Dateline: Las Vegas: July 30, 2005

In his first attempt at doing so Denver’s Phil Heath snagged his IFBB pro card by swooping to a unanimous decision for the overall title at the 2005 NPC USA Championships. At 25 the former college basketball star has only been training for 2 and a half years and his latest success comes only weeks after he took the overall at the Junior Nationals. Heavyweight Heath’s next public outing is front cover placement on FLEX’s September issue and with his physique and mental approach this is one young man who is sure to make an impact in the pros.

The second pro card went to light heavyweight champion Fakhri Mubarek, who sensationally beat out super-heavyweight champion Marcus Haley by one point. This is one occasion when no one would have argued if three pro cards had been given out.

The quality of competitor throughout was of exceptionally high quality and promoter John Lindsey did a great job – by just keeping out of the way.

Here are the top five in each division of the 2005 USA Championships, with competitors numbers in parenthesis for ID on our extensive gallery.

Bantamweights

1 Rafael Campuzano (1)
2 Johnny McKnight IV (7)
3 John Ligsay (2)
4 Fernado Abaco (4)
5 Kob Yan (6)

Lightweights

1 Kelly Bautista (15)
2 Leonardo do Ortiz (11)
3 Julio del Rio (9)
4 Roland Huff (8)
5 Howard Steffensmeier (10)

Welterweights

1 Jose Raymond (30)
2 Victor DelCampo (28)
3 Ralph Gaxiola (26)
4 Sereiryth Leandre (31)
5 Johnny Traynor (27)

Middleweights

1 Jamie Ibone (34)
2 Saman Bakhtiar (35)
3 Todd Scott (42)
4 Allen Sarkiszadeh (45)
5 Jorge Betancourt (39)

Light heavyweights

1 Fakhri Mubarek (52)
2 Charles Ray Arde (47)
3 Manuel Torres (63)
4 Rick Sosias (65)
5 Curtis McGovert (56)

Heavyweights

1 Phil Heath (103)
2 Faramarz Aghazadeh (72)
3 Jonathan Rowe (104)
4 Grigori Atoyan (74)
5 Adorthus Cherry (89)

Super heavyweights

1 Marcus Haley (108)
2 Jerome Ferguson (112)
3 Omar Deckard (117)
4 Lionel Brown (107)
5 Rodney Davis (111)

Overall champ: Phil Heath
Awarded second pro card: Fakhri Mubarek

Mens Prejudging Gallery