In our final installment of View From The Judges from the 2012 New York Pro, IFBB Chairman Jim Manion breaks down the top five finishers in Men’s Bodybuilding.
(Related: New York Pro Final Report)
5 – JON DELAROSA
“I thought Jon did quite well. He was a little better in the morning than he was in the evening. When you look at him compared to some of the other guys, he could use a little more size. He has a very bright future, he just needs to put on a little more size and sharpen up a little bit.”
4 – JUAN MOREL
“In the morning, his color was horrible. He was too dark on stage so you couldn’t see how conditioned he was. He has a great physique, but his coloring was just way off and I’m sure it hurt him as far as moving ahead of Steve Kuclo. When he came back at night with new coloring, he looked harder and definitely deserved 4th. He’s a little long in the torso and he needs to work his legs and back a little bit – he needs more overall fullness. One of the young guys coming up who’s going to be real good. “
3 – STEVE KUCLO
“Going into the show he was probably the one everyone was talking about the most because he has such great potential and such great balance to his physique. He came out in the morning and was just flat. If Juan’s color had been better in the morning, it would have been closer between those two in the prejudging. He came back at night and improved a lot and actually ended up tying with Johnnie Jackson in 2nd place at the finals. Some judges even had him ahead of Johnnie, and a few even had him in first at the night show.”
2 – JOHNNIE JACKSON
“There’s not a whole lot to criticize on Johnnie that hasn’t been criticized before. His upper body is one of the best in the business, and he comes in such good condition – he’s just rock hard everywhere. He needs more leg sweep, and his balance needs to be better between his legs and his upper body. But for a guy 42 years old and doing his third show in a month, he looked very, very good. Let’s put it this way, he’ll be someone to be reckoned with at the Master’s Olympia this year and if he comes in like this he’ll give guys like Dexter Jackson a run for their money.”
1 – CEDRIC MCMILLAN
“Cedric always had a great physique, it was just a matter of him coming in shape. His balance is very, very good. I thought Cedric was very symmetrical but was a little bit too soft in some areas – I actually had Johnnie ahead of Cedric in the morning. By the evening he had gotten better, and I had him ahead of Johnnie at the finals – but either way you cut it the score was very close, it was no cakewalk for Cedric. If he could be a little harder, he’d be very dangerous. Even though he deserved the win he definitely could be harder.”
OVERALL
“Overall that top 5 was very good, depth-wise. We’ve had a few better winners – guys like Kai Greene, Branch Warren, Evan Centopani – but the depth was as good as I’ve ever seen. I thought every one of the top five came in shape, very close to their best. It was a great battle between Cedric and Johnnie, and the three rookies made great showings for their first show. It was very close between those three and all of them have very bright futures. “
