New champ to be crowned at 2010 World’s Strongest Bodybuilder Challenge
It’s official: the second annual World’s Strongest Bodybuilder Challenge will crown a new champion. WSBBC 2009 winner Johnnie Jackson has decided not to defend his title, setting up a showdown between 2009 runner-up Ben White and 2009 NPC Masters National super-heavyweight and overall winner Stan “Rhino” Efferding, who owns the current highest raw powerlifting total of 2,221 pounds.
But the plot thickens! Despite not competing, Jackson has offered to train White in hopes of dashing Efferding’s chances of walking out with the title. (Sounds an awful lot like Rocky III, doesn’t it?)
“Nothing is concrete, but teaming up with Johnnie could definitely happen,” White said.
The contest focuses on two lifts: the bench press and the deadlift. Last year, White posted a 650-pound deadlift and 573-pound bench press. Those numbers, as impressive as they are to most mortals, make the mighty Rhino yawn.
“One week before the ’09 Olympia, I benched 606 and deadlifted 794 for a total of 1,400 — raw. So it’s not even close,” Efferding said in a phone interview. “As far as those two working together goes, it’s just one loser helping out another loser.”
Both monsters told FLEX they’ll lift whatever it takes to emerge the winner, and with bragging rights and the chance to take home $15,000 on the line, there’s little reason to doubt it. We’ll have to wait for Olympia Weekend this September in Las Vegas to settle the dispute, but for now, White gets the last word.
“The title says ‘;World’s Strongest Bodybuilder,’ and that’s what I am #&151; a bodybuilder,” he said. “Stan is a powerlifter who occasionally competes in bodybuilding shows, usually placing somewhere in the top 17, if he’s lucky. One way or another, I’m coming out of this one victorious.”
2010 WORLD’S STRONGEST BODYBUILDER CHALLENGE PRIZE MONEY BREAKDOWN
Winner for highest bench press: $2,500
Winner for highest deadlift: $2,500
Highest combined overall total: $10,000
Runner-up: $5,000
Total purse: $20,000
source:flexonline.com
