The New Rankings ...

[G-Man]

top 10 world

1. Devon Larratt, CAN

2. Jerry Cadorette, USA

3. Denis Cyplenkov, RUS

4. Andrey Pushkar, UKR

5. John Brzenk, USA

6. Arsen Liliev, RUS

7. Tim Bresnan, USA

8. Gazimagomed Gazimagomedov, RUS

9. Ron Bath, USA

10. Don Underwood, USA

Top 10 North America

1. Devon Larratt, CAN

2. Jerry Cadorette, USA

3. John Brzenk, USA

4. Tim Bresnan, USA

5. Ron Bath, USA

6. Don Underwood, USA

7. Richard Lupkes, USA

8. Dave Chaffee, USA

9. Sylvain Perron, CAN

10. Michael Todd, USA

http://www.northeastboard.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=20601

[G-Man]

I believe should look more like this:

Denis Cyplenkov, RUS

Andrey Pushkar, UKR

Devon Larratt, CAN

Jerry Cadorette, USA

Arsen Liliev, RUS

Tim Bresnan, USA

John Brzenk, USA

Ron Bath, USA

Richard Lupkes, USA

Dave Chaffee, USA

[Florian Kellersmann]

Why?

[G-Man]

While I found Devon's 6-0 domination of John Brzenk in their last supermatch as one of the most impressive arm wrestling feats I've witnessed, I don't think he should be allowed to retain the number one spot if he's not constantly competing against top competition. At the last Arnold Classic, Devon placed 3rd behind Ryan Espey and Don Underwood. In the recent supermatch with Richard Lupkes (55 years old and having just competed at Worlds the week before), he lost one of the five matches and Devon was very closely matched with Tim Bresnan, having fought some strong wars against him and winning them all.

Devon is still top dog in North America, narrowly beating out Cadorette and Brensan, but based on Denis Ciplenkov's and Andre Pushkar's complete domination at Nemiroff, I believe they should hold the #1 and #2 spots.

Cadorette is a monster as of late, beating both Brzenk and Bresnan. However, it remains to be seen what he can do with a fresh Bresnan considering he faced Bresnan only after his supermatches with Don Underwood.

I put John at #7 only because he lost to Arsen in their supermatches and, in his current shape, I don't believe John would beat Tim Bresnan in Tim's current shape.

I put Bath over Lupkes, because Bath won their supermatches convincingly. How would a rematch look? Who knows? It could just as easily go the other way.

I put Dave Chaffee at #10 for having just won a very tough class (242's) in Worlds.

[Eric Roussin]

The In the Hook rankings have also been updated.

North America Top 10 Overall - Right Hand

1 - Devon Larratt

2 - Richard Lupkes

3 - Tim Bresnan

4 - Jerry Cadorette

5 - John Brzenk

6 - Ron Bath

7 - Don Underwood

8 - Sylvain Perron

9 - Dave Chaffee

10 - Michael Todd

North America Top 10 Overall - Left Hand

1 - Devon Larratt

2 - Travis Bagent

3 - Ryan Espey

4 - John Brzenk

5 - Tom Nelson

6 - Marcio Barboza

7 - Earl Wilson

8 - Sylvain Perron

9 - Jerry Cadorette

10 - Chris Chandler

[blueviper42]

Eric, didn't Bresnan beat Lupkes at Armwars? If so, what is your reasoning behind putting Lupkes over Bresnan?

[Eric Roussin]

Rich beat Tim 6-0 at Arm Wars.

[blueviper42]

Wow! I thought it was the other way around. Richard is crazy strong.

[Eric Roussin]

The Richard/Tim match happened on the second day of competition.

On Day 1, Richard's first match was against Devon. Devon tried to toproll in match 1, but wasn't able to take Richard's wrist. They slipped and then were strapped up. Once in the strap, Devon decided to go inside, where he realized he had a bit more than Richard and was able to dictate all of the subsequent matches.

Tim's first match was against Travis. He was able to beat Travis 6-0 in a convincing fashion.

Tim's next match was against Devon. He had an impressive match with Devon and pinned him in their first match. However, Devon committed to a hook right away in match 2 and was able to win the remaining matches in this manner.

Rich's second opponent of the day was Ryan Espey, who had previously lost to Michael Todd 6-0. Rich was in complete control of these matches.

It's hard to say who had a tougher day 1 between Tim and Richard. Richard had also pulled in the World Championships a few days earlier, but he wasn't tested at that event. Tim tried to toproll Rich, but could not. This is the main reason I have Rich ranked ahead of Tim as well as Ron. If Tim and Devon can't toproll Rich right now, I really don't believe Ron can either. The version of Richard that was in Las Vegas last week was not the same version of Richard who lost to Ron in a supermatch a few days before going in for back surgery.

[lifesnotfair]

Very good reasonings, Eric. I love the way you do rankings, you are based more on FACTS than personal opinion, and not the other way around (keeping in mind it's impossible to not "guess" a little bit). Thanks forsharing that!!

[G-Man]

Rich beat Tim 6-0 at Arm Wars.

Holy cow - I had no idea. Rich is a monster now. Rich vs Denis? Rich vs Andrey? Rich vs Arsen?

What about Rich vs Jerry? That would be another good one.

