BREAKING NEWS!!! Darrem Charles wins Southwest Pro Invitational.

[ibiza69]

What a fucking shocker....Darrem Charles wins..Bob Cicherillo 2nd and rookie, George Farah 3rd...wow!! Tom Prince was said to be bloated and sporting a massive gut!! Melvin was soft....oh well. Dillett 8th??????? here are the full results

2002 SOUTHWEST PRO MEN’S CUP
Dallas, Texas; Saturday, May 4, 2002
WINNER: DARREM CHARLES (USA)*
2) Bob Cicherillo (USA)*
3) George Farah (USA)*
4) J.D. Dawodu (England)
5) Willie Stallings (USA)
6) Gustavo Badell (Puerto Rico)
7) Craig Titus (USA)
8) Paul Dillett (USA)
9) Tom Prince (USA)
10) Melvin Anthony (USA)
11) Bob Weatherall (Canada)
12) Henderson Thorne (Canada)
13) Jason Marcovicci (Canada)
14) Mike Morris (USA)
15) Paul Baker (Bahamas)
*Qualifies for 2002 Mr. Olympia contest

[berry]

wow man carnt wait to c some pics

[Kärnfysikern]

damn that was suprising

[bigkev]

wtf! tom prince is really beginning to iritate me. jesus, he should be top 3 at the O!

darrem charles always had the shape he just needed the size. guy has been around for years, it was his time. good for him. same for chicherillo.

[PTbyJason]

I was at the show. I thought Titus and Prince had a gut, darrem looked really good. We were afraid they were just going to give it to Chicerillo, but Darrem earned it.

Dillett was fucking awesome to see in person. I have always wanted to see him, and he surprised them by entering at the last minute. He has his old size back.

I have 2 rolls of pictures from the show. I am going to get them up as soon as I get them developed.

[ibiza69]

Originally posted by PTbyJason
I was at the show. I thought Titus and Prince had a gut, darrem looked really good. We were afraid they were just going to give it to Chicerillo, but Darrem earned it.

Dillett was fucking awesome to see in person. I have always wanted to see him, and he surprised them by entering at the last minute. He has his old size back.

I have 2 rolls of pictures from the show. I am going to get them up as soon as I get them developed.

that's great jason i would really like to see some pictures from the audiences point of view.
here are some comments made by fans at the show.....from getbig.com

Comments on the show, from various fans


Darrem Charles looked very good dry to the bone hardness, but semi soft look prior to hitting his shots. Bob Cicherillo loooked very good for a big guy, felt he was at 95%, legs still need to be harder. George Farah was hard, nice shape abs, a little bloated and flat, does the scar cause this look? I felt JD Dawodu and Willie Stalling looked harder. JD Dawodu looked very tight and dry, needs to show and hold glutes and hams on back shots, but a great job! Willie Stallings was by far the tightest guy in the show. Welcome back! New York fans, make sure you judge this guys harness and hardwork if he comes in on the money!!!
Gustavo Badell looked very good, a little boxy, a yellow tan? Use Protan next time. Craig Titus got a ton of call outs and looked 92%. Size looked good, but he needs to tighten mid section, and practice holding poses. He should should look good at the NOC! Paul Dillett, like him or not, for 2 yrs off, looked pretty good. He needs to just come in harder and show his back, and stay positve. Tom Prince, the Thing, was very big, but holding water in his abs and legs. I'm sure by the NOC, we will see him tighten up. Melvin Anthony looked good by himself, but needs to tighten up whole body. Not bad Melvin, but just come in tight.

Bob Weatherall looked pretty good. His upper body was a little flat, but he should fill out for the NOC. Henderson Thorne did the best he could with his body and age, hats off. In shape and hard, but just a little small. Jason Marcovicci looked very hard and should of placed higher, but his structure did look a little odd, swallow quad cuts, but there. Mike Morris looked at 90% just needs to come in tighter and bring the waist down, and put on a lot of size. Paul Baker was hard for a tall guy, but needs to be fuller on his upper body without losing hardness. Also, spit out the chweing gum out during judging!

The placing were very fair for the show. The judges went with the guys that came in 100% for their structures. Bob Cicherillo was the only big guy in the top five that I felt could get tighter. I was not a fan of Bob Cicherillo until the Southwest Pro, but he is making a ton of improvements.


The word on the street is that Willie Stallings got robbed at the Southwest Pro. A lot of people had him in the top 3, if not winning the whole show, and I think a lot of the pro's that were at the show will back me up on this. Also, JD Dawodu should have been top 3 as well. As far as Bob Cicherillo, they said he should have been in either 5th place or out of the top 5. Let's see here, GNC is a major sponsor of the Mr. O, Chick is signed by GNC, thinks that make you go HMMM!!! From what they told me there was a lot of boo's in the audience when the placings were called. Not that this is anything new, but we all know who is usually right. I am not knocking Bob Cicherillo, but when 3 pro's tell me that Willie should have been up top, I kind of gotta believe them. Hopefully, things will be reversed at the NOC.

