u23 preview and predictions 57kg-74kg

[Truzzcat]

57kg:
Favorites: Luke Lilledahl (u20 Gold, u20 silver, Cadet gold, Cadet silver) Luke is pretty clearly the favorite at this weight that overall is one of the weaker weights at the tournament. The Asian gold (north korea) and one of the Bronze (saliev) are not entered, Pavlov (euro gold) and Zangaladze (euro silver) are also not entered or not at 57 and I think they would have probably been Luke's toughest matches although I would have picked him in. We have gotten to see him now against more senior level international competition and its pretty clear that he is close to competing for a senior level medal. Valizadeh is someone who I thought about putting in this tier simply as a product of him being Irans senior guy for a world championship at the age of 19 and the guy at seniors this year. He also has a win over Razzade and Horst lehr which are very quality wins. However he has not shown much level of consistency and I do have some questions about how effective he can still be at 57kg.

Medal Threats:
Nodirbek JUMANAZAROV (Asian silver)
ANKUSH (u20 Bronze)
Milad Valizadeh (senior asian silver)

Predictions:
Gold: Luke
Silver: Jumanazarov
Bronze: Ankush
Bronze: Valizadeh

61kg:
Favorites: Jax Forrest (Senior world 5th, cadeit silver), Akito Mukaida (emperors cup bronze via win over Hosigawa world bronze meji cup silver), Levik Mikayelan (u23 euro gold many worlds under his belt defeated Nic bouzakis 10-3 last year), Fedor Baltuev( u20 bronze beating Jess mendez only loss was via fall 7-10 against amouzad also got silver at the 2023 Yarigyan losing to Abasghadzi 10-8), Reza Momeni (senior world 7th). This is a very deep field with quite a bit of variance Baltuev at a time looked like the next guy to step up for Russia being ranked as high as 5 in the world but has not wrestled a ton since 2023, at least that I have seen. Akito Mukaida has record a win as well as a tech fall loss to Hosogawa in the last 12 months who as I mentioned is a former world bronze and was leading suda 3-2 pretty for the spot on the world team this year. Mikayelan seems quite powerful and had a very good single against bouzakis and could certainly be someone that makes some noise but despite competing at 4 age level world championships has yet to medal. I think Jax is the best and most consistent guy here although if the Baltuev of old i.e when he was 20 shows up it should be a great match.

Medal Threats: Jeyhun Allahverdiyev(u20 euro champ u23 euro silver) , Tolga Ozbek (wrestled Blaze pretty tough for bronze last year losing 0-5)

Predictions:
Gold: Jax
Silver: Baltuev
Bronze: Mukaida
Bronze: Mikayelan

65kg:
Favorites: Marcus Blaze (u20 Gold, U20 bronze, Cadet gold), Yuto Nishiuchi (2x u20 gold beating Lilledahl 5-0 1 year, fell to Ono 3-2 to make the national team in 2024 at 61kg) , Sujeet (u23 bronze, u20 bronze, Notable win over Yianni), Umidjon jalalov (Senior bronze, U20 gold, cadet gold, cadet silver), Bashir magomedov (2x u23 gold). Needless to say this weight is insane and I would argue its the deepest age level weight I have ever seen. As american fans I do not think we should look at this as medal or bust for Marcus this is 100% a senior worlds caliber weight and Marcus will likely be undersized. That said I think he can beat any of these guys. Bashir is very very good but is also probably a natural 61kg so he could be giving up a little size. Nishiuchi is probably the least known about as of late but he may very well be the best guy here and potentially the third best guy in the world behind Kiyooka and Amouzad. Jalolov is obviously riding a huge wave of momentum after taking bronze and seniors and beating Rivera so he may be the pick on paper

Medal Threats: Abdullah toprak (u23 bronze, u20 Bronze x2, Cadet bronze) 

Predictions: 
Gold: Nishiuchi
silver: Blaze
Bronze: Jalolov
Bronze: Magomedov

70kg:
Favorites: PJ duke (u20 gold, u20 bronze, senior world team member), Kanan Heybatov ( 2x u23 bronze, u20 gold, 3x senior world teamer), Sina Khalili (cadet gold, senior asian bronze). I feel much more confident that PJ will medal here than I do that Blaze will. This weight is deep but I tihnk Pj is pretty clearly in the mix as a top 3 guy here and I would favor him currently over khalili. Heybatov has a very wide range of results. He looked awesome in Croatia both time at seniors and the ranking series but looked horrendous in hungary at the ranking series. I am not sure if the cut is a factor for him, but I will predict like he is at his best here.

