Frank Zane all by himself had the ultimate physique. PERIOD. BUT when next to bigger guys he vanished. Arnold had the biggest and most proportionate body and when he posed he posed to hide bodyparts that may not have been as superior to other contestants as were his other bodyparts. He was a master . The 70s and most of the 80's had the best guys EVER. The amatuers had such great guys too. All were amazing. I don't think Haney is all that. He was ok and should have won a few olympias and all that. But he was an asshole and very very racist. He has a reputation as being such a nice guy etc. I know more about him than a lot of people. He had a good public image and a good body but I didn't and don't like the man.
Arnold was the only guy who worked hard to get bodybuilders accepted more mainstream as a sport/ art. He went on tv shows he promoted contests wrote books and he himself became "mainstream" . The bodybuilders all thought they would repeat what he did but they never put in the work They just expected it to happen. I do not like Arnold now BUT without him where would the fitness industry be? Where would the prize money be at? So anyways I rambled on. Zane beats Haney any time. Padilla does to bob paris does too. Lot's do. In my opinion.
Disagree with a couple of points here. Despite being smaller in stature and weight, Zane did not disappear on stage. Thats what was so great about him. He understood how to present himself and create the illusion of being bigger.
2. Haney was so far ahead of everyone else it isn't even an issue. The only one he was lucky to win was the drug tested Olympia. That was an odd contest. I have never heard anything about Lee being an asshole or a racist.
I do agree that Arnold did more for the sport than anybody. Thats why I don't understand the spiteful attitude people had toward him in the late 70's. I mean he was getting bodybuilding into the mainstream, getting shows/contests on TV, getting all the bodybuilders so much exposure. He was probably insufferable to be around, probably always subtlety putting people in their place, hogging the limelight always having to be the center of attention. But come on without Arnolds work bodybuilding would be even more obscure than it already is. As soon as he turned his attention to his movie career it slipped back into obscurity little by little. I didn't get the disrespect Zane, Mentzer, Coe etc showed him. They were benefitting from his work to promote the sport and they despised him for it.