Cherkov

Elephant in the room, how far back do you have to go.

He is up against both. He is still on track to pass world level, but he is almost certainly never going to be the most decorated continentally.

I don't think only longevity matters, but there have been wrestlers like Yarygin who won 3 world/Olympic titles by pinning everyone. History will remember Gable as a young champion, but not dominant because of the 10-8 final. He'd have to win 5ish or 6ish titles by teching everyone to beat out longevity arguments and standout alone in dominance above the field imo ( I don't think anyone has done that in FS). Since he is not going to be going for medal counts or unbeaten streaks.

So far he is a guy with 6 senior level losses ( albeit at a young age), an OG, and had dominant domestic tournaments. But there have been wrestlers who pinned their way to an Olympic title and no one remembers them. He needs to achieve so much more.

I don't understand that reasoning. I think of weight classes as a tool to let more people participate. If you really want to know who is better, make it open weight and let them come with whatever they feel best at.

For a brief period of time after Karelin stepped away, from about 2001 to 2002, Rulon was the best in the world. But Rulon was never the mythical unbeatable one his reputation grew into. There were wrestlers who dominated him in their h2h encounters. Rulon was vulnerable to the odd loss as well and did not do well against the next generation of, fairly mediocre by soviet standards, post soviet state successors.

Not a great field against Riza at 130kg. The traditional wrestling powers to regions that sporadically produce champions, have been poor at superheavy for over a decade now. Coupled with America's decline, if it wasn't for Lopez Riza would be as decorated internationally as he is continentally. There is a skill to beating people you're favored against and Riza is very good at. I don't think he's a a strong champion. Most of the past champions he gets compared to would have beaten him convincingly imo. Akgul beat Geno again. The only thing Geno has on Akgul is his stamina. It's tough for him, it's facing a more athletic and nimbler person but who is just as strong as you and also reads you well. Your only hope is he has worse gas tank than you.

No, I can comment once on whether I think any matches are exciting in a given year in a tournament. Since that offends you so much, great I'm happy about it.

You classy? That's funny. But thank you for being interested in my comment and not any of the matches. But now you should sit down, shut up, stand up. and shut up.

Blatnick was a mickey mouse win. Johansson was a quality wrestler, but he hadn't even medaled at the Euros by 84. If the tournament was full strength, Johansson would have been a medal contender but a shock gold. The favorites were Tomov and whoever the soviets sent. Either Rostorotsky, Evgeni or maybe even Koltschinski. Johansson was winless against a lot of them. Impossible that Blatnick wins, no. None of them were Sadulaev type wrestlers, all took losses in their careers. But winning without the favorites, and just general field depth, isn't covered by a Johansson win. Fraser, the two main medalists at that weight were a Soviet and a Bulgarian. Andersson is an even better win than Johansson, but that weight was greatly impacted by the absences as well.

I was interested in the topic, just not in the way you care about. But you scoot on your butt as I understand.

By the extent of the standard you're implying, of course I do not. Compared to the general public, I'm a super fan. Though that would be inaccurate I think.

Glanced at the entry list. Don't see any matches I'd be interested in.

Mahkov was supposed to do UFC. Nothing ever came of it.

Your avatar and namesake was so hated and divisive in his contemporary society that they sentence him to death in a public trial. That's how much they didn't need him.

So inexcusable that the Coalition of the Willing got away with it and kept their olympics medals while finding war across land masses and oceans. Was the rape of the Armenian female soldier excusable to you? Or just the right having the right friends makes wars just.

Rostorotsky was the second best wrestler in the world, with number 3 and levels below him, and he had to quit the sport. In the modern era, he'd easily transfer.

All these sources from the trash encyclopedia and it takes two seconds of looking into it to disprove. "Prior to his last match versus Rulon Gardner in September 2000, a point had not been scored on him within the previous six years.[13][14][15]. 1:50

He looks like Taymazov in that photo.

if you only bite along the swirls path.

Yeah you're talking about Sergei Mureiko, the Moldovan/Bulgarian/Soviet competitor. Karelin's main rival. It was in 1999, nothing like that recorded in 1998s matches all standard Karelin fare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_World_Wrestling_Championships_–_Men's_Greco-Roman_130_kg. I've seen quite bit of footage of Karelin from various tournaments, he almost always wrecked his opponents from 1989 - 1998. Typical Karelin match had a pin or suplex. These were not Riza Kayaalp caution wins. He had at least two tournaments where he pinned everyone. The only exceptions were when Karelin got injured mid match or was recovering from serious injuries. Every top wrestler who competed during that time got pinned or thrown by Karelin. I've read an article that Gaffari wrestled him pretty well at 1991 worlds (3-0), but gaffari would definitely let everyone know if he felt that he had been cheated in that match (has never said anything). Starting in 1999, Karelin was getting Rulon'd every tournament and before guys like Rostorotzky and Gervoski gave the immature wiry 240 lb version trouble. So what's the other match you're talking about? The Rostorotzky loss in 1987 or you heard something else?

The no score claim is complete myth with video evidence proving that it's not true . Why do you think he lost though? The only thing I've ever heard is one match in 99 where he won after requesting a review. I don't believe a tape is public, so who knows whether it was fair.

AZE is not banned. The main 3 of the Coalition of the willing were not banned.

Why did Hinds skip worlds last year? Did he miss weight? Injury?

Karelin almost lost a match right before that, at the 1999 world championships. His opponent had his hand raised. It was later overturned after an appeal. That was the process back then, you could pay for an appeal that something improper happened during the bout. Was the overturning justified? I don't know, I don't think any footage exists. It was probably a no score type match.