Medal Threats:Alexandr Gaidarli (u20 silver), Kaito Morita 

Predictions:
Gold: Heybatov
Silver: PJ
Bronze: Khalili
Bronze: Morita

74kg:
Favorites: Mitchell Messenbrink (u23 bronze, u20 gold, u20 silver), Magomed Khaniev (u23 gold), Magomed Baiutkaev (u20 silver, u20 bronze, cadet gold), Yoshinosuke aoyagi (Senior gold, senior silver, u23 silver, u23 bronze, u20 bronze, cadet bronze). Another absolutely loaded weight. Initially my lean was probably slightly to Aoyagi but he just got beat pretty badly by Narikuni who was formarly a 70kg world champ and most recently has competed at 72kg in greco, so the weight could be a bit of a factor for him. I am a big fan of how both Khaniev and baitukaev wrestle, (not how they take time but how they wrestle) they are both super crafty getting too legs and are super dangerous when you are in on their legs. Manuel wagin is a wildcard here he is super strong and positional but I would be surprised if he was ready to compete with any of the above guys. Mitchell's pace I think will be a serious problem for the two Russians one by Azerbijan and I think he may have a little size on aoyagi

Medal Threats: Jaideep (u20 bronze, cadet bronze), Manuel wagin (cadet silver), Magomedrasul asluev (u23 5th)


Predictions:
Gold: Messenbrink
silver: Khaniev
Bronze: Aoyagi
Bronze: Baitukaev 

 

[Tyler Perry]

5 hours ago, Truzzcat said:

57kg:
Favorites: Luke Lilledahl (u20 Gold, u20 silver, Cadet gold, Cadet silver) Luke is pretty clearly the favorite at this weight that overall is one of the weaker weights at the tournament. The Asian gold (north korea) and one of the Bronze (saliev) are not entered, Pavlov (euro gold) and Zangaladze (euro silver) are also not entered or not at 57 and I think they would have probably been Luke's toughest matches although I would have picked him in. We have gotten to see him now against more senior level international competition and its pretty clear that he is close to competing for a senior level medal. Valizadeh is someone who I thought about putting in this tier simply as a product of him being Irans senior guy for a world championship at the age of 19 and the guy at seniors this year. He also has a win over Razzade and Horst lehr which are very quality wins. However he has not shown much level of consistency and I do have some questions about how effective he can still be at 57kg.

Medal Threats:
Nodirbek JUMANAZAROV (Asian silver)
ANKUSH (u20 Bronze)
Milad Valizadeh (senior asian silver)

Predictions:
Gold: Luke
Silver: Jumanazarov
Bronze: Ankush
Bronze: Valizadeh

61kg:
Favorites: Jax Forrest (Senior world 5th, cadeit silver), Akito Mukaida (emperors cup bronze via win over Hosigawa world bronze meji cup silver), Levik Mikayelan (u23 euro gold many worlds under his belt defeated Nic bouzakis 10-3 last year), Fedor Baltuev( u20 bronze beating Jess mendez only loss was via fall 7-10 against amouzad also got silver at the 2023 Yarigyan losing to Abasghadzi 10-8), Reza Momeni (senior world 7th). This is a very deep field with quite a bit of variance Baltuev at a time looked like the next guy to step up for Russia being ranked as high as 5 in the world but has not wrestled a ton since 2023, at least that I have seen. Akito Mukaida has record a win as well as a tech fall loss to Hosogawa in the last 12 months who as I mentioned is a former world bronze and was leading suda 3-2 pretty for the spot on the world team this year. Mikayelan seems quite powerful and had a very good single against bouzakis and could certainly be someone that makes some noise but despite competing at 4 age level world championships has yet to medal. I think Jax is the best and most consistent guy here although if the Baltuev of old i.e when he was 20 shows up it should be a great match.

Medal Threats: Jeyhun Allahverdiyev(u20 euro champ u23 euro silver) , Tolga Ozbek (wrestled Blaze pretty tough for bronze last year losing 0-5)

Predictions:
Gold: Jax
Silver: Baltuev
Bronze: Mukaida
Bronze: Mikayelan

65kg:
Favorites: Marcus Blaze (u20 Gold, U20 bronze, Cadet gold), Yuto Nishiuchi (2x u20 gold beating Lilledahl 5-0 1 year, fell to Ono 3-2 to make the national team in 2024 at 61kg) , Sujeet (u23 bronze, u20 bronze, Notable win over Yianni), Umidjon jalalov (Senior bronze, U20 gold, cadet gold, cadet silver), Bashir magomedov (2x u23 gold). Needless to say this weight is insane and I would argue its the deepest age level weight I have ever seen. As american fans I do not think we should look at this as medal or bust for Marcus this is 100% a senior worlds caliber weight and Marcus will likely be undersized. That said I think he can beat any of these guys. Bashir is very very good but is also probably a natural 61kg so he could be giving up a little size. Nishiuchi is probably the least known about as of late but he may very well be the best guy here and potentially the third best guy in the world behind Kiyooka and Amouzad. Jalolov is obviously riding a huge wave of momentum after taking bronze and seniors and beating Rivera so he may be the pick on paper

