Otto Black (67 kg, NYAC/NTS) thrived, and then survived, en-route to earning his second piece of World-level hardware while also delivering to the United States their second U23 medalist from the same year for the first time in the history of the tournament.
Day 3 of the 2025 U23 World Championships began at 10:00am local time from Novi Sad, Serbia (4:00am ET) and is streaming live on FLOWrestling.
On Tuesday, Black won his first two bouts thanks to both timely offense and superb defense before falling via 1-1 criteria decision to Mohamed Abdelkerim (EGY) in the quarterfinal. Abdelkerim later prevailed over Atilla Jozsa (HUN) due to injury default, which meant that Black had, at least, a second chance at a possible medal in today’s repechage.
But a crucial wrinkle was inserted this morning: Jozsa, who reportedly endured a knee tear against Abdelkerim, had been scratched from the tournament. Therefore, the winner between Black and Sabaz would automatically swoop in as the bronze medalist.
In what was one of the most thrilling matches of the event, perhaps for any wrestler, Black defeated Bagdat Sabaz (KAZ) 8-6 after persevering through a late comeback attempt from his talented opponent.
Black opened the scoring early in the first period on the strength of a takedown/gut combo to surge ahead 4-0. Not long after, Sabaz was cited for passivity, and the American could not pile on more offense. Still, his lead had expanded to 5-0. Sabaz would grab a point in return prior to the conclusion of the first period to climb within striking distance, but Black held his ground to reach intermission relatively unscathed.
Period 2 saw Sabaz the recipient of the next passivity/par terre chance — and as he had done so well on Tuesday — Black defended from bottom to force a restart. Soon enough, he attacked a crease near the boundary to secure a takedown to make the score 7-2. Victory was not far away.
But with under :30 on the clock, Sabaz managed a takedown and converted one gutwrench turn to pull within a point. As the final whistle sounded, Black celebrated while Sabaz was despondent. However, Kazakhstan challenged the sequence, insisting that two more points should have been added. What ensued was a rather prolonged officials’ review process that took several minutes to complete. When the scores were confirmed, Sabaz was credited with four points and nothing else, whereas Black received an additional point for the call being upheld. As such, Black — normally a stoic competitor — celebrated once again, now as the owner of a U23 World bronze to go along with his U20 World silver from a year ago.
At press time, the United States has already made history by having two U23 World medalists from the same year. Yesterday, Payton Jacobson (87 kg, NYAC/NTS) earned his first-ever World medal by emerging victorious over Lachin Valiyev for bronze. It should also be noted that both Black and Jacobson attend Northern Michigan University’s National Training Site, thereby giving that particular program two World medalists. Plus, the US may add even more to their ’25 collection before the tournament is over as Max Black (60 kg, NYAC/NTS) and returning U23 World silver Beka Melelashvili (82 kg, NYAC) are both beginning their tournaments today.
UPDATE: Max Black has advanced to the semifinal round against Koto Gomi (JPN); Melelashvili won his opening match but fell 2-1 in the quarterfinal to Ruslan Abdiev (URK). Melelashvili requires Abdiev to make the final to be pulled into tomorrow’s repechage round.
2025 U23 World Championships
October 20-23 — Novi Sad, SRB
67 kg: Otto Black (NYAC/NTS) — BRONZE
WON Adomas Grigaliunas (LTU) 7-3
WON Yanis Guendez Nifri (FRA) via fall
LOSS Mohamed Abdelkerim (EGY) 1-1 (criteria)
WON Bagdat Sabaz (KAZ) 8-6
TEAM USA DAY 3 RESULTS
60 kg: Max Black (NYAC/NTS)
WON Alhaji Turay (SEL) via forfeit
WON Olivier Skrzypczak (POL) 2-1
WON Zhaojian Wang (CHN) 8-0, TF
82 kg: Beka Melelashvili (NYAC)
WON Samandar Bobonazaranov (UZB) 10-7
LOSS Ruslan Abdiev (UKR) 2-1
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