CHRIS CORMIER
Resume: 6x Arnold Classic Runner-Up (2000-2005)
Top 6 Picks
1 Dexter Jackson
2 Cedric McMillan
3 Toney Freeman
4 Ben Pakulski
5 Fouad Abiad
6 Ed Nunn
Cormier’s Breakdown
“The top three guys are Dexter, McMillan and Toney. I got Dex winning with Toney and McMillan fighting for third.”
“Dex is pretty sharp – I haven’t seen him look this sharp in a long, long time. I know a lot of people thought he looked great at the Masters Olympia, but I thought he was a little bloated in the midsection. For Dexter’s level of greatness, when you’re talking about his best, I didn’t think he was there because of that. I’ve seen him many, many times close up and I wasn’t sold on that look. But he knows better now and said he’s gonna work on it, so I think he’ll be even better than that here.”
“McMillan versus Toney, I see that being a close matchup, closer than McMillan versus Dexter. It’s two tall guys going head to head. From some photos I’ve seen, toney is a few notches better than he’s been in a while. But with these older guys, it’s tricky when it comes to keeping that nitrogen balance up this high this long once you make the trip and make those final decisions on your foot. It’s all kind of a crapshoot from there.”
“McMillan is a lot younger than Toney, so he has that on his side. But he doesn’t have the experience of those guys and that has shown in the past. A lot goes into this show that you don’t have to deal with at other contests. Going through all the commotion, going from here to there, to the walkthrough before the show, to having to meet the fans – he’s never had to deal with that before and all those things play a strong factor. And those lights, they’re different there – some physiques look better and some can flatten out.”
