The 2012 Toronto Pro was a great show and showed why the Toronto Pro is the fourth greatest bodybuilding contest in the world after the Mr. Olympia contest, Arnold Classic, and Ironman Pro Bodybuilding contests.
2012 Toronto Pro Lightweight [212] Class- RESULTS!
WINNER: LUKAS OSLADIL *
2. Muhammad Butt
3. Mboya Edwards
4. Guy Cisternino 5. Lyndon Belgrave
6. Ahmad Ahmad
7. Raul Carrasco
8. Patrick Bernard
9. James Darling
10. Jason Marcovici
11. Javier Martinez
*Note: The winners [Bill Wilmore] and Lukas Osladil qualify for 2012 Mr. Olympia contest.
Now I will make detailed comments below for each bodybuilder:
Bill Wilmore was the clear winner of this contest and people knew that the moment that he came out on stage. Although Seth Feroce was the favourite going in, he was a bit off in terms of both his colour and conditioning which left the door open for first place and that door was opened by Bill Wilmore who looked amazing and picked up a qualifying-spot for the 2012 Mr. Olympia contest in Las Vegas. Big was big and hard and this was a well-deserved win for him. I did feel that he looked better at the 2011 Master's contest but I still feel that he looked great here and was definitely good enough to win with ease. Hopefully Bill brings this package or his package from the Master's to the 2012 Mr. Olympia if he decides to enter. If he does, Bill will do very well. This is Bill's first pro win and hopefully we will see more of him in the future.
Jonathan Delarosa was in great conditioning and it was enough to take 2nd place at this contest. Bill had too much size on him for Jonathan to beat him but Jonathan's overall package was enough to get him a very high placing at this contest and one that most people said was well-deserved.
I was very happy with how Grigori looked at this contest. He was working with IFBB pro guru and bodybuilder George Farah and this was one of the best performances I had ever seen from Grigori. His colour and oil was also very good in my opinion. Grigori will have to be at least 230 in contests in order to be competitive as his shoulders have a tendency to look shallow at any weight below that. I think that Grigori stands a good chance to qualify for the Olympia and would have done so here under the previous rules where the top three qualify.
Vaughan has an amazing structure and in that regard is one of the most genetically gifted bodybuilders at the contest in my view. He has almost cartoonish proportions with massive legs and huge shoulders and arms including round and full muscle bellies. While Vaughan placed 4th at this contest, I believe that he could have won it had he nailed his conditioning. Of course that is easier said than done, but it is worth noting that structurally Vaughan is an amazing bodybuilder and if he nails his conditioning I would expect a pro win in his future, if not several of them. Vaughan has a lightweight class win at the 2011 Jacksonville Pro but he will most likely win an open contest in the future if he nails his conditioning.
Christopher White looked very good at this contest and I was happy to see him in the top five. He was in very good conditioning and has a pretty good structure for bodybuilding as well. My only criticism would be that he had visible gynecomastia. That will hurt him in the placings in contests but can be fixed if he chooses to address it.
Seth Feroce was the frontrunner going into this contest and he knew it. Seth was disappointed in his performance more than anyone and I believe his mistake was coming in too heavy for this contest. He formally won the lightweight [202] class at the Europa Supershow in Dallas. He felt the class was too limiting and this is true if you consider his size but the class was then changed to a maximum weight of 212. I feel this gave him a lot more space for muscle. I also feel that Seth can be 210 and compete in the open category and most likely win given his great structure. I felt he came in about 5-10 pounds too heavy at this contest but could compete at 210 and had he been 210 at this contest he would have most likely won it. So I don't think that Seth has to move down to the 212-class but can be in that weight range and still do very well in the open class.
Bruce Patterson is a Canadian bodybuilder from Whitby, Ontario who had not competed since the 2003 Night of Champions. I was happy to see him compete again at this contest and I felt that he looked very good. His arms in particular were huge and he was in very good shape overall especially if you consider his long layoff from competition. Hopefully this will not be Bruce's last contest and I think it would be great if he competed again in Toronto next year.
Renaldo Gairy is another very good Canadian bodybuilder from Toronto. Renaldo has amazing vascularity and that is what immediately stood out at me when I saw him during the prejudging. Renaldo felt that he came in off at the prejudging and looked fuller during the finals. With that said, I still think Renaldo looked great during the prejudging even if he was a bit off. His vascularity stood out and he was easily one of the most ripped on the stage. Of course conditioning is only one of several components of a bodybuilding contest but his hardness and vascularity cannot be overlooked. Renaldo is still young and I think he will grow into his physique as time passes and gradually add more size. Renaldo is a pretty tall bodybuilder at 5'10 and will most likely eventually compete at the 240-260 range. As it stands now, he looks great and is huge but still improving as time goes on. It is also worth noting that this is Renaldo's first pro show and a top ten finish is always good news.
Fidel Clarke lacked the size and conditioning to do better in this contest. I think the most immediate fix would be to come in a little harder for his next contest and of course gradually adding size would help. Fidel was a little watery and it was visible and he could have potentially moved up had that changed or at the least had a better showing for his own sake. I am unsure where Fidel will be competing next but hopefully he will make the adjustments necessary for that contest.
Darren Toma is a bodybuilder from western Canada who is quite big but lacked conditioning in this contest. I felt that the pictures looked better than what I recalled seeing in person at the contest but Darreen does need to bring up his conditionining in order to improve. He does have quite a bit of mass as said, but he will need to bring it in refined if he expects to do well. Darren has actually been far more conditioned in the past so I see no reason why he won't be able to do that again. I think if he gets back to his former best conditioning he will be able to move up quite a bit in the placings but until that day he can expect similar results.
