Melvin Anthony came, he conquered, and he went home with the 2^nd pro victory of his illustrious career.  En route to his victory, the "Marvelous One" redeemd his 4^th place finish at last year's Atlantic City Pro and he managed to bring his best conditioning to date to a contest stage.  If Anthony can get even tighter over the next 2 weeks leading up to the Mr. Olympia, he'll surely be a dangerous man when compared with the likes of Cutler, Wolf, Jackson, and Heath.

Last year's Atlantic City champ, Johnny Jackson tighted the reins on his diet and cardio and came into this show with better conditioning and symmetry than he presented at the Europa Super Show in mid August. His massively ripped upper body was just too overpowering for the competition and it carried his slightly lagging hams and calves right into second place.  This gave Johnny the much-desired Olympia qualification he was seeking.

After several unsuccessful attempts at the Houston Pro, Tampa Bay Pro, and Europa Super Show; Darrem Charles finally nailed his conditioning and showed up looking like the man who won at least one pro show every year since 2002.  While he only managed to place 3^rd in this contest (many felt he should have been 2^nd), Darrem did snag 1^st in the Masters Pro World Championships (beating Toney Freeman)  which kept the winning streak alive for yet another bodybuilding season.

Speaking of Toney Freeman, the 42-year old X-Man showed up looking as freaky as ever with incredible shape, symmetry, and presentation.  While many in attendance felt he should have taken 1^st place honors in the Masters Pro Worlds and finished no worse than 2^nd in the open, the judges felt otherwise.   Freeman was tighter than he was at Tampa Bay but was smoother than his Europa Super Show conditioning.  In the end, this may have swayed the judges to side with the Olympia-seeking Jackson and Charles.

Finishing in the 5^th position was Joel Stubbs, the freakiest competitor in the entire contest.  Stubbs massive back, chest, and arms can make even the great Ronnie Coleman nervous; however a past double quad tear seems to be holding back the thickly muscled quads he so desperately needs to balance out his gargantuan frame.

King Kamali finished in 6^th place in this extremely competitive lineup and, while my colleague John Romano thought Kamali had absolutely no business being in the top 10 (much less the top 6), I have to give some props to the King.  Kamali doesn't have the prettiest symmetry; however, he did bring a level of conditioning to the stage that we're not used to seeing in him  Likewise, his back, hams, and glutes were impressive enough to warrant over a minute of his posing routine being dedicated to back poses (see Kamali's Routine ).  One thing's for certain, when Kamali's onstage, there's never a lack of noise and electrifying energy raging throughout the theatre.  In that sense, he's a promoter wet dream!

The rest of the lineup consisted of Marcos Chacon (7^th), Hidetade Yamagishi (8^th), Craig Richardson (9^th), and Tarek Elsetouhi (10^th).

CONTEST PHOTO GALLERY