Hartford, Connecticut, June 30: It was a distinctively dynamic dozen that descended on the Connecticut Convention Center for the third annual Battle of Champions, and as most would agree, the 12 contestants entered here made up one of the finest bodybuilding fields – other than the Ms. Olympia and Ms. International – in recent memory. And if you were an avid bodybuilding fan, there was a purist air that enveloped this contest in that the pro division consisted solely of men's and women's bodybuilding.....period. This 'Battle' had an 'old school' feel dating back to the early 90's before the saturation of fitness, figure, bikini and physique had been adopted. It was about muscle of the unbridled kind, and everyone brought their fair share...and then some.
Ably promoted once again this year by Ed and Betty Pariso, the Battle of Champions is establishing a tradition of excellence with previous winners Brigita Brezovac in 2010, and Kim Buck last year each moving on to the Ms. Olympia. And although the 12 entries at this year's event was just half the size of last year's Battle, the overall quality here more than made up for the smaller field.
What Is It With Brazil ?
Okay, so in the first six pro Physique division events this year Brazilians had won half of them. They simply had 'the look' as most agreed. The 'look' has apparently carried over to the bodybuilding level at the Battle of Champion as Brazil's pint-sized powerhouse Anne Luise Freitas basically blew everyone's mind. And understandably so. Packing 136 pounds on a frame that is under 5-4, she had observers rubbing their collective eyes in disbelief. And did we mention it was her pro debut?
RX's Dave Palumbo described her this way in his play-by-play. “Crazy freaky. Insane 
glutes.....small waist. Quad separation is second to none. She's incredible. Fantastic symmetry. SHE'S THE WINNER. Can't see anyone touching her.” It would be tough to argue his points. Freitas made a major first impression in her first pro event, although in the rest of the world, few would be surprised. In 2009 she won the IFBB South American Championships as a lightweight. The same year she won the IFBB World Amateur Championships but was subsequently disqualified. What may be more interesting is the fact that she was the Brazilian champion in bodyfitness four years ago. What a transition that has been. Anyway you slice it, she was sliced. Shrink-wrapped. And that ever-present Brazilian booty that we are all getting used to seeing in competitors from that part of the world, was in peak form. The superlatives came from every direction. Most comments circled around her muscular detail and conditioning level. There have been judges in the past who have proffered that the more there is to see in a physique, the more opportunity there is to find a flaw. Not in Frietas' case. If there were flaws, no one was up to pointing them out. She will make a very interesting addition to a Ms. Olympia lineup come September – all 136 pounds of her. With a total of $6,000 in prize being offered, Frietas' winning share came to $3,000.
Finishing second to Frietas was Michelle Cummings. Like Freitas, Cummings too was making her pro debut. Still a newbie to bodybuilding – relatively speaking - having only just begun competing in 2009, she was thrust into the limelight last year winning the NPC Atlantic States HW class, followed by an overall victory at the NPC Nationals. Her finish at this event should put her squarely on everyone's radar from now on. From Schenectady, New York, the former gymnast showed a strong level of well-shaped muscular development from head to toe, and after weighing 150 pounds in her NPC Nationals victory, her look here appeared to be more polished and cultivated rather than having added much more additional poundage. Her rise to the pro ranks of women's bodybuilding in such a short period of time – literally in just a handful of contests – is rare. And according to the judges here, so are her physical qualities. For the runner-up finish she pocketed $2,000 in prize money.
Magnificent Mo....Monique Jones continued her progress in building a sterling bodybuilding 
physique as the memories of her early days as a figure competitor slip further into her past. Her third-place finish at this contest was a notch down from her runner-up finish last year, but few could fault her considering the overall quality of the field. In fact, Jones' finish is a graphic example of just how good this field was considering she moved on to the Ms. Olympia to finish ninth last year. The former overall winner of the IFBB North American Championships in 2009, Jones, at 5-9 and weighing over the 170 mark, was a stark contrast to Frietas as the two stood side-by-side in the final callout. Her third-place spot netted her $1,000.
From Fourth Place On....A Muscular Tapestry
From top to bottom, the Battle of Champions put impressive muscle on display and the final tallies of those who placed outside the top three would naturally become the subject of a closer scrutiny. And it wasn't surprising considering the 'A' games each competitor brought to this contest.
