I will try to explain. It's not about who I prefer, but which physique I think will win. Bodybuilding contests are decided by comparisons in the mandatory poses. Ronnie in 03 had a distended midsection, but he was able to keep it in check during comparisons. He would either suck in his gut or hide it with his massive arms depending on the pose. I have posted numerous pics of 03 Ronnie with a flat stomach. He also had a level of muscularity that has never been matched. His conditioning wasn't far off from his all-time best. He had feathered lats and shredded glutes at 286 lbs. I've seen pics from the contest and he literally made 2nd place look like an amateur.
Ronnie looked like garbage in 2003 from a symmetrical standpoint. Just trash. There's no way that he would win the symmetry round in an
unbiased contest. First of all, the midsection is the center of the body and is the one area that is visible in all mandatories from the front and sides. It is also visible in the relaxed round when all the competitors are compared. Ronnie's distended midsection would make him lose an the symmetry round of an unbiased contest
flat out. There goes 50% of the judging criteria. Now, add to that his humongous quadriceps overpowered not only his calves but also his entire upper-body and the symmetry round is lost. The judges might forgive his disproportional quadriceps on the grounds that it's not fair to penalize a competitor for excessive, disproportional muscularity. But the midsection is the
most severe symmetrical liability a bodybuuilder can have. Tops!
There's no way the 2003 Coleman would walk all over Dorian. In my opinion, I think that, if the two were to go against each other at the Olympia stage, Ronnie would win because the judges there only care about muscle size at the expense of everything else. Now, in a contest where trhe judges actually
followed the book, I think Dorian would win. Ronnie would have 30 lbs on Dorian, but the quality of Dorian's muscularity was superior, with greater conditioning. Bodybuilders like Shawn and Flex, etc, have defeated competitors who outweighed them by 50 lbs, so I don't think that the weight difference would make that much of a difference when we consider that Dorian's muscles just plain looked better than that of the 2003 Ronnie. And finally, Dorian had a flat stomach and etched abs and serratus at 260 lbs, so he would win the symmetry round flat out.

SUCKMYMUSCLE