Is BARRY BONDS a greater hitter than BABE RUTH? Could BILL RUSSELL have defended MICHAEL JORDAN? For nearly as long as there have been sports, there have been arguments as to how athletes of different generations stack up against one another.

It’s a tall order asking LENNOX LEWIS to spar with MUHAMMAD ALI, but in bodybuilding, we can pair up former champs with current ones fairly easily, thanks to the magic of computerized photo retouching.

In the first of what will be an ongoing photo series created exclusively for FLEX, we put Ronnie Coleman, fresh off his 2001 Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic win — which many insiders consider his all-time best shape — up against Arnold Schwarzenegger at the 1973 Mr. Olympia. Many experts believe that Schwarzenegger reached his competitive peak the following year, but he was only a hair behind that in ’73.

How do you think they match up? Coleman has mass and cuts, but do Schwarzenegger’s classical lines give him the edge? Let us know what you think.

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IFBB Olympia Weekend 2014

IFBB Olympia Weekend 2014