2020 first pound-for-pound rankings

[Jimmy Cinnabon 411]

1. Yianni Diakomihalis 141 - undefeated champ

2. Anthony Cassar HWT - 1 loss champ

3. Zahid Valencia 174 - 2 loss champ

4. Spencer Lee 125 - 2 loss champ

5. Mekhi Lewis 165 - 2 loss champ

6. Nick Suriano 133 - 3 loss champ

7. Mark Hall 174 - 1 loss runner up

8. Daton Fix - 2 loss runner up

9. Gable Steveson HWT - 2 loss 3rd placer

10. Kollin Moore 197 - 3 loss runner up

Edited March 27, 2019 by Jimmy Cinnabon

[Regulator 20]

12 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

1. Yianni Diakomihalis 141 - undefeated champ

2. Anthony Cassar HWT - 1 loss champ

3. Zahid Valencia 174 - 2 loss champ

4. Spencer Lee 125 - 2 loss champ

5. Mekhi Lewis 165 - 2 loss champ

6. Nick Suriano 133 - 3 loss champ

7. Mark Hall 174 - 1 loss runner up

8. Daton Fix - 2 loss runner up

9. Gable Steveson HWT - 2 loss 3rd placer

10. Kollin Moore 197 - 3 loss runner up

Spencer has 3 losses

[wrestlingnerd 2,996]

Joseph has to be on this list somewhere. He had a bad year but you can’t ignore his hefty resume. Hall is too low. 

[Katie 1,076]

4 minutes ago, wrestlingnerd said:

Joseph has to be on this list somewhere. He had a bad year but you can’t ignore his hefty resume. Hall is too low. 

Excluding Joseph was the entire point of his list. 

[Jimmy Cinnabon 411]

8 minutes ago, wrestlingnerd said:

Joseph has to be on this list somewhere. He had a bad year but you can’t ignore his hefty resume. Hall is too low. 

He would probably be #11.  But I can't shake how badly Lewis dominated him.  He also was beat soundly by Marinelli at Big 10s.

[BigTenFanboy 1,790]

25 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

He would probably be #11.  But I can't shake how badly Lewis dominated him.  He also was beat soundly by Marinelli at Big 10s.

Lewis and Daton have a loss to non-AAs.

Edited March 27, 2019 by BigTenFanboy

[russelscout 1,573]

Despite the fact that Valencia has one more loss, I would put him ahead of Casser. Casser lost to White who was a 0 time AA before this year and beat him in the finals. Valencia lost to Hall who is 1-2-1 and Lewis is 4-6-4-4 I believe, and went on to beat Hall in the finals. If you are looking at body of work, Valencia should probably be #2

Edited March 27, 2019 by russelscout

[BigTenFanboy 1,790]

8 minutes ago, russelscout said:

Despite the fact that Valencia has one more loss, I would put him ahead of Casser. Casser lost to White who was a 0 time AA before this year and beat him in the finals. Valencia lost to Hall who is 1-2-1 and Lewis is 4-6-4-4 I believe, and went on to beat Hall in the finals. If you are looking at body of work, Valencia should probably be #2

If looking at Body of work, Spencer should be 3 then and Cassar 4.

[MDAlum 2]

42 minutes ago, wrestlingnerd said:

Joseph has to be on this list somewhere. He had a bad year but you can’t ignore his hefty resume. Hall is too low. 

A bad year?  Only measured against his previous accomplishments.  He finished 2nd.  With 2 losses on the year.  He had a dominant year.  

Still subjective if you want to include him on your list or not, but the hyperbole of "bad year" is fake news.

And I'm not sure you would say Lewis dominated him.  Lewis is a counter puncher, and Joseph fell behind.  Had to play into his game.  Lewis could retreat and counter, and he won because of that.  Really, he beat marinelli that way too.  Brilliant strategy and execution, but I never call a counter puncher "dominant".

[MagnetBack 61]

1. Yianni Diakomihalis
2. Zahid Valencia
3. Spencer Lee
4. Mark Hall
5. Mekhi Lewis
6. Vincenzo Joseph
7. Nick Suriano
8. Daton Fix
9. Gable Steveson
10. Kollin Moore

I didn't include Anthony Cassar because who knows if he is coming back. 
 

[Katie 1,076]

I would exclude Cassar, too, until he says he’s coming back. 

Also, I think some (but not all) undervalue Mekhi. Last summer he won a junior world gold with almost no freestyle experience. Then at NCAAs, in arguably the toughest weight class, he won a title without giving up a takedown. 

My top five:

1. Yianni
2. Zahid
3. Lee
4. Mekhi
5. Hall

Edited March 28, 2019 by Katie

[simple 296]

Lee

Lewis

Gable

Zahid

Yianni

Fix

Hall

Joseph

Marinelli

Rivera

Moore

Suriano

Totally subjective. Its more how I think it’ll end up at the end of next year and how I think they’d do on a world stage

[Ogalthorpe Haywood 399]

33 minutes ago, Katie said:

I would exclude Cassar, too, until he says he’s coming back. 

