its hard to be called best !

[enginterzi]

from 1994 to year 2000 worlds had been dominated by Russians and Georgians.after 2000 Russia has still been the best but 2. place has been Ukraine.the level of armwrestling became at least two times higher in last 10 years.its impossible for me to call anyone THE BEST without knowing this man has beat the best Russians or Ukranians.its hard to be called best in the world by beating the armwrestlers only from your and your neighbor country.
till Rustam beat Gashevski 5 to 0 easily in last july,i was thinking that best of Cobra would beat Rustam.but now i believe that Rustam is the strongest light weight ever,not the best quality armwrestler but the strongest.i beat this man with right and left before my surgery and he never lost with his right since i beat him.now he is 20 pounds heavier and i had elbow surgery after i beat him.so it wont be easy to beat this Ukranian again.i believe that 2. comes Cobra,he has beaten all the best Russians without any problem.he is the only man ever that i was not able to use my hand against.he won everytime we pulled eachother,he was always heavier than me when we pulled but if best of Engin pulls against best of Cobra i would bet on Cobra.i and Vern never pulled eachother,he was in my weight class at Springfield worlds but i think he didnt place in top 4.
i think like after Rustam and Cobra then come i and Gashevski.i feel like we are very close.after my surgery i lost half of my side pressure.if i go to S.Africa i need to pull 70kg because of my fingers but i will meet him at next year's europeans in Bulgaria.if i cant stop him he will get his 10. european title and i dont want him to reach his goal:).by the way,my record against Russians by percentage is 75% winning.to place myself on 3. place with Cvetan may be wrong to some people but i just wrote what think.maybe to some im not in top 3,i respect all opinions that has knowledge behind it.

[Neil Pickup]

Hiya Engin,
mate you have got ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to prove whatsoever !!!

You are without a shadow of a doubt one of THE best exponents of armwrestling of all time and arguably pound for pound the best.

Rustam is a very very powerful puller and undoubtedly amongst the strongest the sport has ever seen however I hesitate before putting him as an all time great simply because his achievements have been relatively recent and therefore ALL TIME great cannot yet be truly applicable to Rustam in my opinion, though it may well be in years to come.

I personally have a great deal more respect for Armwrestlers who's experience transcends era's and whose skills have been proven against various high level challengers, maybe across several weight divisions etc.

Yourself Cvetan and certainly Andy Rhodes fall heavily under this designation, Rustam with all due respect to his TREMENDOUS POWER as yet for me does not and I certainly do not believe that he could beat Cobra in his prime.

I have a phenomenal amount of respect for Cvetan Gashevski and have analysed his career very closely for almost a decade now however having trained and pulled with both Cobra and Cvetan on numerous occasions I can say with a high degree of confidence that at both mens prime Cobra would have TOTALLY DOMINATED Gashevski.

Your original gut feel, which you expressed to me at the Europeans when we discussed a theoretical encounter between Rustam & Cobra in form, was in my opinion right on the money Engin.

Remember "one mans meat is usually another mans poison" in this sport, as anyone who has been around the pads long enough will appreciate. Cobra was immune to the poison of most and LETHAL TO ALMOST ALL when coiled and in form !!!

Cobra is a bigger man physically than you Engin and as such should not really be compared to you in that way as you have only taken weight in the last few years as you have become older. At 75kg to 80kg however he was in my opinion the most universally effective Armwrestler the world has EVER seen to date.

I am sure its very hard to be called the best and everybody's best will always be different and for different reasons mate BUT if there are a handful of men in the game who can justifyably claim to have experienced just how hard.......... then you are certainly amongst them Engin.

Few men would argue with that whether they love you are hate you my friend, very few !!!

Later Champ

Fat Neil Esq.

ps. bought some more plastic weights today and stepped the mark up to 250kg for 25 whistle clean reps on set six of the pyramid for the KING OF THE WRIST CURLS TITLE !!!! EEEEEEEEEERRE MI NOW !!! ;D ;D

[Yuval Bar]

Hi Neil i`m a good friend of Nir arel from israel.u remember him? he is the strongest armwresler in israel
and i think can be one of the best in the world.
came 3 i the overall after sharon and cobra.he want to start practice.now he is very strong even with no training. u fill is power before what do think he can do today against top armwreslers 85-90 kg?. i think that today is more powerful than he was very big forearms and very powerful and thick whirst .