Edited December 23, 2010 by G-Man

[G-Man]

Denis Cyplenkov, RUS

Andrey Pushkar, UKR

Devon Larratt, CAN

Richard Lupkes, USA

Jerry Cadorette, USA

Arsen Liliev, RUS

Tim Bresnan, USA

John Brzenk, USA

Ron Bath, USA

Dave Chaffee, USA

[darthsith19]

My World Ranking Order would go:

1. Denis

2. Pushkar

3. Devon

4. Cadorette

5. Brzenk

6. Bresnan

7. Gazimagomed Gazimagomedov

8. Ron Bath

9. Don Underwood

10. Richard Lupkes or Arsen Liliev (would be Yoshi Kanai but he is injured currently)

Denis beat John and maybe John wasn't at his strongest, but John wasn't at his strongest against Devon, either... and he locked him up in a hook. 4-1 with Pushkar at this years Zloty. 6-1 with him total right handed.

Pushkar is Pushkar... he got a win on Denis at Zloty this year, flashed Rustam, John layed down to him, he has gone undefeated at Worlds the last 3 years maybe more.

Devon - he beat Brzenk, Bath, and Bagent, proving himself one of the best (the best?) in the World. I woulda put him lower after his struggles with Underwood at the Arnold, and Earl Wilson tied him up at MGC... but his recent Arm Wars win puts him at 3rd IMO. I want to see him beat Denis and Pushkar though. I think he has a chance with Denis, but think Pushkar is too fast and would flash him. I also think Arsen has a chance to beat him even in a best of 5 or 6 if he can flash him... which I think is possible.

Cadorette has crushed everyone he has gripped up with this year, except John, who he beat in a WAR earning this 4th place spot. And in the UAL Overall when he was exhausted but I'm not counting that.

John - obviously deserves this spot, but has lost to the 4 guys ranked above him the last times he has pulled them.

Bresnan - got a win on Devon... crushes Earl Wilson and Ryan Espey. Beat Underwood 4-0 and still made Cadorette work very hard even after that. Bob Brown thinks Tim would beat John right now, but until he does... I'd give him spot number 6.

Gazimagomed Gazimagomedov - a relatively unproven puller who beat Pushkar at Europeans this year, but Pushkar beat him in the prelims and was apparently hurt in the finals, and Gazimagomed did take 3rd at Russian Nats this year, making him hard to rank. Until he's more proven, I'd put him here.

Ron Bath - obviously one of the top guys with wins on almost every top puller you can think of, this year he beat Underwood 3-1, and went 3-3 with Yoshi Kanai. Underwood scored a win on him though and he could not score any wins on Bresnan.

Don Underwood - gave Devon trouble at the Arnold, slammed Yoshi (who went 3-3 with Bath 6-7 months earlier) and got 1 win on Ron. Also beat Devon 3 times at Armwars recently (lost 4-3), from what I hear Devon was much more worn down than Don was but it's still a great achievement. Don lost to Bresnan however.

Lupkes OR Arsen

Lupkes has slammed everyone he's gripped up with this year besides Devon, he beat Tim Bresnan on Day 2 of Armwars (not sure how the match went) but I would still put Tim above him since Tim gave Devon better matches at Armwars on Day 1 than Rich did (and even scored 1 win on Devon). Lupkes has the most recent wins on Underwood (2009 Unified's) but seeing Don has multiple wins on Devon this year, and scored a win on Bath (who Lupkes lost to 3-0), I put Don over Rich currently.

Arsen beat John at 209 this year but had NOTHING for Denis. 2 weeks after his win on John, John got tied up by Marcio and Sylvain Perron, so I doubt Arsen is much if any stronger than those guys. Lubomir stopped Arsen for a second at Worlds (Lubo has losing record with Ruslan and just lost to Jan Germanus in a supermatch IIRC), and I recently saw Ivan Matyushenko tie Arsen up, so I don't think Arsen is as "super human" as we once thought... given who he has beaten, however, he probably deserved the 10th place spot, but I would bet on Richard over him.

If I had to keep the list going... I'd probably say Rustam next, then either Chaffee or a healthy Marcio Barboza (who scored 2 wins on Underwood at Armwars and was supposedly injured during the match). I personally would like to see Chafee vs. Lupkes. They both beat Chris Chandler in a convincing manner in August (Dave) and September (Rich), and they both have similar styles (strengths/weaknesses) IMO.

Just My Opinion, all in fun, and Engin is the Man... he deserves to do the rankings.

Edited January 3, 2011 by Josh H

[darthsith19]

On another note. Rich told me of all the tournaments he has attended, 2008 Arnolds was his favorite (he told me this before attending WAF 2010), and he intends to return to the Arnold in 2011. At Kentucky Muscle, I asked Mr. Bresnan what was next for him and he said The Arnold. Will Devon attend the Arnold? I'm guessing Dave Chaffee will show up... if Sylvain Perron shows up, he could do some damage in that class, might pull off an upset... and Underwood qualified... if Marcio's arm heals up maybe he'll attend... maybe Brzenk will go too? THIS COULD BE THUNDER AND LIGHTNING (not to steal any of Neil's quotes )

Edited January 3, 2011 by Josh H