Shawn Ray has reminded me how he predicted Melvin Anthony would not land in the top 10 at last season’s Mr. Olympia. And Ray was correct; Anthony finished 11th, although he should have been in the 9th or 10th slot.
Shawn also told me Anthony would not be marvelous in the Phoenix Pro over the weekend, the 2010 opener now that the IRON MAN PRO has been put to rest. “I heard from somebody in Phoenix that Melvin is way behind,” Ray said last month’s FitExpo. “He won’t make top 5 in Arizona.”
So, I took Ray on his word, and didn’t include Anthony in my top five when I went on Heavy Muscle Radio with Dave Palumbo and John Romano to handicap the contest. And, because of the “inside” info I said I had, neither Dave nor John included Anthony in their top five as well.
Hey, at least I named Anthony as the one guy I left out who had the best chance of ruining my predictions (Palumbo and Romano still didn’t include Melvin even in that category—“because you’re telling us he’s off”), so don’t swipe my Swami hat just yet.
Anyway, as you all know by now, Melvin made Shawn, me, Dave, John and everyone else who didn’t give Anthony a shot look bad by winning the show. Now Marvelous assures us he’ll be in the top five at the Arnold Classic in two weeks. Check out my inside look at the ASC video on this site later in the week to see my thoughts on who will land where in what could end up as one of the most tightly contested shows in Columbus, Ohio history (hint: I did the picks last week, before Anthony’s strong finish in Phoenix).
Hide Yamagishi finished second, Toney Freeman (my pre-contest pick) placed third, Grigori Atoyan surprised with a fourth place landing, and home boy Troy Alves round out the top five.
In the 202 and under division, (don’t knock the) Roc Shabazz dominated the seven-man field to take top honors. Roc’s a good man with a fine, balanced physique. Congrats to Melvin and Roc.
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