Philip Ricardo Jr. and his wife Mary Beth

Marine Master Sergeant Philip Ricardo, Jr., aka “Rico”, proved that he is still at the top of his game at what Rico called, “arguably the biggest Natural World Championship Bodybuilding show on the planet!”

The International Fitness and Physique Association (IFPA ) Pro Yorton Cup International Natural Bodybuilding Championships Division was held Saturday October 23, 2010 in Bethesda, Maryland, where Philip Ricardo Jr. won his third overall professional title in the last three months.

36 top natural professionals from all over the world including the United Kingdom and Jamaica were divided into three classes Lightweight up to 180lbs., Middleweight from 181-195lbs, and Heavyweights from 196lbs and over.

“I weighed in much lighter than expected, but also in much better condition than I showed at the TEAM USA show in VEGAS in September,” said Rico after the event, “I had to be in order to fair well against this line up of champions.”

After an exhausting early morning flight from California, where the Marine Master Sergeant is stationed at Camp Pendleton, polygraph, weigh-in, registration and the inevitable Washington D.C. traffic, the Ricardo’s were finally able to check into the Hotel at 8pm.
Prejudging started promptly the next morning at 8:30am, and Philip was still tired from the previous day’s events, but told us his physique was as conditioned as he’s ever been so he felt good.

“Right before pumping up, at around 9:30am,” Rico said, “I chugged about 6oz of my favorite pre-workout and pre-competition supplement BOOM! from The Body Evolution and I went to work to prepare for a grueling prejudging.”

The judges kept the athletes out on stage for about 30 minutes and worked them to the max. With thanks to BOOM! and Rico’s posing preparation he stayed strong and energized, which helped him edge out his closest competitors, Cleveland Thomas and Chidi Ekebere for the Lightweight title.

In the Finals, after joining the Middleweight and Heavyweight class winners, Panexce Pierre and Henry Graham, on stage to battle for the Overall title, Ricardo could see that it would be much tougher to edge these guys out due to their difference in size as he was at least 15 lbs. lighter than the Middleweight and closer to 25lbs lighter than the Heavyweight Champ.

“It was extremely close, but I was able to edge out the Overall Victory,” Rico commented, “as my conditioning won over the judges and the crowd to take home my third professional title of the year, and my second IFPA Yorton Cup World title.”

With the Olympia rapidly approaching Rico will have to maintain his conditioning for three more weeks in hopes of continuing the three-peat streak of Pro wins, as Rico said, “it only gets tougher from here.”
“Thanks to the Body Evolution for their support and quality products,” Philip Ricardo, Jr. said after winning the title, “that helped me get into the best shape of my life and beat out one of the toughest lineups of Natural Professional Bodybuilders in the World.”
Here are the final rankings from the 2010 Yorton Cup:
Men’s Pro Lightweight
1 Philip Ricardo, Jr. #257* (CA) $3,500
2 Cleveland Thomas #253 (FL) $1,000
3 Chidi Ekebere #249 (MO) $500
4 Daz Cooper #251 (UK)
5 David Hannah #246 (UK)
6 Wil Usher, Jr. #245 (MD)
7 Carlos Renfro #248 (NH)
8 Michael Battersby #247 (UK)
9 Victor Egonu #250 (MD)
10 Mike Halsey #255 (NY)
11 Larry Wizorek #252 (PA)
12 Frank Barnes #260 (MD)

Men’s Pro Middleweight
1 Panexce Pierre #265 (NJ) $1,500
2 Robert E. Johnson, Jr. (KS) $1,000
3 Butch Washington #279 (PA) $500
4 David Lovelace #280 (FL)
5 William Powell #256 (NC)
6 James Carron #262 (MD)
7 Isaac Scott, Jr. #261 (MD)
8 Mark Claxton #2678 (UK)
9 Carl Frady III #264 (VA)
10 Ben Sonnier #254 (MI)
11 Gregory Kerr #258 (MD)
12 Marco Pagnanelli #268 (CA)

Men’s Pro Heavyweight
1 Henry Graham #281 (Jamaica) $1,500
2 Russell Harleston #275 (NY) $1,000
3 Willie Brown #276 (MD) $500
4 Chris Nsubuga #278 (UK)
5 Layne Norton #266 (FL)
6 Chadwick Austin #227 (DE)
7 Damon Gillis #269 (DE)
8 Joe Wilson #271 (AR) BP $100
9 Victor Oliver #273 (MD)
10 Maurice Duckett #272 (VA)
11 Luther Bradford #274 (MD)
12 Craig Toth #270 (ID)

* Division Winner

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