From my man Shawn Perine of
www.flexonline.com Badell's Breakout ?
Written by: Shawn Perine
Will the 2005 Ironman Pro Invitational be remembered as the show in which Gustavo Badell finally broke into the ranks of IFBB professional winners? Prejudging callouts would seem to indicate that as he wound up center stage each time the judges mulled over their top picks.
However as we've learned in the past, IFBB shows can be as predictable as Christina Aguilera's appearance. If anyone can spoil the Puerto Rican sensation's bid for his first pro win it will be either Troy Alves or Lee Priest.
Alves really nailed this one... finally. After whetting appetites since turning pro in '02 the Phoenix resident finally pulled everything together to present a package that was as close to complete as anything on the Ironman stage. He confidently pointed out his hams and glutes which, while previously infamous for being waterlogged, showed plenty of striations on this day. He may also have the best back in the show, although David Henry might have something to say about that.
Lee Priest is Lee Priest - full, great limbs, round muscle bellies - but a tad watery in his upper body. His back shows the retention most. But he's not off by much at all and the way things are looking he should nail a top three finish.
As for Badell, with the tutelage of Milos Sarcev he has managed to pack 16 pounds of beef onto his excellent frame since this time last year, bringing him to a ponderous 250 pounds. Like Priest, Badell's upper body is a little soft. But he's gotten so full and thick that he is verging on being mistaken for a mass monster, which is accented that much more with the dramatic Ironman lighting.
Melvin Anthony is probably scratching his head right about now. While he made the first callout of the Symmetry Round, along with Alves, Badell and Priest, he soon dropped out of sight, falling to the second callout of the Muscularity Round and completely out of the final to callouts, presumably used by the judges to determine the top seven placings. Although Melvin's shape continues to impress, he did not quite achieve his conditioning of last year's NOC.
As with every Ironman a few surprise standouts are making for what is sure to be an interesting evening show. Either Mark Dugdale or David Henry, or both, could slip into the top five. Although King Kamali and Craig Titus seemed to be the early shoe-ins for spots four and five, Dugdale and Henry steadily moved up the ranks as the day show wore on. Dugdale may very well have the best overall leg development in the show. He has striations on his cross-striations, veins atop those. Henry's upper body has all the sweep you could ask for, and as previously mentioned, his back is just phenomenal.
All in all this is shaping up to be an extremely competitive show. Tonight's show is guaranteed to be a nail-biter!
Now for a few random thoughts:
*Frank Roberson talked through his entire individual posing routine, much to the amusement of the press pit
*Rusty Jeffers has a classic physique reminiscent of the guys of the 70's. Flat quads may keep him from placing higher
*Ed Van Amsterdam weighed in at an incredible 305 pounds and looked every bit of it, especially his calves
*Mike Morris looked very good. His quads are freaky. He deserves top six consideration
*Several competitors who will remain nameless showed a disturbing collection of mismatched bodyparts and unusual protrusions
*Patrick Lynn dropped out of competition during the Muscularity Round
*Jocelyn Pelletier is a cipher
Below is the entire list of competitors in the order in which they appeared onstage along with photos from the 2005 Ironman Pro Invitational prejudging.
Be sure to check back with flexonline.com later this evening for finals results.
2005 IRONMAN PRO LINE-UP (in order of appearance)
1. Lee Priest
2. Craig Titus
3. Rusty Jeffers
4. Patrick Lynn (dropped out)
5. Melvin Anthony
6. Mike Morris
7. Troy Alves
8. Mark Dugdale
9. Youssef El Zein
10. David Henry
11. Frank Roberson
12. King Kamali
13. Jocelyn Pelletier
14. Idrise Ward El
15. Jimmy Canyon
16. Derik Farnsworth
17. JoJo Ntiforo
18. Hidetada Yamagishi
19. Empty 20. Massimo Valli
21. Christian Lobarede
22. Eduard Van Amsterdam
23. Gustavo Badell
24. Heiko Kallbach
25. Francesco Pezota