Fourth placer Tazzie Colomb was a prime example. At 5-7, 165 pounds she was a monument to excellent preparation for this contest. A true veteran competitor in every sense, Colomb has been competing since 1988, and along the way she has been to the Ms. Olympia fourth times and the Ms. International on five occasions. The overall winner at the 1992 NPC USA, Colomb's stalwart efforts also include the fact that she has competed in each of the three Battle of Champion events, and her finish here matched her placing in 2011. Most surprising is that as good as Colomb has been over the years, her only pro victory was in the heavyweight class at the 2007 Europa Supershow to go with a third-place finish at the 1997 Ms. International and sixth at the 1999 Ms. Olympia. Continually re-inventing herself, Colomb has been a winner at several strength events and is a world class powerlifter. Meanwhile, and now past 40, she is still at her very best as a bodybuilder. Many observers felt her finish at this event could have been a tick or two higher.
In the points race, the closest battle was waged between eventual fifth-placer Sarah Hayes with 55 points to sixth placed Amber Defrancesco at 57. Both looked terrific as Defrancesco was another of the five entrants making their pro debut at this contest. For Sarah Hayes, her top-five finish served as redemption for the rocky start she experienced in her pro debut last year at the Ms. International finishing 13th. This was a whole different Sarah Hayes. Polished, in great shape, and showing striking stage presence, she looked every bit the consummate pro, and can conceivably look to higher contest placings beyond this event. Here, the overall NPC USA winner in 2010 built a whole new fan following. Defrancesco also had her share of those who saw the qualities in her presentation. A former overall winner at the 2008 NPC Junior Nationals and overall winner at the 2010 NPC Nationals, her fluid lines, beautifully-shaped legs, and an engaging stage presence all helped keep her in a very respectable final placing in her debut.
Russian Alevtina Goroshinskaya garnered the seventh spot with a classically developed Eastern European look. Densely muscled, Goroshinskaya is on the cusp of breaking into the top five of a pro event. In her pro debut at the Ms. International earlier this year she also finished seventh. She followed that with a less impressive eighth-place finish at the Toronto Super Show. This former overall winner at the 2011 Arnold Amateur Classic can help her cause with further cultivation of a physique that has all the muscle she needs to get the point across.
Dropping from the competitive scene in 2011, Lisette Acevedo returned to the Battle of Champions to finish eighth this year. In 2010 she grabbed the seventh spot, but the status quo finish here, had nothing to do with a slip in the quality of her physique overall. On the contrary, she was greatly improved, with plenty of highly detailed muscle of the streamlined variety, an a stage persona that kept judges going back to take another look. If there is a competitor at this event that was adept at connecting with the audience facially, Acevedo and her riveting eyes did the trick. Competing just six times since 2006 (including a MW class victory at the 2009 NPC Nationals) this New Jersey/New Yorker has plenty of gas left in the tank.
With little argument that most curious finish (and the most hotly debated) belonged to Denmark's greatest Dane – Helle Nielsen. At 5-5 and weighing a strikingly muscular 170 pounds, she missed making a definitive connection with the judging panel. If the assertion was that she was 'too big' for this event, that thought process might be charted back to the Jan Tana Classic and Ms. Olympia events of 2003 when she won the Jan Tana and finished fifth at the Ms. O......both at a bodyweight of 152. But even at 170 pounds, she was an impressive sight with plenty of detailed muscle from head to toe. Entered in a considerably larger field at the upcoming Wings of Strength contest in Chicago, it will be of interest to see if she can flex her way to a higher placing. If not, it won't be for lack of muscle.
Squeezing into the top ten was Bonnie Pappas. An active competitor over the past decade, Pappas made her pro debut at this contest in 2011 when she placed 11th. So, she bumped herself up a notch since then – none too easy a task at this contest. As last year's overall NPC Masters National champion, Pappas also sports plenty of muscle throughout her physique with only the appearance of a wide midsection as a structural flaw that judges could focus upon.
Only one point separated 11th placed Natalia Batova and 12th placer Janet Kaufman. With both making their pro debuts at this contest, the going couldn't have been tougher for each. Batova entered with little or no fanfare. Even the official entry list simply stated that she was from Russia. More specifically, she hails from the city of Krasnoyarsk in the distant Siberian frontier. With a close look at past events in Europe, Batova was a silver medalist at the 2006 IFBB European Championships as a heavyweight. She maintained that heavyweight look at this event in a field that was just too well stocked with heavyweight muscle. Kaufman on the other hand, comes from Lewiston, Idaho, and did her best to stand in among a superlative field of bodybuilders who considerably larger......with the exception of Lisette Acevedo. And interestingly, Kaufman finished second to Acevedo at the 2009 NPC Nationals in the MW class.
Five of the entrants in this contest – Natalia Batova, Tazzie Colomb, Alevtina Goroshinskaya, Monique Jones, and Helle Nielsen are all scheduled to compete in the Wings of Strength contest on July 6th. With a field of 17 contestants expected for that contest, these women - along with an additional cast of characters waiting in the wings - it will be very interesting to see who, in this field, finds Chicago their kind of town.
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