I’m about, that is not the kind of buzz that’s going to do anything to grow the sport. Again hits, likes, that’s not what determines the growth of bodybuilding. It’s also not what determines whether one competitor will place higher than another competitor. It’s all about the show. it’s all about what you bring to the stage. All that other stuff, to quote the great Kai Greene, are “minutiae details.”
So what say you? What do you think our man William Bonac will do at the 2025 Mr Olympia? Do you have him in your Top 6? Or are you like me, do you think he can win the whole damn thing? As always, thanks for reading my article, here, at IronMag. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. Please be sure to copy and paste a link to this article on all your social media feeds. It’s bound to generate some lively conversation.