While it seems that IFBB awarded conditioning and balance over mass in the last couple shows and especially at the Southwest yesterday, don't be so fast on ruling out the importance of mass in the winning equation. I was not at the Southwest Pro, but this may have simply been a case where most of the mass monsters (like Tom Prince) just didn't come in looking hard, only big. Not only that, Bob Cicherillo is a big man, 6' tall and well over 230 lbs when he hops up on stage. I think this show indicates that OVERALL balance and hardness are once again just as important as size in the winning look. But, when the Mr. Olympia rolls around, a massive guy like Jay Cutler or smaller waisted Ronnie can be balanced, ripped with lots of size and that will still beat a smaller guy. I do think that a mass monster with bloated looking gut will no longer be considered in an IFBB line up and thank goodness for that.

Definitely. It's not size I'm against at all. Just size for the sake of size. Remember in Pumping Iron when Arnold talked about never just putting size on one bodypart but making sure everything stays balanced in the process? Well, it seems that that philosophy had been thrown out the window the last few years. What I'm hoping is that the judges have heard the voices of the fans through forums like this and are making an effort to bring proportion and aesthetics back into the sport.

I admit it. I didn't think either Farah or Chick would do any damage in the pro ranks this year. I thought Melvin would shine and that Tom Prince would emerge as a new star. The results of the Southwest shocked me. Until I see the pics, I can't comment further but I have to say I'm hoping that the results reflect a new trend in judging. Darrem and Farah are smaller (relatively speaking), more aesthetic guys and Bob Cicherillo, while not small, isn't a freak and can suck in his gut. Maybe a change is coming... If so this could be great news for guys like Ahmed Haidar at the O.

Don't be quick to conclude anything about judging standards yet. Most of the top name guys are just peaking for the Night of Champions (NOC), but I agree that it is interesting to see the judges place rookies higher than the veterans.

I think Paul Dillett has a case of the Mike Tyson syndrome... you know, loosing everything you had and having to make a comeback when you dont really want to. Of course Paul is not going to earn millions, but if he gets back to where he was, he will make a good living... Flex has the same syndrome. In fact, a lot of BB's have suffered from that one, even Mr. O's (Samir Bannout).

Congratulations to Craig Titus, he did much better than most of us expected with a 7th place finish, thus fully realizing his potential. He also kept his promise to beat Dillet. What I really want to know is if these same judges are going over to judge the "O" and "NOC". If so, the big-gut facade is on its way out, and aesthetics are back. Also, congrats to Chicherillo for his second place finish. I knew his thick forearms would get him somewhere.

Finally, the judges are rewarding more aesthetic types! Looks like Darrem Charles wasn't kidding about 110 lb dumbell curls after all. All you star struck fans of Tom Prince thinking he'd win the Southwest Pro show. He came in what? NINTH! Blocky physique, don't tell me I didn't say so. And I don't want any imbecile shouting at me about Tom Prince being a great guy. I'm not talking about his personality. He might be the best dude out there, but when it comes to predicting his placing, better luck next time.

Regarding Tom Prince: The dude has a busted up knee and gets up onstage anyway, probably knowing he couldn't look his best or even close. I don't know if you have ever had to deal with a torn miniscus before, but I have and it ain't fun, and I can guarantee it would hamper anyone's contest prep. And you speak of his blockiness as if he has no v-taper and a 36 inch waist. Tom Prince has some impressive lines like Dorian Yates if you ask me. But don't worry too much about Tom, he'll be back and better than before.

Congrats!! It took a while but it was surely well deserved. Hopefully this is the beginning of a string of wins!! Also a congrats to Chick!! What the hell happened to Titus, Dillet and Anthony??!!

Congrats to Darrem indeed. Dude has an awesome physique and its great to see him finally get his due rewards.

Regarding Tom Prince. I am sure we will see him get back into great form. A setback is just that, a setback and NOT the end of the world. Lets not forget that Tom Prince was injured. I am sure that he has had his fair share of setbacks and will not let this one disapoint him.

[PTbyJason]

Thanks for that. There were a lot of things mentioned in there that I had forgotten about. Well, I am hoping my pictures turn out ok. They won't be pro photography by any means, but I made friends with a pro photographer there, so maybe I can talk him into sharing a few.

[$uperman]

darrem has been desearving this for a while. he has an awesome shape and great arms. im happy for him.

[berry]

be carefull with paco bautista in noc,

[Capital X]

Does anyone know where to find pictures from the contest on the net?

Capital X

[Antonio]

Originally posted by berry
be carefull with paco bautista in noc,

Bump!!! This guy is a freak.