Will Martinez be “Victor”, Or Will Juan be “#1?” | New York Pro 2015
Will Martinez be "Victor", Or Will Juan be "#1?"
Friends Clash at the New York Pro
First of all with this story there’s no disrespect intended to the other entrants in the 2015 New York Pro taking place this coming Sunday (May 10). But the hook of the feature is something that doesn’t happen too often: Two close friends (i.e. Victor Martinez and Juan Morel) competing in the same pro contest with both of them being front-runners for the top prize.
THE DOMINICAN CONNECTION
A big part of the bond that connects Victor Martinez and Juan Morel is that they both share a Dominican Republican heritage. Victor was actually born there in 1973, before his family relocated to Washington Heights in Manhattan when he was six, while Juan was born in the Big Apple of Dominican Republic parents. In fact there is a third member of the Dominican brotherhood in the classy shape of fellow pro Jon DeLaRosa who’s not competing this weekend.
Victor is the senior member of this merry band as he turns 42 in July, while Juan celebrated his 33rd birthday last month. Victor has been competing since the mid-90s and turned pro by wining the heavyweight and overall titles at the 2000 NPC Nationals. By contrast Juan’s first contest was not until the 2007 NPC East Coast Championships where he placed second in the heavyweights. He turned pro by winning the superheavyweights and overall crown at the 2011 North American Championships.
But back to 2007, when they first met. Juan recalls, “It was in October 2007 at Synergy Fitness, in New Jersey. I was a big fan of Victor and he was so cool when I started talking to him. He’d just finished second at the Olympia after the winning the Arnold earlier in the year. I told him I wanted to turn pro at some point and he told me I had great potential. I’ll never forget that and we’ve been friends ever since.”
As for Victor he says, “I never doubted Juan would get to be a pro. He had so much sheer dedication in the gym. A lot of guys freewheel because they aren’t really that motivated, but Juan was in there every day busting his ass with heavy weights. Juan would ask me loads of questions, and follow through on everything I told him.”
Victor has been a top pro for14 years now winning five contests including the 2007 Arnold Classic and finishing a very controversial runner-up to Jay Cutler at the Mr. Olympia later that year. Meanwhile these last few years, Juan has been slowly climbing the pro ranks. They have so far competed against each other five times. The only time Juan has beaten his friend occurred at last October’s Prague Pro show when he placed sixth to Victor’s seventh. They are closer than ever physique wise so the question arises, is the pupil set to surpass the mentor at this weekend’s showdown?
NEW YORK PRO STATE OF MIND
Looking forward to the New York Pro Juan confides, “In finishing tenth at last year’s Mr. Olympia I was 255 pounds. This weekend I will be some ten pounds heavier, having made gains all round. In fact my prep went even better than expected and I've made more improvements than I first thought possible. So I feel good going into the show because I know I did everything I could possibly have done to bring in my best package."
Victor has a unique track record of adversity. Check this list out: The barbaric 2009 murder of his sister; the difficulties of being the father of two autistic children; a 2003 felony conviction for which he spent 90 days in jail; losing one of the most controversial Olympias (2007) in recent years; tearing his left patellar tendon in 2008; being incarcerated for seven months in late 2011 through 2012 with the threat of deportation hanging over his head; breaking his arm in 2012.
Against that resume it would be easy to say that Victor Martinez has no luck at all. But that's not true he has had plenty of luck, unfortunately all of it has been bad. In typical Victor Martinez style he dismisses all those incidents with the comment, "You know life happens …… just maybe more to me than anyone else."
It's true that with all his tribulations Victor for the last three years hasn't produced the Victor we have known, but now he is confident he’s back on track. His game plan for this year was not to do the Arnold in March: "I felt like that contest came too early in the year. I needed more time to recover from last year and get back my former size and fullness. The gains I have made are quality gains not just size for size’s sake. Plus with the injuries, and let's face it going more mature -- I'm not saying getting older – l needed to modify my training by changing routines, different execution of exercises and step down the intensity a little. I used to want to train like Ronnie Coleman but had to get over that. You have to learn how to pace itself in the gym and stop doing all that crazy freakin’ lifting. This Sunday I’ll be in the low 250s and I'm confident I'll be much better than I have been these last few years.”
WHEN FRIENDS CLASH
But when two compatriots collide like this, is there a bittersweet aspect to beating a friend? Over to Juan: "I love Victor and have so much respect for him so I'm not focusing on wanting to beat him. I want to beat the physique I produced last year and be good enough to win. We've spoken about the contest and we just look forward to going on that stage and having fun and giving the home crowd a great show.”
The more laconic Victor asserts: “I want Juan to do well ….. but not too well.”
Considering themselves to be New York Boyz the duo see a special significance in getting in front of an East Coast muscle audience. Victor says, “I can't wait to get into action at the New York Pro in front of my adopted hometown fans. I can't wait to see the smiles on the faces of my sponsors Steve Blechman (Publisher of Muscular Development) and Gerard Dente (CEO of Maximum Human Performance, MHP). They looked after me through all those bad times when they could have dropped me but they stood by me and helped my family and me. They believe like I believe, loyalty is forever."
As Juan sees it, "I've had great support from the New York fans all through my pro career and I promise to bring my best on May 10 so as to give all you guys a great show. I will not disappoint. I was third in this contest in 2013 and runner-up last year, so I'm hungry to take a step forward. The New York Pro is my Olympia. How people feel about winning the Olympia is how I feel about winning the New York Pro. Then invoking the phrase which is fast becoming his signature he concludes, "Now it's a party!"
To check out who’s partying and who isn’t at the New York Pro stay tuned to musculardevelopment.com for updates, previews, interviews, play-by-play and wrap ups throughout the weekend. The prejudging starts at 11.00am EST on Sunday May 10th with the finals taking place at 6.00pm EST on Sunday, May 10th. For more information click on http://bevfrancis.com/npcnortheast/ifbb-new-york-pro
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