Here is the second part of our interview with Anton Antipov. He’s talking straight, and for the record. If you missed Part I, click here.

So, you left Boss Models and cut off your blond hair. Then what?
When I was with Boss I was maybe 150-155lbs. When I left I just started working different jobs, mostly sales at Abercrombie & Fitch, catering, bar-tending. I had a lot of free time on my hands too, going from seven castings a day to nothing. I tried to gain a little weight, with some help from protein powders and weigh gainers — I got up to 165lbs.

While bar-tending at a bar in New York, one of my customers suggested that I go see his friend Mike Lyons, who is the main booker for R&L Models. He said Mike wanted to meet me because he’d heard a lot about me. When I called Mike, he didn’t know who I was (laughs). But I figured, what the hell, so I went in to see him, and have been with R&L models since.

That’s when you decided to go the ‘fitness-modeling’ route?
Yes. When I first got signed with Boss, I always wanted to be like one of the guys on the covers of Men’s Fitness or Men’s Health, and I didn’t pursue that goal because I was signed with a fashion agency and had to keep a certain amount of weight on. Now that goal has become semi-realistic. I’ve worked with a lot of talented photographers, and have done work for Pomellato, Arena Homme Asia, Blackbook Magazine, Masterbeat — a music label, Kal Yee’s coffee table book Slide, Genre Magazine, Exercise for Men Only Magazine, All American Guys, Freshpair and most recently DMK underwear and C-in2 and other credited work I can’t remember off-hand.

How do you keep so fit?
I used to play hockey when I was younger, but had a few injuries and went to a slightly less violent sport, beach volleyball, that I play in the summer with friends. I also played in a few tournaments in New York. These days I try to stay active and constantly move around, since I don’t like just run on a treadmill.

Do you have a fitness goal?
At the moment I’m 176lbs and 5′11, still looking to gain a few pounds, maybe get to 185lbs or so.

Where is your career headed?
Eventually I want a career in writing for health and fitness magazines, and to be able to help people out in living a healthy lifestyle [check the link to Anton's new Fitness blog at the bottom of the story].

Can you name a photographer you admire?
I admire a few, one of them is actually Sean Cook. Good pal of mine, he was the first one to ever shoot me about seven years ago, pictures came out great. He should definitely get some spotlight in the industry. David LaChapelle is also great — it would be a treat to work with him one day.

Any male or female model friends?
I lost contact with everybody when I moved out of New York. I’ve hardly done any modeling in the past year. I’m just now starting to get back in the swing. Andre Birleanu used to be a good friend of mine, we were both with Boss Models. I left and he stayed. And when I started with Boss, John Babin, my agent at the time, sent me to castings with Steven Strait to show me the ropes.

Do you have a ‘significant other’?
I’m straight, and at the moment single.

Where do you live?
I live in Bensonhurst area in Brooklyn, New York City. I just moved from New Jersey.

What are you good at?
It’s a long list (laughs). I’m great at picking movies and making parents feel safe about their daughters (laughs).

What are you a total klutz at?
Forming socially acceptable sentences when I’m nervous, I get tongue-tied and end up speaking some kind of foreign language that tends to consist of only vowels.

Can you tells us about a circumstance where your good looks were more a curse than a blessing?
I like edgy stuff. When I was working with Boss Models and they pitched me to the high fashion clients, I wouldn’t get booked for the jobs that I wanted, which were more risqué, trashy yet editorial looking. The clients said I was too much of a ‘pretty boy’ for certain jobs. It also makes my sister paranoid (laughs). She thinks every girl wants to be her friend so they can get to me.

Last week, we mentioned Anton’s massive internet following, orchestrated by Thomas, the founder of an extremely popular Yahoo Group entirely dedicated to the Belarusian model. We asked him a few questions, just to make sure we had the whole Anton story -– so far.

How did you meet Anton?
I first encountered Anton on the Teen Muscle Guys message board in late 2004. I really liked his pictures, so I sent him a ‘fan email’. I was surprised that he responded, but even more so that he was very friendly and down-to-earth.

How did you come up with that Yahoo Group idea?
At the time, I ran a Yahoo Group — now defunct — about another model, so I asked Anton if he would mind if I created one about him. His reaction was that he didn’t think anyone would be interested (laughs). That was in February of 2005. We currently have over 10,400 members in the group.

That’s impressive. How did you promote your group?
I stopped doing any active promotion for the group years ago, but it still gains, on average, about a hundred new members every month — so there are a lot of people interested in him. Further proof of that is how many websites feature him. When I first became a fan in 2004-2005, a Yahoo search of his name would only return four or five results. If you google his name now, you get over forty pages of results!

The gallery below features modeling book photos by Kristopher Kelly and holiday pictures of Anton in Barbados — the guy loves anything outdoors, traveling, beaches and he proves it.

Anton Antipov – Yahoo Group
Anton Antipov Fitness
R & L Model Management
Kristopher Kelly photography
Teen Muscle Guys