Craig Vitagliano » Barry Davis v. Charlie Heard, 1987 US Nationals

Craig,

Please ignore the criticism, keep doing what you have been. I look forward to these each week and I greatly appreciate the effort you put into doing this.

TJ -

Yes the two had faced each other several times in the 80s, probably a half a dozen times, maybe more. I think I have at least four of their encounters. Each match was fairly lopsided in Beloglazov's favor. Their meeting at the 1986 World Cup was 12-3 I think. Their last meeting was the finals of the 1987 World Championships in Clermont-Ferrand, FRA. There Beloglazov actually pinned Davis in 1:32 while leading by a score of 9-0!!!. I believe in that tournament Beloglazov pinned all of his opponents. Sergei was definitely one of the most dominant wrestlers ever.

Note to FILA: Watch this match and re-adopt these rules for freestyle. If these dudes wrestled under current rules, all action would have stopped after the first take down. This was sick!

i noticed you won the university national in 1997. do you have a video of that match

i noticed you won the university national in 1997. do you have a video of that match

Guru, i appreciate all your efforts keep up the great work. I can't seem to locate
the 2000 Olympic semifinal between Brands and Dabir I am a huge Brands fan
and i heard this match was a classic.Not that you have to post it, but any help locating it would be greatly appreciated.

also, I can see both sides, and I do think that Guru was a little "short" in his response to the "college wrestling" requests....perhaps not exactly rude, but a little uncouth....Guru knows his wrestling, but that doesn't make him a good with people......just ones mans opinion.....

what a wonderful video. it was non stop with lots of scoring. if you want to save our sport then teach our wrestlers to wrestle with more offense. it was a joy to watch this.

not to stir up the hornets nest even more, but i do recall the Guru posting a match of Gene Mills and Joe Gonzales in the NCAA finals match, so perhaps Armbar figured that Guru had more NCAA finals matches he could share...also, I can see both sides, and I do think that Guru was a little "short" in his response to the "college wrestling" requests....perhaps not exactly rude, but a little uncouth....Guru knows his wrestling, but that doesn't make him a good with people......just ones mans opinion.....and I really get bored of everyone being so "tuff" on the internet.....lets get back to the wrestling fellas...in the last couple of years we lost 2 wrestling programs up here in Oregon, Univ of Oregon and Portland State, and now OSU is calling for program cuts (not football or basketball though), so we have some real issues going in our sport....I appreciate all styles of wrestling and fear for college programs across the country....maybe we could aim our attention and energy at helping the sport instead of attacking each other for trivial issues like what I am reading about Guru VS Armbar......although I would like to have seen that in a match---ha

Craig, you are picking some excellent matches. When you watch Barry Davis wrestling in this match and then watch him in one of the conditioning videos, then you see that Barry walks the talk in both technique and conditioning. i dont know what your time constraints are in presenting these matches, but if you do have time then I thought that soliciting some the competitors, at least some of the English speaking competitors, to send in commentary on these matches would match the feature even more compelling. For instance, commentary from Wade Schalles, Tom Brands, John Smith, Cael Sanderson, on how they prepared for the match, their strategy for the match, and their move by move analysis of the match would be very interesting to add to your introductory remarks and a good lead in to a future book on the best international matches in wrestling. Joe O

What's with the rant Armbar? That was kind of dumb and totally unnecessary.

If you want NCAA matches go search youtube, there is tons of great matches there.
Craig, I'm gonna keep hassling you about the Igali/McIlravy '99 finals match and the Dabir/Brands semifinal until you post then:)

Craig, since this is a forum I thought I would ask everyone out there on the forum....I hope those 4 little letters, N.C.A.A., didn't make your blood boil too much big guy, since you only post international matches and all....I forget how you Ivy League types seem to get a little "snobby" about, well, everything .....by the way, nice picks on your Olympic medalists last summer....at least you had Saitiev correct....next time I write "does ANYONE have......" - that includes everyone on the planet who just may be reading/watching this forum, not just Guru Craig....so go have another half glass of white wine and eat some cheese, but leave the tough questions for the folks that enjoy collegiate AND international wrestling (as well as beer and pizza).....p.s, I wrestled with a guy like you in high school, he always thought he was smarter than the rest of us too, but he was just more annoying than the rest of us.....maybe he's a Guru on a Dungeons & Dragons website now, who knows?

that is the way freestyle wrestling is suppose to look like!!
action and scoring. today' matches are boring. And you can get hammered
in the first period and then you get a new start in 2nd period.
Everyone is afraid to go after it and score! And now we have even incorporated "chance" into the equation. If the period is tied, flip a coin and start in a clinch. crazy rules!!

Definitely no college...bring more of the Russians! Either of the two you listed last week from 2004 Russian Nationals: Farniev OR Umakhanov please!

Ironside Kolat