Also, I think some (but not all) undervalue Mekhi. Last summer he won a junior world gold with almost no freestyle experience. Then at NCAAs, in arguably the toughest weight class, he won a title without giving up a takedown. 

My top five:

1. Yianni

2. Zahid

3. Lee

4. Mekhi

5. Hall

I don’t think anybody on a list of pound for pound guys can be considered undervalued 

[TobusRex 2,107]

1 hour ago, Katie said:

Excluding Joseph was the entire point of his list. 

LOL...probably. Nice observation, albeit highly paranoid :D

[TobusRex 2,107]

1 hour ago, MDAlum said:

A bad year?  Only measured against his previous accomplishments.  He finished 2nd.  With 2 losses on the year.  He had a dominant year.  

Still subjective if you want to include him on your list or not, but the hyperbole of "bad year" is fake news.

And I'm not sure you would say Lewis dominated him.  Lewis is a counter puncher, and Joseph fell behind.  Had to play into his game.  Lewis could retreat and counter, and he won because of that.  Really, he beat marinelli that way too.  Brilliant strategy and execution, but I never call a counter puncher "dominant".

Here's the thing: sometimes matches that end 9-3, 10-3, etc aren't the blowouts they appear to be on paper. The week before Joseph lost to Marinelli 9-3. 5 of Marinelli's points came off a failed Joseph throw attempt. That's hardly a blowout. Joseph got stuck exactly twice this year (also against Mekhi), and both times it cost him the match. He was losing both those matches anyway (not getting slaughtered, but getting stifled and losing).  Too bad, he had a shot at being another 4 timer, which nobody expected out of him. Would be ironic if he finished 2nd his last two years, huh? Kinda like IMAR looked like a for sure 4 X Champ after winning his FR/Soph years :D

[VAtoSC 32]

1. Yianni Diakomihalis

2. Spencer Lee

3. Zahid Valencia

4. Mekhi Lewis

5. Nick Suriano

6. Mark Hall

7. Gable Steveson 

8. Vincenzo Joseph

9. Daton Fix

10.Marinell/Moore

*Cassar would be 2 if he comes back. 

 

[TobusRex 2,107]

Well, pound for pound who is the best going into next year?

1. Spencer Lee

2. Yianni Diakhomihalis

3. Zahid Valencia

4. Nick "Headgeargrabber" Suriano (LOL, suck on it Rutgers goons!).

5.Vincenzo Joseph

6. Mekhi Lewis

7. Mark Hall

8. Daton Fix

9. Alex Marinelli

10. Somebody who was able to crack the starting lineup at any weight other than HWT.....

[LCpl Schmuckatelli 33]

6 hours ago, MDAlum said:

A bad year?  Only measured against his previous accomplishments.  He finished 2nd.  With 2 losses on the year.  He had a dominant year.  

Still subjective if you want to include him on your list or not, but the hyperbole of "bad year" is fake news.

And I'm not sure you would say Lewis dominated him.  Lewis is a counter puncher, and Joseph fell behind.  Had to play into his game.  Lewis could retreat and counter, and he won because of that.  Really, he beat marinelli that way too.  Brilliant strategy and execution, but I never call a counter puncher "dominant".

 

Joseph lost because Lewis cradled him up and put him on his back.  From the top position.  How is that “counterpunching”?  

[PSUMike 445]

Having Mekhi ranked this high is a bit premature to say the least. 

[Jimmy Cinnabon 411]

Just now, PSUMike said:

Having Mekhi ranked this high is a bit premature to say the least. 

He only had 2 regular season losses and beat #1, #2 (badly) and #4 seeds at NCAAs.

[D3UC157 163]

Bo Pipher, next topic.

[RoosterAttack 14]

No Micic? Healthy think he wins it!

Edited March 28, 2019 by RoosterAttack

[Banana Peterson 13]

Teir 1

1. Yianni 

2. Valencia 

3. Lee

Tier 2 

4. Lewis 

5.Joseph

Teir 3 

6. Nick Surriano/Mark Hall

7. Nick Surriano/Mark Hall

8. Cassar 

Teir 4 

9. Moore/Micic 

10. Moore/Micic 

Edited March 28, 2019 by Banana Peterson

[scribe 1,824]

I just now noticed phillippi fell short of aa. 

[MDAlum 2]

17 hours ago, LCpl Schmuckatelli said:

 

Joseph lost because Lewis cradled him up and put him on his back.  From the top position.  How is that “counterpunching”?  

That is true.  He is a good top wrestler.  My position is that he is not good in neutral, and uses his length to fend off attacks without a real offense of his own.  He certainly won the title without controversy.  I am not trying to discredit any of that.  He might develop into an offensive threat in neutral, but it isn't there now.  

Once Joseph got turned, it became a defensive stall from Lewis to close it out.  Nothing wrong with that.