Amir Zare is a 20 year old newcomer to the senior level. He made his first major tournament debut at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. He ended up taking a bronze medal as mostly everyone projected. However coming into the tournament he already had a win over 3x World Champion Geno Petriashvili, and that is exactly who he had to beat to get to the finals of the Olympics. He got out to an early 3 point lead but eventually Geno’s pace and constant attacking took over and he won the match 6-3 over Zare.
Fast Forward to the 2021 World Championships and the first 2 sessions that have just wrapped up Zare has two notable wins. He teched Nick Gwiazdowski of the USA in just 1:58, and the one that really shocked people was his dominant 4-0 win over Olympic Champion Taha Akgul 4-0 where he controlled the entire match and Akgul could not even manage to get to his legs once.
With a lot of this being said as we look across some of the greats in our sport that are still wrestling like Abdulrashid Sadulaev who won his first world title at 18 years old or Kyle Snyder who won his first world title at 19. If Zare were to beat Geno Petriashvili tomorrow in the world finals and prove he is the best in the world it would show very bright things for his future and the future of Iranian wrestling as a whole with Hassan Yazdani, Mohammad Mohammadian, and now Amir Zare stepping into the mix.
If he were to win this match it will bring up the question as expected, what about a super match with Olympic Champion Gable Steveson. Steveson only out ages the Iranian by a year and looking at the way Zare has developed and same with Steveson there is no telling where the ceiling is for these two incredible athletes.
Obviously the favorite to win in the finals will be the 3x World Champion Geno Petriashvili. However Zare has looked phenomenal and I will be waiting for this match!
