The fact that you didn't mention biceps leads me to believe that the only Dorian you can have in this fight is the 93 version. Let's take the 98 Ronnie vs 93 Dorian. Size is close enough not to be the deciding factor. I'll give Dorian the slight edge in conditioning. That puts Ronnie slightly behind. Now lets move on to shape, detail, and aesthetics. Dorian himself has said that the 93 version of himself lacked polish and finish. You can hear his words himself http://www.muscleradio.com/past/index.html So that means that the unpolished 93 version of Dorian faces the 98 Ronnie, a Ronnie you just yourself said looked awesome. The 98 Ronnie also didn't have the huge leg and glute imbalance you mention. So that means we have a battle of two men with roughly the same size, one with a little better condition and one with better shape, detail, and finish. I just think that the small advantage Dorian has in condition is beaten by the superior shape, detail, and finish of Ronnie. To most people's eyes Ronnie simply looks better than Dorian. I know that is an opinion but that is what this is about. And more people have the opinion that Ronnie just has the better body. You say Dorian has an obvious adavantage in muscle balance and proportion but most people don't see this the way you do and even those that do don't see it as enough of an advantage to beat Ronnie. You're simply looking at this with to much "exactness". Look at both head to toe and Ronnie just looks better. Opinion sure, but one shared by most. And if you want to take this one step farther, we can talk about 03 Ronnie vs. 93 Dorian. I know you don't think 03 Ronnie is better than 98 Ronnie, but the comparison here, in my opinion, makes Ronnie's win even easier. He's just too big, with enough condition, to beat anything Dorian could ever come up with.
Size is close enough ? Ronnie was 249lbs in 98 and Dorian was 257lbs thats an eight pound weight advantage with being one inch shorter thats not that close , I could see if it was 3 or 4 pounds eight pounds of solid muscle is a lot but if it were a close contest little things like this do make a difference .
and we could use Dorian 1995 even with the torn bicep his overall package is unstopable and you say " well his bicep is torn " according to Roger Schwab one of the heads of the I.F.B.B. judging chair commented on the tear in 1994 and said " it made absolutely no difference to his overall package " and you can now say " well that was in relation to the guys he faced back then " and you'd have a point , however this pose would only hurt him in one shot and thats the front double biceps pose and with his overall strenghts in the mandatories he can afford to lose this shot .
Now you insist that Ronnie has better shape & detail , I conceded that in some muscles he does and others he does not. I don't think overall that his shape & detail are that dominating or overwhelming , he doesn't have better shaped or detailed , gastrocnemius outer & inner head , soleus or tibialis , abdominals , intercostals , serratus , obliques , forearms , lats , eractor spinae , so lets say Ronnie has a better shaped chest his gyno in 98/99 renders that advantage moot . his quads are better shaped and detailed , lets say the triceps are a push what does that leave Ronnie with ? biceps , chest , and quads , thats not an overwhelming advantage in terms of detail & shape I wouldn't even call it a slight edge. if you were comparing Dorian to Cormeir in terms of shape I would concede but not Ronnie .
And Dorian said he was slightly more finished in 95 in relation to 93 but thats in his high standards both years were
extremly dominating not anyone was even close , lets put 1993 into prospective durring the prejudging the judges actually didn't even need to call him out in the muscularity round because he was so far ahead of everyone else !! that is unheard of and I don't think thats been before or since !! Wayne Demila only called him out to be compared to Ray & Wheeler to please the crowd . now put Ronnie's win from 1998 Mr Olympia into prospective , he just barely beat Flex Wheeler by 3 points , this has to be the closest Mr Olympia ever !! now the version of Flex Ronnie beat in 1998 wasn't as sharp or detailed as the version Dorian beat in 1993 and Dorian beat him by leaps & bounds , to say 1998 Ronnie would beat Dorian at his best when he could barely beat Flex a man who Yates beat at ease is just fantasy .
Now you made the claim that Ronnie has an edge on aesthetics compared to Dorian and I always laugh when people when people associate Ronnie as being aesthetic , he may be more aesthetic than Yates but he's not going to be mistaken for Bob Paris anytime soon , a few points to remember Dorian consistantly beat aesthetic bodybuilders and he doesn't have to conform to to someone elses ' strengts ' in order to beat them , he did just fine by being Dorian .
Now you say most people don't see Dorian's better balance & proportion and a deciding factor in the comparisions of the two but like I've said before most people overlook this and thats not wise , especially when in the I.F.B.B. judging criteria they preface their assesments with this statement
The judge should then survey the
whole physique, starting from the head, and looking at every part
of the physique in a downward sequence, beginning with general
impressions, and looking for muscular bulk,
balanced
development, muscular density and definition.
So while most people overlook it the judges don't. another outright clear advantage Dorian has at simlar weights is muscle density , muscular bulk in 99 is moot and 1998 Dorian has 8 extra pounds I think thats another advantage however slight , and we can argue about definition , Dorian midsection , lats , etc vs Ronnies advantages which equate to my opinion to a push and Dorian has the outright advantage in terms of balanced devlopment , factor in Dorian being the better poser of the two , not that Yates will be mistaken for Mohammed Makawwy anytime soon , but compared to Ronnie he has the better ability to properly execute the mandatory poses and show his physique to its maximum , add those all up to owning more of the mandatory poses and its very safe to assume Dorian would beat Ronnie in 98 convincingly and it may be a lot closer vs 1999 .
2003 vs anything Dorian could come up with? lol the black & white Horton pics from 1993 where Yates was 269lbs could give Ronnie at 287lbs a run for his money but the judges may go with Ronnie just based on his weight advantage but then again Ronnie's hardness at that weight especially in the back isn't great but that comparision is a whole other thread lol