70kg Worlds Preview - Green Looking To Break Through For A World Title
70kg Worlds Preview - Green Looking To Break Through For A World Title
An in-depth preview of 70kg at the 2021 World Championships.
James Green is Team USA’s world team rep at 70kg at the 2021 Senior World Championships. This 70kg World Championship preview will give an overview of Diakomihalis’ senior-level career and explore the careers of each of his potential competitors in Norway.
Green Looking For First World Gold
James Green has been the representative at 70kg for the United States every year since 2015. On top of that, Green won world silver in 2017 and world bronze in 2015. Green has also consistently proven to be one of the best 70kg wrestlers in the world and, at 28 years old, does not look to be slowing down.
The major question is - could this be the year Green finally brings home a world title? That’s a challenging question to answer. In Green’s favor, none of the world champions at 70kg from 2014-2019 are entered in this field. On top of that, James Green has won this year over two top contenders - Turan Bayramov (AZE) and Zurabi Iakobishvili (GEO). Working against predicting Green’s success at worlds is his head-to-head losses to the likes of Haydar Yavuz (TUR) and Magomedmurad Gadzhiev (POL). What does all this mean? The field at 70kg is filled with up to 10 wrestlers who are close in terms of skill level and results. This will likely create many close, exciting matches from the round of 16 on to the finals. If James Green is wrestling at his best, he is capable of defeating anyone in the bracket and winning world gold.
James Green (USA)
- 2017 World Silver
- 2015 World Bronze
- 2017 and 2018 Pan-Am Gold
James Green's win over Zurabi Iakobishvili from the 2021 Poland Open:
Green's Win over Turan Bayramov from the 2021 Henri Deglane:
Evgeni Zherbaev - A Slight Favorite
In other weights at the world championships, there is a clear favorite who has proven through head-to-head results and past accomplishments to be the best in the weight. While Zherbaev should be considered the man to beat in Norway, he is relatively unproven on the world stage. This will be Zherbaev’s first world championships, regardless of age level, and he hasn’t wrestled in his continental championships. Beyond that, Zherbaev has never won Russian Nationals - his best finish was in March when he placed second at Russian Nationals, losing to Israil Kasumov in the finals.
Why is he the favorite? Zherbaev came through Russia’s world team trials with wins over 2019 World Champion David Baev (7-6) and 2021 Russian Nationals and European Champion Israil Kasumov (7-3). In fact, over the past 3 years, Zherbaev has only lost to Russian wrestlers and is 15-0 against other international competition. Coming through the 70kg gauntlet is enough to prove Zherbaev can beat anyone in the world.
Evgeni Zherbaev (RUS)
- 2021 Russian Nationals Silver
- 2015 and 2019 Russian Nationals Bronze
Evgeni Zherbaev's win over U23 World Silver Medalist Chemen Valiev at the 2021 Russian Nationals:
Top Contenders
After Zherbaev and Green, there are three competitors who should be considered medal favorites and have the potential to win gold in Norway. Those are Magomedmurad Gadzhiev (POL), Zurabi Iakobishvili (GEO), and Haydar Yavuz (TUR). Most American fans know Gadzhiev from his win over Jordan Oliver in the last Olympic Qualifier - keeping Oliver from the Olympics. Along with that win over Oliver, Gadzhiev defeated James Green 4-3 in the round of 16 at the 2019 World Championships.
Haydar Yavuz also has a 4-2 win over James Green from the 2019 Yasar Dogu. On top of that win, in the last year Yavuz took silver at the 2020 Individual World Cup and bronze at the 2020 Euroepan Championships. In both tournaments, he only lost to Magomedmurad Gadzhiev. While Yavuz failed to place at the 2019 World Championships, he has shown vast improvement since then and could surprise a lot of people in Norway.
Zurabi Iakobishvili is the only world champion who will be wrestling in the 70kg bracket at the world championship. Iakobishvili won a world title in 2017 at 65kg where he defeated the likes of Bajrang Punia and Magomedmurad Gadzhiev. He also followed that title up with a world bronze medal in 2018 at 70kg. When Iakobishvili is wrestling his best, he is a dangerous competitor for anyone in the world at 70kg.
