Shawn Ray is one of the GOATs of bodybuilding. And those accomplishments he managed to achieve, he did it despite not coming from an athletic background. The man gave 30 years to the sport, where he routinely stood toe to toe with some of the all-time greats. He was top 5 in MR. Olympia 12 times in a row and won the Arnold Classic twice. But all of this first started, when he became a self-made bodybuilding champion at 19.
Recently, he appeared on Cutler Cast by Jay Cutler and Matt Daniels to talk about fitness and bodybuilding. Together they offer insights into the modern and golden era of the industry and what changes the times have gone through. The trio had some great discussions about his career, one that he believes ran parallel to Iron Mike Tyson. The 2-hour 28-minute podcast is the most impactful episode to date in the Cutler Cast.
Shawn Ray talks about his career parallel to Mike Tyson
The 4-time Mr Olympia winner Jay Cutler was excited to introduce his idol in the podcast and he was smiling ear to ear while talking about his achievements. Cutler and Matt wanted to know everything about Ray, from the start of his career to the time after retirement. While speaking about his early years, Ray spoke about John Brown and his trophies and magazines as a teenager. He also raved about the veteran world heavyweight champion while talking about how John Brown hyped him up to become the winner.
Shawn said, “I came up parallel to Mike Tyson’s career so I would hear Mike talking as a teenager.” While teenage Tyson was being hyped up by Cus D’Amato to become the youngest heavyweight champion, Shawn Ray was being hyped by John Brown. Ray also said, “I started chipping away at these small shows Teenage Orange County, teenage LA, teenage California…”
He then broke Lee Haney’s record at 22 in the NPC National championships. He became a teenage prodigy and took over the bodybuilding champion. Mike Tyson was also getting famous parallelly with the bodybuilding champ.
Mike Tyson talked about his mentor
He previously spoke about his success and the dark past he had with drugs and addiction on the PBD Podcast, hosted by Patrick Bet-David. He gave an example of his own life and said, “If I describe myself, I would describe myself as just the worst of the worst. This is the bottom of the bat .”
Tyson spoke about his mentor and the man who changed his life and said, “I had no idea I had no intentions of having a healthy good future, and then I met this old Italian man, Cus D’amato, and they changed my whole way of thinking.” He added, “It wasn’t for him if I wouldn’t be here talking to you guys.”