Michael is another bodybuilder like Vaughan Ettienne who has an amazing structure but did not bring the necessary conditioning to the stage to place higher. I think that Michael will be able to move up quite considerably if he nails his conditioning. He certainly has decent size. I did feel that Michael was a little overlooked at this contest and felt that he could have been placed couple of spots higher.
The 212-class was more competitive than the open class conditioning-wise with Lukas Osladil getting the win, described below:
Winner: Lukas Osladil
Lukas looked very good at this contest and improved from the time of prejudging to the finals. Very often contests are won during the prejudging but it is possible to pick up a few points at the finals and improve in the placings and that is exactly what happened here. Lukas was definitely in good conditioning although some had Muhammad Butt beating him. Lukas is now qualified to compete at his first Mr. Olympia contest and hopefully he will choose to do so in Las Vegas this September.
Muhammad Butt is a bodybuilder who I had not heard of before this contest and understandably so because he had not competed for years before this. Many people felt that Muhammad should have won this contest including IFBB pro Mike Van Wyck but Lukas Osladil managed to improve enough from prejudging to finals to secure his winning spot. For his first pro contest this is pretty amazing for Muhammad and I am quite confident we will see him on the Olympia stage if he chooses to continue to compete. Now that he looks like this, I see no reason for him to stop now.
Mboya Edwards is a bodybuilder who I think looks quite big and I think could most likely be competitive in the open class. As it stands, he makes a very good lightweight competitor. He placed 2nd last year in Toronto and I feel that he can eventually win a pro show in the lightweight class and make it to the Mr. Olympia stage. Mboya is full and round and tends to come into contests in good condition as well. He also looks to be continuing to improve with time.
Guy Cisternino had a funny finals routine where there was a voiceover of Guy saying that he would be willing to die on the treadmill. I found that to be funny but his conditioning was quite good and looked to be that of someone who performed a lot of cardio. Guy is a good fit for the 212-class and in 2011 had two top two finishes in the class including a win at the Europa Supershow where Toney Freeman won the open class.
Lyndon Belgrave is a bodybuilder who I had never heard about before this time but who has been competing since 2005. Lyndon has a pretty good structure and a small waist and I think he will just have to gradually add size in order to be more competitive. I felt that his conditioning was pretty good and overall I felt that the 212-class featured better-conditioned competitors than the open class, as mentioned above.
Ahmad Ahmad had good size for the class but I think just being a touch more conditioned would have resulted in a better placing for him at this contest. The class was competitive in terms of conditioning and being a bit softer than those who beat him relegated Ahmad to 6th place. If he comes in a bit better next time he will move up in the placings as well and I'm sure that Ahmad is capable of making such changes.
Raul Carrasco is another bodybuilder who I had not heard of before this contest but he has been competing as a pro since 2008. I felt that his conditioning was a touch better than Ahmad's and I would have taken no issue with the two switching placings as there was not a huge size disparity between the two or anything like that so using conditioning as a tie-breaker, I would have sided with Raul although they were pretty close.
This was Patrick Bernard's first contest. He won his pro card by placing 1st in the middleweight class of the CBBF Canadian Championships. I felt that Patrick looked awesome and his conditioning was one of the best in the contest. His legs were particularly shredded. I really have no idea why Patrick was so low in the placings at this contest when I felt he could have been fighting for a top three spot. This was a very odd decision to me and one that I do not fully understand.
James Darling is a pretty good bodybuilder who showed up in Toronto with good conditioning but was not big enough to make an impact. He was one of the lighter lightweight competitors and would need to add some size while maintaining his conditioning in order to increase his placings at pro shows. With that said, his conditioning was quite good and he has that aspect of bodybuilding competition down.
Jason Marcovici is a bodybuilder who has actually been competing as a pro since 1993. Jason was huge and his conditioning was pretty good too. I think judges placed him toward the bottom of the pack as a result of structural deficits such as a wide waist and what appears to be injuries. For example, his back double biceps pose was huge and thick yet when he hit a rear lat spread it lost a lot of the impressiveness perhaps due to an injury which prevented him from fully flexing during that pose. Also, his triceps were perhaps injured which seemed to be a possibility when viewing Jason's side triceps pose. Still, Jason had impressive thickness and conditioning and is a seasoned veteran of bodybuilding so I cannot knock his performance but simply point out that it seemed to be an issue of structure rather than size or conditioning which relegated Jason to a lower spot at this contest.
Javier Martinez turned pro by winning the Masters 40+ Lightweight class at the CBBF Canadian Championships in 2008. He also placed 1st in the light-middleweight class. Since then, Javier has competed in the Atlantic City Pro in 2009. Javier was in good condition at this contest which was a consistent theme for the 212-class but it was not enough as he did not have the size to do better than he did. Like James Darling who placed 9th, Javier will have to add some mass if he hopes to be competitive in the professional bodybuilding world.
The Toronto Pro is a contest that I am very pleased to see because it is Canada's only pro bodybuilding show and I would really like to see it stay and I hope to do my part to make that happen by giving the contest a lot of media coverage. I felt that the 212-class at this contest was far better than the open class in terms of conditioning and that was a bit surprising to me to see so many of the open pro bodybuilders come in off especially given how strong the lineup was last year. I also felt that Toney Freeman should have competed at the contest and if he had done so he would have most likely won it. Seth Feroce came in a little off and was disappointed but he was another bodybuilder who could have won either the open class or the 212-class had he been on point. I am happy that Bill Wilmore won and it was a clear and well-deserved win. Overall, I enjoyed the contest and look forward to seeing it back in Toronto next year.
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