BiggGunn - I didn't watch much of Karelin in his prime, but the big difference is that Lopez has lost more. Silver in the world championships in 06, 11, and 15. His Wikipedia page says he competed in the 04 Olympics and didn't medal when he would have been 22.
Karelin won his first gold in 1988 at 21, and won Olympics or World gold every year until 2000. That’s the more dominant run.
The thing with Lopez and Cuba in general, is they are known for taking dives. It’s not crazy to think he may have been able to win those where he lost. Or maybe they were legitimate. Always a question mark with the Cubans. One thing not in question is Lopez is absolutely the monster his other results say he is.
Salas either takes dives or is the most inconsistent wrestler around.
Bad Karma - Karelin's wrestling record is 887 wins and two losses. 13 year win streak in international competition and six years without giving up a point. You can't beat shit like that.
True but haven’t wresters gotten much better since Karelin competed?you know, the sport evolved just like mma, too hard to stay undefeated or have very few loss s…
I don’t think wrestling has evolved much compared to ball sports. A guy like Karelin or even a small guy like John Smith would still be an absolute force today.
Yeah. Wrestling has been around for so long that evolution is much, much slower.
Prime Smith is a world champion today. No doubt about it.
There are stories of Smith getting on the mat years after his career ended and wrecking world-class guys.
Bad Karma - Karelin's wrestling record is 887 wins and two losses. 13 year win streak in international competition and six years without giving up a point. You can't beat shit like that.
True but haven’t wresters gotten much better since Karelin competed?you know, the sport evolved just like mma, too hard to stay undefeated or have very few loss s…
I don’t think wrestling has evolved much compared to ball sports. A guy like Karelin or even a small guy like John Smith would still be an absolute force today.
Yeah. Wrestling has been around for so long that evolution is much, much slower.
Prime Smith is a world champion today. No doubt about it.
There are stories of Smith getting on the mat years after his career ended and wrecking world-class guys.
Technique-wise yes, evolution is much much slower…
Fitness and nutrition tho? Night and day difference, just look at their physiques.
Bad Karma - Karelin's wrestling record is 887 wins and two losses. 13 year win streak in international competition and six years without giving up a point. You can't beat shit like that.
True but haven’t wresters gotten much better since Karelin competed?you know, the sport evolved just like mma, too hard to stay undefeated or have very few loss s…
I don’t think wrestling has evolved much compared to ball sports. A guy like Karelin or even a small guy like John Smith would still be an absolute force today.
Yeah. Wrestling has been around for so long that evolution is much, much slower.
Prime Smith is a world champion today. No doubt about it.
There are stories of Smith getting on the mat years after his career ended and wrecking world-class guys.
Technique-wise yes, evolution is much much slower…
Fitness and nutrition tho? Night and day difference, just look at their physiques.
Um…
Have you ever seen a picture of Karelin?
Have you ever been in a top level wrestling room? All the way up to the US OTC, the training isn’t much different than 30 years ago.
Bad Karma - Karelin's wrestling record is 887 wins and two losses. 13 year win streak in international competition and six years without giving up a point. You can't beat shit like that.
True but haven’t wresters gotten much better since Karelin competed?you know, the sport evolved just like mma, too hard to stay undefeated or have very few loss s…
I don’t think wrestling has evolved much compared to ball sports. A guy like Karelin or even a small guy like John Smith would still be an absolute force today.
Yeah. Wrestling has been around for so long that evolution is much, much slower.
Prime Smith is a world champion today. No doubt about it.
There are stories of Smith getting on the mat years after his career ended and wrecking world-class guys.
Technique-wise yes, evolution is much much slower…
Fitness and nutrition tho? Night and day difference, just look at their physiques.
The revolution in sports science came in the 80s friend. Not much has changed since then.
A freak athlete in the late 80's and early 90's is a freak athlete now, period.
Bad Karma - Karelin's wrestling record is 887 wins and two losses. 13 year win streak in international competition and six years without giving up a point. You can't beat shit like that.
True but haven’t wresters gotten much better since Karelin competed?you know, the sport evolved just like mma, too hard to stay undefeated or have very few loss s…
I don’t think wrestling has evolved much compared to ball sports. A guy like Karelin or even a small guy like John Smith would still be an absolute force today.
Yeah. Wrestling has been around for so long that evolution is much, much slower.
Prime Smith is a world champion today. No doubt about it.
There are stories of Smith getting on the mat years after his career ended and wrecking world-class guys.
Technique-wise yes, evolution is much much slower…
Fitness and nutrition tho? Night and day difference, just look at their physiques.
Looking at the physiques, what is it we take from that? You’re not suggesting the current heavies are regressing with regards to fitness and nutrition, are you?
Bad Karma - Karelin's wrestling record is 887 wins and two losses. 13 year win streak in international competition and six years without giving up a point. You can't beat shit like that.
True but haven’t wresters gotten much better since Karelin competed?you know, the sport evolved just like mma, too hard to stay undefeated or have very few loss s…
I don’t think wrestling has evolved much compared to ball sports. A guy like Karelin or even a small guy like John Smith would still be an absolute force today.
Yeah. Wrestling has been around for so long that evolution is much, much slower.
Prime Smith is a world champion today. No doubt about it.
There are stories of Smith getting on the mat years after his career ended and wrecking world-class guys.
Technique-wise yes, evolution is much much slower…
Fitness and nutrition tho? Night and day difference, just look at their physiques.
Looking at the physiques, what is it we take from that? You’re not suggesting the current heavies are regressing with regards to fitness and nutrition, are you?
Bad Karma - Karelin's wrestling record is 887 wins and two losses. 13 year win streak in international competition and six years without giving up a point. You can't beat shit like that.
True but haven’t wresters gotten much better since Karelin competed?you know, the sport evolved just like mma, too hard to stay undefeated or have very few loss s…
I don’t think wrestling has evolved much compared to ball sports. A guy like Karelin or even a small guy like John Smith would still be an absolute force today.
Yeah. Wrestling has been around for so long that evolution is much, much slower.
Prime Smith is a world champion today. No doubt about it.
There are stories of Smith getting on the mat years after his career ended and wrecking world-class guys.
Technique-wise yes, evolution is much much slower…
Fitness and nutrition tho? Night and day difference, just look at their physiques.
Looking at the physiques, what is it we take from that? You’re not suggesting the current heavies are regressing with regards to fitness and nutrition, are you?
Kids these days. They think everything before 2005 was primitive.
Like I said, the big revolution in sports science came in the 80’s. There have been improvements, but they are marginal. The big explosion came in the 80’s.
Mix6APlix - Who other than Rulon managed to beat Karelin?
NOBODY
Was it a “legit” win?
Someone told me Rulon got a point due to a recent rule change and then stalled the rest of the match
The rule was that if there was no score in a period, they would go to the clinch. The ref would set them and then blow the whistle. They had maybe 30 seconds (they’ve changed the rules so much I really don’t even recall if I have that right) for either one of them to score or if one wrestler breaks the clinch, the other wrestler gets a point. I feel like I’m leaving something out but that was basically it. They locked up and Karelin broke his grip. Rulon went up 1-0. From there it remained scoreless and that was the final score, 1-0. It was a penalty point only in effect because no one had scored. As wiggum stated above, he didn’t out wrestle Karelin.
