A lot of the claims made by the Coleman fans, about how he would fair in his 1999 versiona against Dorian, are simply non-sensical. These are the facts:
- Dorian would defeat him in muscularity, or, at the very least, tie.
- Ronnie has a small advantage in taper, but Dorian has the better abs. When it comes to head-to-toe muscular proportions, Dorian's at least as good as Ronnie. So the symmetry round could go either way: the judges might prefer Ronnie's slightly better taper and ignore his muscular disproportions. Or they might not, and give the nod to Dorian, who, although possesed of a worst taper, has less symmetrical liabilities than Ronnie. The symmetry round could go either way.
- Dorian has superior hardness.
- Ronnie would only win the front double biceps conclusively. Dorian would won the side triceps, abs-and-thighs, front lat spread and rear lat spread. In the other mandatories, it could go either way. Regardless, Dorian win most mandatories.
Most of the criticism bestowed on Dorian are not really critiques of his muscualarity - which dominates Ronnie in 1999 -, or hios muscular proportions, which was as close to impeccable as a large bodybuilder ever had. The critiques are mostly directed at his structure. The problem here is that Dorian's structure was good enough for him to defeat several guys who had a a similar structure to Ronnie's, such as Shawn. While Shawn is small and Ronnie is not, Dorian still takes the 1999 Ronnie out in overrall muscularity. The 2003 Ronnie is a different story, asd he does have greater overrall muscularity than Dorian. However, I still think a 260 lbs Dorian Yates with a flat stomach, etched abs and serratus, impeccalbe proportions and superior conditionign would have a great shot at defeating a 290 lbs Ronnie in an unbiased contest, because Ronnie's symmetrical liabilities were far too severe and, although his muscularity was greater, Dorian had more quality - hardness. So, who knows? One thing I know with absolute certainty: even if the 2003 Ronnie defeated Dorian due to his greater overrall muscularity, it would be by points and not a straight-firsts victory. Ronnie's symmetrical flaws were just too great and Dorian's muscular quality too awesome for Ronnie to defeat him flat out.
SUCKMYMUSCLE