Burroughs Triumphs Again

We know Jordan Burroughs is the best wrestler walking around the planet right now. A knee injury in the first match of the 2014 World Championships slowed him to "just" a bronze medal. Burroughs reminded us how just damn good he is and it is unmatched by anybody in the world. 

Burroughs basically cruised through his bracket. Watching wrestling all week you see amazing wrestlers get swallowed up in this ridiculously difficult tournament. Yet Burroughs cruised as if it was a college open tournament to win his 4th world championship. It's really difficult to comprehend. 

Coach Manning had a great day and deserves a lot of credit as his other Husker wrestler also medaled. James Green looked incredible cruising in to the semis before falling in an exciting match to Yazdani (Iran). He then came back with a pin in the bronze medal match. James Green looked so good it makes you wonder if he can get down to the Olympic weight to challenge Brent Metcalf. In Green's press conference, he said that his plan is to get down to the weight. Chamizo (Italy) did win this tournament at the lower weight and Green did beat him this summer. Six minutes on your feet with James Green appears to be a mine field. It is almost impossible to follow his feet that long before stepping in the wrong spot for any brief moment of time. 

Tony Ramos battled to win his first two matches before losing a heartbreaker in the last ten seconds to Iran. He was pulled in to repechage, but fell 7-1 to Bulgaria. Ramos looked good and keeps improving. 

Zach Rey had a tough draw and was not pulled in to repechage after dropping his first match. 

The Men's Freestyle team finishes 7th in the team standings which is an improvement over 10th last year but still a tad disappointing. Two gold medals and one bronze is not awful, but it certainly feels we had more than three medalists on this team. 

It was an entertaining week of wrestling with a lot of great live streams and coverage. Now we wait for November!

Medal winners

57 kg/125.5 lbs.
Gold – Vladimer Khinchegashvili (Georgia)
Silver – Hassan Rahimi (Iran)
Bronze – Bekhbayar Erdenebat (Mongolia)
Bronze – Viktor Lebedev (Russia)

70 kg/154 lbs.
Gold – Magomedras Gazimagomedov (Russia)
Silver – Hassan Yazdani (Iran)
Bronze – James Green (USA)
Bronze – Yakup Gor (Turkey)

125 kg/275 lbs.
Gold – Taha Akgul (Turkey)
Silver – Jamaladdin Magomedov (Azerbaijan)
Bronze – Geno Petriashvili (Georgia)
Bronze – Bilyal Makhov (Russia)

74 kg/163 lbs.
Gold – Jordan Burroughs (USA)
Silver – Unurbat Purevjav (Mongolia)
Bronze – Narsingh Yadav (India)
Bronze – Aniuar Geduev (Russia)

Finals matchups

Men’s freestyle

57 kg/125.5 lbs.
Vladimer Khinchegashvili (Georgia) dec. Hassan Rahimi (Iran), 5-4

70 kg/154 lbs.
Magomedras Gazimagomedov (Russia) dec. Hassan Yazdani (Iran), 10-3

125 kg/275 lbs.
Taha Akgul (Turkey) won by tech. fall over Jamaladdin Magomedov (Azerbaijan), 10-0

74 kg/163 lbs.
Jordan Burroughs (USA) won by tech. fall over Unurbat Purevjav (Mongolia), 10-0

U.S. performances

Men’s freestyle

57 kg/125.5 lbs. – Tony Ramos, Iowa City, Iowa (Titan Mercury WC)
WIN Eucli Cuero Munoz (Colombia), 10-1
WIN Makhmudjon Shavkatov (Uzbekistan), 3-3
LOSS Hassan Rahimi (Iran), 1-3
LOSS Asadulla Lachinau (Belarus), 1-7

70 kg/154 lbs. – James Green, Lincoln, Neb. (Titan Mercury WC) – BRONZE MEDAL
WIN Johnathan Scott Duque (Costa Rica), tech. fall 10-0
WIN Robert Olle (Slovakia), tech. fall 12-1
WIN Arun Kumar (India), 10-0
LOSS Hassan Yazdani (Iran), 4-9
WIN Muroslav Kirov (Bulgaria), fall 2:16

74 kg/163 lbs. – Jordan Burroughs, Lincoln, Neb. (Sunkist Kids) – GOLD MEDAL
WIN Krystian Brzozowski (Poland), 5-2
WIN Oleg Zakharevych (Ukraine), tech. fall 10-0
WIN Mihaly Nagy (Hungary), tech. fall 11-0
WIN Alireza Ghasemi (Iran), 5-0
WIN Aniuar Geduev (Russia), 4-3
WIN Unurbat Purevjav (Mongolia), tech. fall 10-0

125 kg/275 lbs. – Zach Rey, Bethlehem, Pa. (Lehigh Valley WC)
LOSS Alen Zaseev (Ukraine), 1-6