If Haney had returned in '92...

[Titus Pullo]

I see a lot of people saying Lee could have come back for a ninth win in 1992.

Maybe, but I disagree with their reasoning.  They say shit like, "Oh, Haney would have come in even bigger" and the like.

That makes no sense to me.  Lee tried competing in the high 250s in 88 or 89, and he was criticized for losing definition.

Dorian beat Lee in the muscularity round in 91.  So, Haney was magically going to get back to well over 250 and get way more cut to win in 92, after many years of coming in with roughly the same form?

Doz added maybe five pounds of stage weight for 92, but he was arguably leaner than before, and lost muscle to achieve that condition.  He knew no top guy could match his size (242ish?), but he also wanted to be sure he was shredded beyond even the likes of smaller guys like Levrone, Ray, Taylor and Labrada.  Had he known Haney was coming back, he could have retained roughly comparable condition but not dieted off the mass needed to match Lee at 248-250.

Thoughts, apart from how I'm a thong-sniffing schmoe?   (I'm really not, apart from Tuesday evenings.  That's when I set up my shrine to Ken Sprague and that big, tattooed guy who recently died, Chris Duffy.  At least, I think he died?)

[NarcissisticDeity]

Lee Haney was at his all time best in 1991. He said this was the only Olympia he actually peaked the day of the contest , He was 249lbs. If he could replicate that compared to Dorian in 1992 he could beat him again. Dorian in 1991 was 239lbs and in 1992 he was 242lbs. Haney did compete in 1989 at 257lbs and he said his conditioning suffered for it. No version of Haney is beating Dorian in 1993. Haney retired in the best shape of his life ( No Mr Olympia after him can say that ) and broke Arnold's record. He had nothing to gain.

[Flexacon]

One of those years Haney "was criticized for losing definition" they were doing drug testing at the Mr O or some other similar BS. Everyone looked worse "definition" wise those years.

Haney retired pretty young. He was like 2 or 3 years older than Dorian and 4 or 5 years older than Ronnie. Assuming he was willing to embrace the chemical game similar to those guys he could have almost certainly added more size.

Also if their kidneys don't blow up then Black bodybuilder also tend to peak (size and conditioning wise) slightly older. Blacks peak mid 30s and into early 40s. White bodybuilders peak around late 20s to mid 30s.

If Haney had the desire and retardation he could have absolutely kept going throughout the 90s and maybe into the 00s

[Royalty]

Lee Haney was at his all time best in 1991. He said this was the only Olympia he actually peaked the day of the contest , He was 249lbs. If he could replicate that compared to Dorian in 1992 he could beat him again. Dorian in 1991 was 239lbs and in 1992 he was 242lbs. Haney did compete in 1989 at 257lbs and he said his conditioning suffered for it. No version of Haney is beating Dorian in 1993. Haney retired in the best shape of his life ( No Mr Olympia after him can say that ) and broke Arnold's record. He had nothing to gain.

Yates said that when he heard that Haney was not going to compete in 1992, he (Yates) decided to not come in as big as possible. He just focused on conditioning.

If Haney did not decide to retire, and Haney entered the show in 1992, Yates said that he would’ve come in as big as possible to battle Haney’s mass.