2018 NPC Nationals Overall Bodybuilding Champion Hunter Labrada has confirmed that he will make his long anticipated IFBB Pro League debut at the 2020 Tampa Pro, scheduled to take place on July 31st and August 1st. He confirmed the news in a video interview with Ron Harris of Muscular Development.
Labrada is the son of IFBB Hall of Fame bodybuilder Lee Labrada, who was one of the most popular stars of the late 1980s and 1990s. The older Labrada had placed second to Lee Haney at the Mr. Olympia twice in spite of being outweighed by well over 40 pounds onstage. The younger Labrada is considered by many in bodybuilding to be a bigger version of his father with a pleasing shape and symmetry.
Labrada earned his pro status at the NPC Nationals in 2018 but took the 2019 season off to improve and add size. He told Harris in that interview that the original plan for this season was to make his first contest appearance at the New York Pro. That contest, like the entire season after the 2020 Arnold Classic was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That contest will now be held on September 5th. However, he sees this as an opportunity instead of a setback.
“The ultimate goal for my rookie season has always been to qualify for the Olympia. And you know, in doing that, when we got the schedule, once the dust had settled and we really had a schedule, and we knew we really was probably going to stick to it, I didn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket. You know? I didn’t want to, you know, have to risk, well, $#!+, am I going to have to fly to Puerto Rico or Korea or something? That’s honestly something I don’t really want to have to do right now. So I said ‘all right I have to have shows that I’m going to do.’ So Tampa, the way it got scheduled before New York so that was the obvious audible for me.”
Should Labrada be victorious in Tampa, then he earns an automatic qualification to the Olympia. Should he not, then he could earn points in the Olympia scoring system should he place in the Top 5. He could also continue competing in later shows to earn his first pro victory and punch his ticket to the biggest show in bodybuilding that way.
Featured Image: Instagram/hunterlabrada
