BELGRADE, Serbia — The Cliff Keen Wrestling Club’s J’den Cox and University of Michigan graduate Stevan Micic captured medals at the 2022 UWW World Wrestling Championships on Saturday (Sept. 17) at Stark Arena. Cox claimed silver at 92kg for his sixth world/Olympic medal, while Micic, who wrestles internationally for Serbia, claimed bronze at 57kg for the country’s first ever world medal in men’s freestyle.
Cox narrowly fell to Iran’s Kamran Ghasempour, 2-0, in the gold-medal final with the lone points coming on a first-period double leg with Iran on the shot clock. Cox pushed the action — and a couple flurries — in the second period but could not penetrate Ghasempour’s defense. The Iranian was the defending world champion; he also edged Cox, 3-3, on criteria at the 2021 World Championships.
Cox is himself a two-time world champion at 92kg (2018, ’19) and a two-time world bronze medalist (2017, ’21); he also claimed Olympic bronze at 86kg in 2016.
He did not allow a point in his first three matches, opening the tournament with consecutive techs against China and Poland by a combined 21-0 margin — including a five-point throw in the opening round — before defeating Azerbaijan’s Osman Nurmagomedov, 7-0, in the semifinals. It was just 1-0 at the break, before scored on two takedowns and a tacked on a late exposure in the second period. Nurmagomedov was a 2021 world bronze medalist and came back to repeat the feat in 2022.
Micic defeated Cuba’s Reineri Andreu Ortega, 7-1, in the 57kg bronze-medal match. He earned his first point from the shot clock before adding two points for exposure off a duck under and ensuing scramble in the first, then tacked on two takedowns off single-leg shots in the second period. Andreu Ortega is a two-time U23 world champion and a five-time Pan American medalist, including two golds, at 57kg.
It was Micic’s second career world bronze and first at the senior level. He previously medaled at the 2015 Junior World Championships at 55kg while representing the United States. Micic, a 2020 Tokyo Olympian, also owns three European medals, including 57kg silver from the 2019 games.
Micic went 4-1 over two days at worlds. His lone loss came in the semifinals, 6-1, to eventual champion Zelimkhan Abakarov of Albania. He earned the first point off the shot clock but gave up a late takedown in the first and exposure out of a scramble in the second. Abakarov went on to defeat USA’s Thomas Gilman, 7-2, in the gold-medal match. Micic opened the tournament with back-to-back wins by technical superiority — over Mexico and Kazakhstan — before securing a 7-1 quarterfinal win against Japan’s Toshihiro Hasegawa with seven unanswered points in the second period.
Fellow Wolverine alums Malik Amine and Myles Amine also represented San Marino at 74kg and 86kg, respectively. Myles, a 2020 Olympic bronze medalist and four-time European medalist, took eighth place after falling in the quarterfinals Kazakhstan’s Azamat Dauletbekov, 9-1. Amine sacrificed an early four-point takedown while on the offensive and was forced to chase for the remainder of the match. He went 2-1 in the tournament, rallying to earn a 5-3 win over China’s Zushen Lin in his first bout before defeating Latvia’s Ivars Samusonoks, 4-0, with two first-period takedowns. Malik narrowly fell to South Korea’s Seungbong Lee, 4-2, in his first bout at 74kg. Amine scored the lone takedown of the match in the second period and was close in a scramble at the buzzer. A lost challenge post-match widened the final margin.
Ben Honis rounded out CKWC’s representatives in his world debut at 97kg for Italy. He dropped his first bout to China’s Tuerxunbieke Muheite, 6-4, scoring a takedown to pull within two in the final minute, but he couldn’t finish on a late single leg before time expired.
