In just a few hours Jordan Burroughs will be taking on Mohammad Nokhodi of Iran in the 79kg world finals. Should he win this match he would pass John Smith for the most world and Olympic gold medals in United States history.
In addition to this he would also hold the most titles out of any active wrestler in the world. Riza Kayaalp has 5, Sadulaev has 5, winning the 6th world gold medal would be a massive feat for numerous reasons.
Looking Back-
2011 Istanbul-
Coming right off of the college scene Burroughs would make the world team and run right to gold. Knocking off Russia’s Denis Tsargush, and Iran’s Sadegh Goudarzi to win his first gold medal.
2012 London-
This went down similarly to the world championships a year prior but this is by far the most important medal of Burroughs’ career being that he only has one Olympic gold. He would defeat Denis Tsargush and Sadegh Goudarzi en route to gold again but this time at the Olympic Games.
2013 Budapest-
Burroughs was essentially untouchable this tournament letting up only two points and shutting out every single other opponent he faced. This would be the third straight time that he faced an Iranian in the gold medal match but this time it would be Ezzatollah Akbari who he beat 4-0 to win his 3rd gold medal.
2015 Las Vegas-
Coming off of a bronze medal performance the year prior this would be the only time he was able to compete in the USA at the World Championships. Geduev vs Burroughs should have been the world finals and everyone knows that but it doesn’t matter at this point. Burroughs would win that bout 4-3 in a total war and cruise to a 10-0 win over Onorbat of Mongolia in the finals.
2017 Paris-
After tragedy struck at the 2016 Olympic Games and what was possibly the worst performance of his career there was a lot of talk on whether he could get back to that level. Dropping his first match to Kyle Dake at the world team trials Burroughs would come back to win the next two to claim his world team spot. He would have one of the most iconic finals matches ever with Russia’s Khetik Tsabolov to win his 5th gold medal.
2021 Oslo-
At this point it had been 4 years since Burroughs had seen a gold medal, losing to Sidakov twice in the semifinals, and not even making the team for the Tokyo Olympic Games. A lot of people said that his career was over and that he should cut his losses and retire. JB took that as motivation, bumped up a weight class and blast doubled his way to a world gold in Oslo up at 79kg.
2022 Belgrade-
Finals rematch of last year vs Mohammad Nokhodi of Iran
