Who are yours?
Most on here know who are mine: Hamdullah Aykutlu, Mike Francois, David Dearth, Rusty Jeffers, Andrews Munzer, and Achim Albrecht. And by underdog I mean never placed hight in the Olympia or perhaps one you feel never got enough shine.
Eddie Robinson, kevin levrone, gary strydom, and berry de may, mike matterozo i just butchered his name , sorry.
I just went back and looked at some there pics during break, id say berry lacked the thickness of the others i mentioned but would have done good in current mens physique contest.
Lee Labrada!
Gunter Schlierkamp because, seriously?
Over 6-feet tall, 290+ on stage, and still aesthetic as fuark (as the kids would say).
Bob Paris.
francious was the first pro I ever met, and he was just so damn helpful, patient and encouraging that I probably was more of a fan of the man than simply his monstrous physique.
Bob Paris was just perfect IMO. People always reference his proportions and symmetry but they forget that he was pretty damn huge at his peak!
Labrada shouldn’t be under rated, but as time goes by people forget he was beating Haney going into the posing round… The MuthaF-king posing round where Haney pulled ahead (!!!) and won the Okympia yet again.
S
I think the weiders and a small group of people had way to much control over placings.
As well as politics instead of best physiques like Labrada well hes to short, or Paris openly gay.
How come Levrone didnt beat Coleman with his distended belly.
I don’t know, but I have a strong suspicion Joe Weider was gay. So I don’t think he would dismiss great gay bodybuilders.
Hey Brick, I’ve never heard that Joe Weider was gay. What makes you suspicious?
He was the ultimate marketer, and would definitely influence results if he felt he would make more money out of it(regardless of ethics, fairness, or objectivity). Arnold was favoured over Sergio Oliva, arguably because “white” was more marketable than “black” at the time . However that doesn’t explain how Chris Dickerson won the 1982 Olympia. I don’t know if he was openly gay in the wider community(people in the BB industry would have known). He was black, gay and had a torn bicep that wasn’t cosmetically remedied(looked horrible) and managed consistently high placings in comp’s.
One fella who impressed me in the early 1990’s was Francis Benfatto. He was the master of aesthetics, a perfectly cut, virtually faultless diamond. Full muscle bellies, tiny waist, lats that inserted very low. The kind of classic physique many guys aspire to. However the 90’s was a time where mass triumphed, growth hormone use became more common. Benfatto was criticised by some for being short, not having as much mass, especially in his lower body, than his contemporaries. Now I read that as he wasn’t taking any growth hormone, and or enough mg’s of steroids.
He tried to address to mass issue, by training with Kevin Levrone.Unfortunately Kevin’s approach of training super heavy didn’t agree with Francis’s body type and he ruptured a pec tendon. He didn’t seem to get corrective surgery, and ended up with a horribly shortened pec, that marred the perfection of his aesthetics.
x10. perfect proportions right there
I don’t know, trying to market a group of oversized men in short trunks and have someone be openly gay in the 60s and 70s probably wouldn’t of helped the sport.
I hope i didnt spin your thread, i just thought it needed to brought up about bob paris coming out.
With a five page spread on ironman about his partner, pets, lifestlye, might have tarnished the image.
That weider tryed to portray, in his mag of clean living, eating, etc.
Do you think Reg Park was an underdog? 
Perhaps. Fair point.
Benfatto was amazing!
I simply heard a rumor through the grapevine that Joe Weider was gay. Considering that the gay community has been closely tied and funded much of bodybuilding culture, I wouldn’t be surprised at all.
Hamdullah Aykutulu
Rusy Jeffers. He never seemed to come in as shredded when he turned IFBB pro at age 40 though. But his proportions have ALWAYS been amazing!
Rusy jeffers small joints wide clavicles tall? never heard of before . Andrea’s munzer , the most shredded bodybuilder ever, after him and Momo died ifbb stopped testing , if i remember right he didn’t tan enough, maybe someone was more shredded, but no one carrying that much size was that cut.
My buddy thinks Vic Richards would have beat every body if he got cut, huge guy. But i think Ronnie had more freak size than any body regardless of Aesthetics.
In future when dna and myostatin doping are available, they just need to have a division called freak class.
