It’s been an especially slow start to the year for reigning world champ, Mr. John John Florence. Eliminated by Mikey Wright at Snapper and now by Zeke Lau at Bells.
Last week we ran a story (you might have seen it) titled, “If Zeke Lau Isn’t on Your Fantasy Team, You Might Have Just Blown It.” Not a particularly committed title, admittedly, but an informed statement nonetheless. Judging by one turn captured by Jake “The Snake” Paterson, and having met Zeke once in person, I went out on a limb and ventured Zeke was fit to show up and blow up the Bells bowl. I shifted my fantasy team in the final hours before the wait period and hoped I was right.
When Zeke drew John John in Round 3, I’ll admit I was sweating a bit. John, I should add, is also on my team for Bells – so if he eliminated Zeke I wouldn’t have been that disappointed. Still, I was hopeful the big man would come out on top. A kind of backwards David and Goliath if you will – if the two only differed by an inch in height and 20 pounds in weight.
As it happens, Zeke won in a showing true John John fans will a) never forget, and b) contest for years to come. If you missed the action, Zeke set the mood of the heat by hassling John John for priority right out of the gate. Then, he scarcely left John’s side for the entirety of the heat.
“I let him feel the pressure a little bit,” Lau said in his post-heat interview. “[John’s] a Champ so you can’t give him any room. I know what he is capable of when he’s comfortable and feeling good, which is why my strategy was what it was.”
It’s a kind of strategy surf fans will love or hate. According to Joe Turpell, Martin Potter was in the commentary punching pillows loving it.
John John’s take? Well here’s what he said in an interview with Rosy Hodge: “It’s all a competition and I just kind of laugh about it because he’s paddling over my board and stuff. In a way it’s kind of lame because it’s fun to surf a heat based on pure surfing and not sitting on someone’s board. But at the same time it’s a competition. He surfed really well and I’ll learn from it.”