Magomedmurad Gadzhiev (POL)
- 2017 World Silver
- 2019 World Bronze
- 2020 World Cup Gold
- 2016, 2020 Euro Gold
- 2015, 2017, 2018 Euro Silver
- 2019 Euro Bronze
Gadzhiev's win over James Green at 2019 Worlds:
Zurabi Iakobishvili (GEO)
- 2018 World Bronze
- 2017 World Gold
- 2017 and 2018 Euro Bronze
Iakobishvili's win in the 2017 World Finals over Magomedmurad Gadzhiev:
Haydar Yavuz (TUR)
- 2020 World Cup Silver
- 2020 Euro Bronze
Haydar Yavuz's win over James Green from the 2019 Yasar Dogu
The Dark Horse Group
The “dark horse” group consists of wrestlers who have shown the ability to compete at the highest level but are either on the younger end of the spectrum or haven’t competed much in the last year. Ramazan Ramazanov might be the most intriguing of this group. Ramazanov is a former Russian who is now representing Bulgaria. He has placed at numerous senior level tournaments over the years and most notably has a win over Russia’s rep - Evgeni Zherbaev. That match occurred in the semi-finals of the 2019 Alans tournament. Ramazanov was down early to Zherbaev but came back to take the lead and ultimately end the match via pin with a throw in the second period.
Erfan Elahi, Turan Bayramov, and Ernazar Akmataliev are all younger competitors in the 70kg who could make waves at worlds. Akmataliev’s best win was at the Asian Olympic Qualifier win he pinned Uzbekistan’s Ilyas Bekbulatov to qualify for the Olympics. Elahi is just coming off a junior world title in August and was Cadet world silver medalist in 2018. Bayramov might have the most impressive resume. He was Azerbaijan’s Olymic representative at 74kg and won a match before falling to Frank Chamizo-3-1. Though he lost to Keegan O’Toole at junior worlds, he came back to win bronze. Bayramov has experienced success at every level and has all the skills to medal at worlds in Oslo.
Ramazan Ramazanov’s win over Evgeni Zherbaev from December 2019
Erfan Elahi (IRI)
- 2021 Junior World Gold
- 2019 Cadet World Silver
Elahi's Junior World Gold medal match:
Turan Bayramov (AZE)
- 2019 and 2021 Junior World Bronze
- 2021 Euro Silver
- 2019 U23 World Gold
- 2018 Cadet World Gold
Bayramov's win in the semi-finals of the 2021 European Championships:
Adam Batirov (BRN)
- 2018 World Silver
- 2019 Asian Bronze
- 2016 Asian Gold
Batirov's win over Zain Retherford from the 2017 World Championships:
Ernazar Akmataliv (KGZ)
- 2021 Asian OG Qualifier Gold
Akmataliev's win over Ilyas Bekbulatov from the Asian Olympic Games Qualifier:
Prediction
Since 70kg became a weight at the world championships in 2014, Russia's rep has won 5 of the 6 world titles. Beyond that, those 5 world titles came from 4 different representatives (only Magomedrasul Gazimagomedov repeated in 2015 and 2018). I believe Evgeni Zherbaev will continue the tradition of Russian’s winning world titles at 70kg. Zherbaev is the most dynamic wrestler in the bracket and has incredible defense. After Zherbaev, a number of wrestlers can make the finals and medal. Much of the results will be draw-dependent, but I believe Ramazan Ramazanov, James Green and Magomedmurad Gadzhiev are the next best wrestlers in the weight.
Complete Predictions:
Gold - Evgeni Zherbaev
Silver - Ramazan Ramazanov
Bronze - James Green
Bronze - Magomedmurad Gadzhiev
Check out our World Championship Rankings at 70kg here to view the top 10 wrestlers who will be competing at worlds ranked according to recent results and head-to-head matches.