By Gary Chappell
The IBFA Liverpool 2025 show has been saved after photographer Anthony Chia-Bradley stepped in at the last minute to prevent it being cancelled.
Anthony Chia-Bradley, whose stage photos have graced the bodybuilding scene for almost 20 years, has introduced some exceptional trophies for this season's incarnation.
And to top that there will be three overall winners – men, women and male Classic Physique. The latter overall winner will receive a trophy of the iconic pose from Masters bodybuilder James Room, captured from his now infamous posing routine (below).
"The trophies for the IBFA Liverpool are going to be really good," said Chia-Bradley during an exclusive interview with frontdouble.com. "We've got this warrior style trophy. One for the ladies and one for the men's. Mark Fox is doing all of those. The men's ones are more like Conan the Barbarian type. And the girls' ones are kind of like a Viking warrior princess.
"And one thing that's going to be different from the other IBFA shows is that we're having an overall Classic winner. We're going to have a Masters Classic, Short Classic and Tall Classic – then we're going to have the overall Classic. And we've got the James Room statue, which is going to be for the overall Classic. And James is going to present that himself."
Chia-Bradley has been capturing iconic images across the bodybuilding world since 2008 after a period producing digital artwork of competitors. He explained: "I did digital artwork of bodybuilders from taking a photograph, manipulating it on the computer and changing colours. I started producing them for gyms and stuff like that. Then I had an exhibition in London with the artwork and they hired four bodybuilders as part of the event.
"I took some photographs of them. I'd never really done any kind of photography before that. But people started to say, 'why don't you take my photos and then use that for the artwork rather than taking pictures off the internet and stuff like that'?. So that's what I started to do. And the guy who was the official photographer of the event called me and he said, 'I think you have a real eye for the physique and the way you capture it'. So that was really how it started."
If that can be considered a lucky break, then his expertise and talent behind the lens can be considered as the reason he was chosen to save the IBFA Liverpool.
He said: "When Matthew Ali took over the presidency of the IBFA, he said: 'I want you at all the shows. Then what happened was somebody let Matthew down with regard to the IBFA Liverpool, so then he was going to scrap the show.
"I have a really good relationship with Matthew and he said, 'people are asking about the Liverpool. Why don't you do it'? It'll be great. We'll call it the IBFA Liverpool ACB [Anthony Chia-Bradley] Classic'. And I was like, I don't know, I'm not sure I've got the money to kind of invest. And he went, 'I'll go half with you'."
The rest, as they say, is history and now the IBFA Liverpool ACB Classic will take place on June 28.
Chia-Bradley continued: "I've brought in about 14 or 15 sponsors and I'm very grateful to them all. It's incredible that they've shown so much support. Some of it, some of it. Some of my friends I've known in the industry, Lee Kemp, from the UK Drug Free Bodybuilding. He's going to sponsor two of my classes and has been really supportive. And some of my other friends, like Debra Shelton, who's a PT. So I've been very fortunate.
The show will take place in the Grand Hall at the Florey in Liverpool and former promotor and Masters Over 60s competitors Alex Large has also been helping out. Chia-Bradley said: "Alex has been great. He's going to guest pose for me. Drew Walker [bodybuilder] going to open the show too.
"I'm hoping that it's going to be a really good family atmosphere. That we're going to bring a fun Liverpool feel to it. And hopefully have a lot of support from the Liverpoodlians themselves. Because I think they've all got a great sense of humour. I've got Ronnie Orr who is going to compare for me. He's quite a big name in Liverpool. He's fantastic on the stage. He knows exactly what he's doing. Which is great as, because I'll be doing the photos. We've got some really nice prizes and I'm going to give everybody a little key ring with the weights on. So everybody who comes and competes will get one of those." I don't think there's, there's not going to be prizes for every class. I just financially can't do it. "
Membership for the IBFA remains competitive at just £35 a year. Competing in one class will cost £30, with two classes coming in at £50. Registration closes on June 23, but they may be able to accommodate later entries. Chia-Bradley added: "There's so much more to promoting a show than I realised. And I'm only doing half of it because Matthew's still doing the registration. But I think the IBFA is in good hands with Matthew. He's really trying."
Register HERE.
