Written by Peter McGough
17 March 2016

16arnoldaustralia-kaicedric

Cedric Vs. Kai: The Rematch

Who's Going to Be On Top, Down Under?

 

 

After going pose for pose and swapping the lead at the Arnold Classic in Columbus, last March 5, Cedric McMillan and Kai Greene will be flexing against each other at this weekend’s (March 18-20) Arnold Classic Australia in Melbourne. Here are some random, and some not so random, thoughts on their rematch.

1) In Columbus the scoring of the posing round was re-introduced, which will be followed at all the Arnold Classics taking place around the globe, but for the time being not at other contests. Essentially whatever way you splice it Kai won the Columbus affair because he won the posing round. This is how Cedric and Kai fared across the three rounds of judging two weeks ago. (Lowest score is best score.)

                  ROUND 1           ROUND 2         ROUND 3

                  PREJUDGING     POSING           CONFIRMATION       TOTAL

Cedric       6 points             10 points         8 points                       24 points

Kai            9 points               5 points         7 points                       21 points

2) As can be seen if the posing round wasn’t scored Cedric would have won; his 14 points beating Kai’s 16. As an aside it’s somewhat ironic that Arnold lobbied for the posing round to be scored and in essence held up Cedric as the poster boy for posing as it should be.

3) Another interesting observation is that putting the top two guys aside, the rest of the field basically in their posing scores duplicated their scores in the other two rounds (see accompanying score card). For instance Josh Lenartowicz was judged third in all three rounds, Justin Compton fourth across the board, with the same non-variance being replicated right down the field.

4) So the posing round – apart from Kai’s situation – really didn’t change anything. Surely -- and we are still not clear how posing is scored -- there should have been some variance in the different rounds: somebody must have posed better than someone leading them from the prejudging.

5) Kai’s dynamite tour-de-force posing display in Columbus was a barnburner that had the audience raising the roof. On the other hand Cedric’s routine, wherein he hit a series of statuesque classic poses never caught fire. One expected him to build to a crescendo but it never happened. Therefore will Cedric revamp and enliven his posing in Melbourne to at least not let Kai run away with that round.

 6) The previous point begs, and maybe answers, the question, is Kai unbeatable in the posing round?

7) The focus in this narrative has thus far has been the posing round, but two of the three rounds are pure physique assessments. Therefore the standard bodybuilding protocol applies. Which means condition allied with fullness will be paramount, with the reality being that either man can fade or improve since Columbus.

 8) Although the eight-man field seems sparse it is one of quality. Melbourne favorite Josh Lenartowicz – who is a coming on like a train --may find inspiration in front of his own crowd. If Justin Compton streamlines his fourth place look of two weeks ago he could be pushing Cedric and Kai harder. Evan Centopani will be looking to improve on his eighth place finish last time out. Cody Montgomery, woefully overlooked in Columbus (he was just about the most peeled in the Columbus line-up) may experience a better time with a change of judging personnel. New Zealand's Steve Orton(who last week won that country’s overall Nationals) at 5/9” and 248 cut and crisp pounds looks more than competitive. Atif Anwar, a Pakistani living in Australia, who won the Arnold Amateur title in Melbourne last year, is another interesting addition to the field.

Let the games begin. Prejudging for men’s open begins at 7.00pm Friday local time: 4.00am EST (New York time). Finals are at 7.00pm Saturday local time: 4.00am EST (New York time.)

Stay tuned to musculardevelopment.com for all the comings and goings at this year’s Arnold Classic Australia. We will be posting build-up stories, previews, wrap-ups, athlete interviews, play-by-play and real time contest reports. You won’t see better coverage anywhere than at musculardevelopment.com, Bodybuilding’s #1 Media Destination.

 

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