[Neil Pickup]

Hi Yuval,
yes of course I remember Nir, he is a very good friend of mine and extremely powerful. Nir is a genetically gifted puller in much the same way as the other great Isreallian armwrestler of our era Sharon Remez.

I am sure that with the correct focus and training Nir can be a force at 85-90kg again as he is naturally extremely strong.

I hope Nir and his family are all happy and healthy and please wish him all the very best in his training and life outside Armwrestling, I hope to meet / see him again soon at the tables.

Take care and all the best Yuval

Cheers

Neil.

[Charlie Minell]

The scariest thing with Rustam is that he's only 22 years old and came to the sport in 1998. I'm 24 and started pulling in 1996, and I can't even beat him in my best dreams! (I beat Brzenk once though...)

I can't imagine how ******* strong he will be in 5-10 years if he stay away from injuries!!

[guy]

Hi where in the Ukraine does Rustam live I may visit the east like Kiev in a couple months.

Also Neal where do you live I may come that way too?

[enginterzi]

Neil,when i choose Rustam as number one i didnt mean his career in armwrestling.i know that there are many armwrestlers who have done much greater things in the sport.but how he looks now is untouchable.the other day i read that he was doing one arm bicep curl with 80kg(176pound).i believe that its harder to beat this guy with an outside move because of his incredible fingers,wrist,side pressure are giving him the chance of first hit.i believe that Tschakilov from Russia is the only man that has chance to beat this man.because Tschakilov has no worry about a quick win.he has an incredible defending style and power.the way that he armwrestles is Rustam's weakest point.but we outside pullers have very low chance of beating this monster:).

[Neil Pickup]

Hiya Champ,
I would endorse your comments regarding Tschakilov 100% I would agree that if anyone can get a result against Rustam currently it would be Tschakilov.

I still believe that on a different day Gashevski could beat Rustam also regardless of his recent defeats by Babyev.

There is always a way mate ALWAYS and don't doubt your ability to find it ha ha ha. The biggest issue for most of the top pullers as soon as they get to the highest level they feel pressure and loose a little bit of hunger (or its overshadowed by a slight fear of failure in our fickle sport), in order to find the weakness you would need exposure to Rustam's style.

ie. Numerous losses may be essential to work out the way through him !!! few of the top flight guys would have the stomach to take repeated defeats in that manner to achieve the end result. Food for thought !!!

Your right about Rustam he is a Monster and at the moment he looks exceptionally difficult to defeat, every credit and good luck to him.

At the end of the day mate, the strongest mentally will always usually end up as the strongest overall when the talking stops and the dust settles !!!

Stay in your game Engin, keep focus and develop your strengths to counter all not just his !!!

later Angry Turk

ps. hows the hand / fingers mending OK I hope.

Cheers

Neil

[Neil Pickup]

Hi Guy,
we live train in Manchester in North West England if you were looking to come over to the UK come to the event in May 2005 ARM WARS VIII.

It will take place over the weekend of Friday 27th May - Monday 30th May at The Trafford Centre in Manchester
WAF classes 60kg through to 100kg and then +100kg as the heaviest class.

ITS ONE RED HOT TOURNAMENT !!!

Regards

Neil .

[enginterzi]

there are some physical facts my friend.there are some chemical facts my friend:)!.Cvetan or i may have chance to beat this monster when drug testing starts happenning.but there are still ways to pass this test.to certain athletes including all the world champs,they need to do tests even a month before championships to stop this.
my fingers are very bad.i cant curl anything:(.take care buddy

[Tony Carpenter]

Engin:
I am a new arm-wrestler in the sport, a light weight trying to build up my skills and strengths. I look up to you and admire your achievements. You are one of, if not my favorite arm-wrestler (though I share respect for all). Keep doing what YOU do best. Hopefully one day I see you at worlds.

[Neil Pickup]

I heard that Angry Turk !!!

Sorry about the fingers mate that breaks wind WORLD CLASS !!!

Don't stop believing Engin

later Champ

Fat Lad Out

[enginterzi]

Tony,
thanks for your kins words my friend.i really wish you best of luck in the sport.if there s anything that i can help you to get being better just write [e-mail]
im looking forward to meet you one day.how old are you my friend?

[Tony Carpenter]

I am 17, a college boy for right now. Next year I want to go to Nationals here in the US.

[Steven Lareau]

Tony, you'll be a great armwrestler. I know that your dedication to the sport is huge and that your perseverance is indomitable. At 50 kg, I'm sure that you will have plenty of room to continue growing, and I have no doubts that you will. ;D