Medal Threats: Abdullah toprak (u23 bronze, u20 Bronze x2, Cadet bronze) 

Predictions: 
Gold: Nishiuchi
silver: Blaze
Bronze: Jalolov
Bronze: Magomedov

70kg:
Favorites: PJ duke (u20 gold, u20 bronze, senior world team member), Kanan Heybatov ( 2x u23 bronze, u20 gold, 3x senior world teamer), Sina Khalili (cadet gold, senior asian bronze). I feel much more confident that PJ will medal here than I do that Blaze will. This weight is deep but I tihnk Pj is pretty clearly in the mix as a top 3 guy here and I would favor him currently over khalili. Heybatov has a very wide range of results. He looked awesome in Croatia both time at seniors and the ranking series but looked horrendous in hungary at the ranking series. I am not sure if the cut is a factor for him, but I will predict like he is at his best here.

Medal Threats:Alexandr Gaidarli (u20 silver), Kaito Morita 

Predictions:
Gold: Heybatov
Silver: PJ
Bronze: Khalili
Bronze: Morita

74kg:
Favorites: Mitchell Messenbrink (u23 bronze, u20 gold, u20 silver), Magomed Khaniev (u23 gold), Magomed Baiutkaev (u20 silver, u20 bronze, cadet gold), Yoshinosuke aoyagi (Senior gold, senior silver, u23 silver, u23 bronze, u20 bronze, cadet bronze). Another absolutely loaded weight. Initially my lean was probably slightly to Aoyagi but he just got beat pretty badly by Narikuni who was formarly a 70kg world champ and most recently has competed at 72kg in greco, so the weight could be a bit of a factor for him. I am a big fan of how both Khaniev and baitukaev wrestle, (not how they take time but how they wrestle) they are both super crafty getting too legs and are super dangerous when you are in on their legs. Manuel wagin is a wildcard here he is super strong and positional but I would be surprised if he was ready to compete with any of the above guys. Mitchell's pace I think will be a serious problem for the two Russians one by Azerbijan and I think he may have a little size on aoyagi

Medal Threats: Jaideep (u20 bronze, cadet bronze), Manuel wagin (cadet silver), Magomedrasul asluev (u23 5th)


Predictions:
Gold: Messenbrink
silver: Khaniev
Bronze: Aoyagi
Bronze: Baitukaev 

 

This is amazing dude.

[Tyler Perry]

5 hours ago, Truzzcat said:

57kg:
Favorites: Luke Lilledahl (u20 Gold, u20 silver, Cadet gold, Cadet silver) Luke is pretty clearly the favorite at this weight that overall is one of the weaker weights at the tournament. The Asian gold (north korea) and one of the Bronze (saliev) are not entered, Pavlov (euro gold) and Zangaladze (euro silver) are also not entered or not at 57 and I think they would have probably been Luke's toughest matches although I would have picked him in. We have gotten to see him now against more senior level international competition and its pretty clear that he is close to competing for a senior level medal. Valizadeh is someone who I thought about putting in this tier simply as a product of him being Irans senior guy for a world championship at the age of 19 and the guy at seniors this year. He also has a win over Razzade and Horst lehr which are very quality wins. However he has not shown much level of consistency and I do have some questions about how effective he can still be at 57kg.

Medal Threats:
Nodirbek JUMANAZAROV (Asian silver)
ANKUSH (u20 Bronze)
Milad Valizadeh (senior asian silver)

Predictions:
Gold: Luke
Silver: Jumanazarov
Bronze: Ankush
Bronze: Valizadeh

61kg:
Favorites: Jax Forrest (Senior world 5th, cadeit silver), Akito Mukaida (emperors cup bronze via win over Hosigawa world bronze meji cup silver), Levik Mikayelan (u23 euro gold many worlds under his belt defeated Nic bouzakis 10-3 last year), Fedor Baltuev( u20 bronze beating Jess mendez only loss was via fall 7-10 against amouzad also got silver at the 2023 Yarigyan losing to Abasghadzi 10-8), Reza Momeni (senior world 7th). This is a very deep field with quite a bit of variance Baltuev at a time looked like the next guy to step up for Russia being ranked as high as 5 in the world but has not wrestled a ton since 2023, at least that I have seen. Akito Mukaida has record a win as well as a tech fall loss to Hosogawa in the last 12 months who as I mentioned is a former world bronze and was leading suda 3-2 pretty for the spot on the world team this year. Mikayelan seems quite powerful and had a very good single against bouzakis and could certainly be someone that makes some noise but despite competing at 4 age level world championships has yet to medal. I think Jax is the best and most consistent guy here although if the Baltuev of old i.e when he was 20 shows up it should be a great match.

