When we announced that Myles Martin would replace Pat Downey last week, it was bittersweet for David Taylor. As the Magic Man said on Instagram, he was disappointed he wouldn't get another shot at shutting out Downey but excited to have an opponent as worthy as Martin. 

While Taylor is a huge favorite, there's a path to victory for Martin, and today I'm going to break down how the former Buckeye great can shock the world on Saturday night. 

Watch David Taylor vs Myles Martin LIVE on FloWrestling

Saturday, July 25 | 8:00 PM EST

Continuing To Jump Levels

After his outstanding collegiate career at Ohio State, Martin instantly made the transition to Senior level freestyle and his results have only gotten better and better. 

A month after finishing up in Columbus, Martin was sixth at the U.S. Open but was a late match collapse against Pat Downey away from being in the finals. Martin would default out to sixth place. Later that spring at the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament, Martin would improve upon his U.S Open showing with a third-place finish after falling to Nick Heflin in the semifinals. However, just seven months later Martin would dramatically flip the script on Heflin. 

Just a few hours up the road from where he'll take the mat Saturday night, Martin had his breakout performance at the 2019 Senior Nationals. As I teased above, Martin turned a 4-1 loss to Heflin in May into a 7-0 win in December.

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Martin followed that win up with a dramatic last-second win over Alex Dieringer in the semifinals.

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Martin then gave Zahid Valencia all he wanted in the finals. 

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With months to work on just freestyle, Martin had made a clear jump. Martin would build off his performance in Fort Worth just before the worldwide shutdown due to COVID-19, as he won the Henri Deglane in France and picked up his first win over a Senior level world medalist when he beat Stefan Reichmuth of Switzerland in the finals.

Martin now finds himself ranked in the top 10 in the world and on pace to be a serious threat to National and World teams for the foreseeable future.

Hand Fighting

After watching all of Martin's matches from the U.S. Open, World Team Trials, and Senior Nationals, I believe the area Martin improved the most was his hand fighting. Against Heflin the first time around, Martin struggled to control the center of the mat and get to his attacks because Heflin was controlling ties. In their second match, Martin was the one controlling center and was able to finish multiple times because of clean setups. 

Alex Dieringer is known for being a brute and being able to move anyone around the mat, but that wasn't the case against Martin. At Ohio State, Martin was one of the slickest wrestlers in the country, but against Dieringer, Martin embraced the hand fight. Multiple times throughout the match each wrestler was warned for getting a little too physical. Not only was Martin able to control center, but he was also able to break the head, hands defense of Dieringer multiple times and convert those attacks.

Having said all of that, I fully acknowledge that David Taylor is on another level. Taylor's heavy hands combined with his pace have wilted opponents from all over the world, and Martin's lungs will have to match his hand fighting if he wants to pull the upset.

Shocked The World Before

Stunning the wrestling world wouldn't be a new feat for Martin. Heading into the 2016 NCAA Championships, Martin was the 11 seed as a true freshman and left an NCAA champion. As improbable as Martin's run to the finals was, his finals win over Bo Nickal is what truly stunned the country. Nickal had beaten Martin twice previously that year and just two weeks before had pinned Martin in the first period at the Big Ten Championships. 

Watch Martin stun Nickal in the 2016 NCAA finals.

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Can Martin take out another Penn State legend? It will be a tall task but one that he's capable of pulling off.