Muscle Sport Magazine

Is Victor Martinez Still With Muscular Development?

So is Victor Martinez still with Muscular Development or not? That has been asked for a few weeks now on both the RX Muscle and MD forums, with nary a straight answer. Because MD head honcho Steve Blechman has been basically selling the cows to save the ranch, an obvious “cut back” move would be to let Martinez go. Listen, I have always been a fan of his (as well as Gregg Valentino, who has been friends with him for years), but it’s not exactly a secret to say that the Domincan Dominator’s best days are behind him.

Martinez has come back from bad injuries and difficult situations out of the gym and has nothing left to prove. He will always be remembered as one of the greats and even though he never won an Olympia (some say he should have done so in 2007, but Jay Cutler got the nod), he still has an Arnold and a bunch of other wins under his belt.

And all of this bullshit about Blechman’s loyalty – he fucked Valentino right in the shitter after 14 years a few weeks before Christmas and did so via text. Then the guy tried THREE times to stop Gregg’s unemployment benefits. So take that loyalty and shove it up your ass; Blechman does what’s good for him and no one else. If you believe otherwise, there’s a bridge for sale with your name all over it.

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What really made the rumor mill fly was Martinez being interviewed by Dave Palumbo for RX and their ‘exclusive’ photos of him five days out before the Arnold Classic Brazil. There is no way that would have happened if there was still an exclusive contract in place with MD. With MD’s ‘shroud of mystery’ surrounding Evan Centopani and Jose Raymond (who, after much back and forth about their respective statuses, were both not retained by the almight Blechy dollar), it seemed like a given that Martinez would have the same fate.

Even today, there has not been a straight forward answer from either Martinez or MD and when MD forum member OldSchool90 posted:

You know its true if md tries to avoid the thread.

MD senior writer Ron Harris followed it up with this gem:

I don’t know the situation, but MD could easily have deleted this thread.

Now, I know Harris from when I worked at MD and while I do like him as a person, this is such a pussy copout that it’s not even amusing in the least bit. If I were able to still post on MD’s forum (they ban former employees, obviously afraid of the criticism that would surely follow), I would ask Harris why he feels that deleting the thread deletes the question if Martinez is still with the publication.

To play this bullshit game (one MD online editor-in-chief Adina Zanoli has mastered in her ‘tenure’ there) turns real fans off and it should rub Martinez the wrong way, as well. He is being left in a lurch and the best that an agent for the company (in this case, Harris) comes up with is that they could wipe it away to keep the fans (you know, the ones who plunk down money for that ever-shrinking bag of shit they still call a magazine) quiet? I see that as a way to either not pay Martinez as much as he may be worth (with all of the fan support that the thread has shown) or not look cheap when they finally admit they let him go.

It’s kind of like when the New York Mets don’t spend money on free agents and the sports talk radio shows are filled with calls from disgruntled fans saying that they pay good money to watch the team and the least they could get is an attempt at a good product on the field.

Never did saying nothing (or a quasi-threat to quell the questioners) speak volumes like this scenario has.

2 Comments

  1. Pingback: Victor Says Yes, MD Says Otherwise | Muscle Sport Magazine

  2. Pingback: Confirmed - Victor Martinez Let Go By Muscular Development | Muscle Sport Magazine

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