Medal Threats: Jeyhun Allahverdiyev(u20 euro champ u23 euro silver) , Tolga Ozbek (wrestled Blaze pretty tough for bronze last year losing 0-5)

Predictions:
Gold: Jax
Silver: Baltuev
Bronze: Mukaida
Bronze: Mikayelan

65kg:
Favorites: Marcus Blaze (u20 Gold, U20 bronze, Cadet gold), Yuto Nishiuchi (2x u20 gold beating Lilledahl 5-0 1 year, fell to Ono 3-2 to make the national team in 2024 at 61kg) , Sujeet (u23 bronze, u20 bronze, Notable win over Yianni), Umidjon jalalov (Senior bronze, U20 gold, cadet gold, cadet silver), Bashir magomedov (2x u23 gold). Needless to say this weight is insane and I would argue its the deepest age level weight I have ever seen. As american fans I do not think we should look at this as medal or bust for Marcus this is 100% a senior worlds caliber weight and Marcus will likely be undersized. That said I think he can beat any of these guys. Bashir is very very good but is also probably a natural 61kg so he could be giving up a little size. Nishiuchi is probably the least known about as of late but he may very well be the best guy here and potentially the third best guy in the world behind Kiyooka and Amouzad. Jalolov is obviously riding a huge wave of momentum after taking bronze and seniors and beating Rivera so he may be the pick on paper

Medal Threats: Abdullah toprak (u23 bronze, u20 Bronze x2, Cadet bronze) 

Predictions: 
Gold: Nishiuchi
silver: Blaze
Bronze: Jalolov
Bronze: Magomedov

70kg:
Favorites: PJ duke (u20 gold, u20 bronze, senior world team member), Kanan Heybatov ( 2x u23 bronze, u20 gold, 3x senior world teamer), Sina Khalili (cadet gold, senior asian bronze). I feel much more confident that PJ will medal here than I do that Blaze will. This weight is deep but I tihnk Pj is pretty clearly in the mix as a top 3 guy here and I would favor him currently over khalili. Heybatov has a very wide range of results. He looked awesome in Croatia both time at seniors and the ranking series but looked horrendous in hungary at the ranking series. I am not sure if the cut is a factor for him, but I will predict like he is at his best here.

Medal Threats:Alexandr Gaidarli (u20 silver), Kaito Morita 

Predictions:
Gold: Heybatov
Silver: PJ
Bronze: Khalili
Bronze: Morita

74kg:
Favorites: Mitchell Messenbrink (u23 bronze, u20 gold, u20 silver), Magomed Khaniev (u23 gold), Magomed Baiutkaev (u20 silver, u20 bronze, cadet gold), Yoshinosuke aoyagi (Senior gold, senior silver, u23 silver, u23 bronze, u20 bronze, cadet bronze). Another absolutely loaded weight. Initially my lean was probably slightly to Aoyagi but he just got beat pretty badly by Narikuni who was formarly a 70kg world champ and most recently has competed at 72kg in greco, so the weight could be a bit of a factor for him. I am a big fan of how both Khaniev and baitukaev wrestle, (not how they take time but how they wrestle) they are both super crafty getting too legs and are super dangerous when you are in on their legs. Manuel wagin is a wildcard here he is super strong and positional but I would be surprised if he was ready to compete with any of the above guys. Mitchell's pace I think will be a serious problem for the two Russians one by Azerbijan and I think he may have a little size on aoyagi

Medal Threats: Jaideep (u20 bronze, cadet bronze), Manuel wagin (cadet silver), Magomedrasul asluev (u23 5th)


Predictions:
Gold: Messenbrink
silver: Khaniev
Bronze: Aoyagi
Bronze: Baitukaev 

 

That is not the same Ayoagi as senior worlds right?

[Lucho]

3 minutes ago, Tyler Perry said:

That is not the same Ayoagi as senior worlds right?

I'm pretty sure it is the same Aoyagi he just moved up a weight class to 74kg. The interesting part is that arguably the best Japanese 74 (Narikuni) is wrestling greco instead of freestyle. If Narikuni focussed on freestyle instead of greco guys like Takatani and Takahashi wouldn't even have the medals they have today. Their depth in some of these weight classes is wild.

[wrestlingfan22]

3 hours ago, Lucho said:

I'm pretty sure it is the same Aoyagi he just moved up a weight class to 74kg. The interesting part is that arguably the best Japanese 74 (Narikuni) is wrestling greco instead of freestyle. If Narikuni focussed on freestyle instead of greco guys like Takatani and Takahashi wouldn't even have the medals they have today. Their depth in some of these weight classes is wild.

Narikuni is likely the best 70kg, he may be the best 74kg but he has never competed that heavy, his world title is at 70kg.