#ThrowBackThursday

#TBT​: Burroughs Blasts His Way to First of Four World Titles

By Eric Olanowski

Jordan BURROUGHS ?? battled his way to a two-period-to-none victory over Sadegh GOUDARZI ?? in the ’11 74kg world finals and reached the top of the world podium for the first time in his career. The eventual four-time world champion’s win in Istanbul, Turkey, ended a five-year USA world title drought. Can you name the USA's last world champion before Burroughs' win in '11?

You can catch Burroughs back in action March 4-7 at the first Ranking Series event of the year, the Matteo Pellicone ??.

’11 World Championship Scores:
- Dmytro ROCHNIAK ?? (3-1, 4-2)
- Denis TSARGUSH ?? (1-3, 1-0, 2-1)
- Ricardo ROBERTY ?? (2-1, 1-0) |
- Sadegh GOUDARZI ?? (3-2, 4-1)

#ThrowBackThursday

#TBT: Olympic Champion Steveson Wins First World Title

By United World Wrestling Press

Gable STEVESON (USA) became an overnight sensation after winning a thrilling final and the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics with wins over former world champions Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) and Taha AKGUL (TUR). The American was trailing Petriashvili in the 125kg final in Tokyo but scored two takedowns in the final 10 seconds to win the coveted Olympic title at the age of 21.

But a three-time age-group world champion has a habit of punching about his weight. In 2015, a 15-year-old Steveson made a stunning run at the Cadet World Championships in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and won the gold medal with a 9-0 victory over Khasanboy RAKHIMOV (UZB). He outscored his opponents 47-12.

Since then he won the 2016 cadet world title, 2017 junior world title, 2021 senior Pan-Am Championships gold and the Tokyo Olympics gold with just the 2018 Junior World Championships being a lackluster event for him. The defending champion there finished fifth as Rakhimov avenged his loss from 2015 with a pin.