IM Pro Heating Up

It’s been raining cats and dogs, with temps now dipping below 40 degrees in some parts of Southern Cal, but the IRON MAN PRO line-up is heating up with five weeks to go.
Very good news indeed; especially since many “experts” in the industry predicted that the field would be putrid due to the January 24 date. If you’ve been doing a Rip Van Winkle imitation the past few months, you got this info correct.
For the first time in the 20-year history of the John Balik/Michael Neveux produced contest, the show will NOT go on…in February. And, yes, the annual season opener is a full six weeks before the Arnold Classic. And, yes, it will be a grand line-up anyway, as always.
The Freakin’ Rican (great nickname, I must admit), Gustavo Badell, and Silveo Samuel, second and fourth, respectively, in the 2008 battle, will be flexing it out again on the Los Angeles Convention Center stage. At this juncture, Moe Elmoussawi, who landed between Badell and Samuel last year in the most surprising finish of the night, is not sure he’ll join the fray. But, it’s still a possibility. Samuel (7th), Elmoussawi (9th) and Badell (10th) were all top 10 Mr. Olympia finalists three months ago.
Marcus Haley, who earned an Olympia qualification berth right out of the shoot with a fifth place finish at the IM PRO two years ago, hasn’t sent in his official contract as of this date, but he assured me at the Nationals in Atlanta last month he’s definitely in.
So is Ahmad Haidar, aka “Abzilla”. Yes, I gave him that moniker, too, gang. Good to see Haidar hasn’t hung up the posing trunks after sitting out last year.
Mark Dugdale has inked his contract, giving the line-up another top of the line contestant. Speaking of top of the line physique stars, add the ever-so-popular Hidetada Yamagishi to the list, Japan’s first ever bodybuilder to make it to the Olympia stage.
A.D. Cherry, a guy with great potential (and the winner of the Heavyweight class at the 2007 Nationals), told Balik he is competing; last year’s double winner at the North American (Open and Masters), Marc LaVoie out of Canada, is also on the competitor’s list you can all view at www.ironmanmagazine.com. DeShaun Grimez will be back to prove his poor showing in his pro debut 11 months ago was a fluke.
Now, I have to admit I wasn’t sure the line-up could be this sublime with the January date. Great to see my reservations were NOT well founded. Check out the video interview I did with Balik on the site regarding the facts behind the change of date scenario.
With the final deadline for the show a full month away, you need to keep checking in with me…or checking in with the site, for continual updates. And, of course, you can get all the info on tickets, the rapidly expanding FitExpo (over twice the size of last year) and any other data you might need to join us in downtown Los Angeles that weekend.
I’m heading to Neveux’s studio on Monday, December 29, to film my annual Swami insider video; be sure to look for the stunning production-and precise predictions-no later than the first of the year.