John,
I certainly respect your take on things (notice I didn't use the word "opinion," which I abhor with a passion) and, since you've interviewed direct eyewitnesses to the '80 Olympia, I reckon that makes them, and by default, you, far more qualified to judge what really happened at that contest ...
... but on the other hand, those are subjective measures; pics and video are decidedly *not*.
I am a big Mentzer fan. Mike and I were friends from '95 to shortly before his death. He regarded me as a kind of prodigy apprentice and wrote about me in Muscular Development. He, well ... exaggerated, and then some. But I still loved the guy.
Based on everything I've seen, do I agree with Michael's assessment that he and Dickerson should've been the top two?
No. Apart from Chris' quads, calves and back thickness, I was actually shocked that he placed so high.
Then again, from irrefutably untampered photographic evidence, I probably would not have placed Mike in the top two, either. I agree with Boyer in that Arnold did look "skinny" in clothes; Mike said as much once in FLEX magazine. I imagine that was a psyche-out ploy by Arnold to lull some of his "enemies" into a false sense of confidence ... or maybe Arnold just wore a really tight long-sleeved shirt that didn't emphasize his development too well
In the end, I've reviewed all of the footage, and Arnold still wins. &guy Walker looks bigger and thicker than Arnold just standing there, and some of the other guys probably had better abs/thighs (or whatever).
I definitely don't think Boyer says this out of jealousy or anything remotely of the sort, though. He is an honorable dude that's always been rather candid about this, that and the other.
Some of you high-volume freaks might take note that Boyer says he got into his very biggest, and arguably best, shape, following a Yates-inspired routine for the '94 Master's Olympia. And since I did know Mentzer at the time, I can also say that, by his accounts, Boyer consulted with him regularly regarding reducing exercises/bodypart and/or switching certain things up when the strength gains slowed.
Of course, to be totally fair, Boyer also admitted that he used more AAS and gH than he ever had before. That and the balls-out training just
might have something to do with him coming in big as a house in '94
P.S. -- I'm one of the rare few folk who thought Robby was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too smooth that year and should've finished third behind Louie and Boyer. Personally, I would've given the title to Boyer by a hair ... Lou was gigantic and fairly ripped, but his Pro Tan crap ran all about faster than Lance Armstrong would deny a doping allegation, plus his posing that year was so damned bad that a legitimately retarded person like Jason Genova could've matched his transitions and overall stage presence.
... well, that's an exaggeration, but you get my point. Louie was a terrible poser and was apparently so damned stupid that, even after people (like his jerk-wad of an opportunistic asshole dad)
tried to give him some pointers, he just went, "Uh, duh!" and did his own thing.
