Wolf, Centopani Add to the Mass at FLEX Pro, Set Up for Arnold Classic
By Joe Pietaro

The 2011 IFBB schedule does not get started until February 19, but things are starting to heat up already with some big announcements concerning the FLEX Pro Championships. The show – to be held at the Santa Monica Civic Center on the aforementioned date – will include a line-up that is getting deeper every day. Already one that includes Dexter Jackson, Sergey Shelestov and Fouad Abiad just grew immensely with both Dennis Wolf and Evan Centopani announced that they will indeed compete.

This changes the playing field ten-fold. Wolf resuscitated his career back in September by placing fifth at the Mr. Olympia and Centopani has been bulking up since winning the 2009 New York Pro in his maiden pro voyage. Both will bring a great presence to the stage out west and the results here may set up a very interesting Arnold Classic a few weeks later.

Both Wolf and Centopani have already stated that they intend on being in Columbus, Ohio for the second most prestigious contest on the bodybuilding calendar and they will be joined by other big names such as Branch Warren, Victor Martinez, Ronny Rockel and Roelly Winklaar.

Will Wolf and Centopani (and to a lesser extent, Shelestov and Abiad) have a leg up on the competition? Or will their participation in a contest so close to the Arnold be detrimental? You can look at it two ways – they can tweak their physiques in the time between the two shows and perfect them. Or they can peak in February and have trouble getting dried out again.

Either way, the FLEX Pro just became a much more interesting event with the addition of two popular names.

2011 FLEX PRO COMPETITOR LIST (as of 1/7/11)

Fouad Abiad
Grigori Atoyan
Robert Belisle
Evan Centopani
Stan Efferding
Wendell Floyd
Dan Hill
Dexter Jackson
Ben Pakulski
Ben White

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