Final X New York Greco-Roman preview

On June 8, the nation’s top two Senior-level athletes in 15 weight classes will battle for the opportunity to represent Team USA at the Senior World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia (Sept. 10-18) at Final X New York, presented by Tezos.

A year of Senior-level competition will culminate for 30 wrestlers in this best-of-three series at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. There will be two sessions to determine the 2022 World Team members, with a best-of-three series in each weight.

The first matches of the series will be held in session one starting at 2 p.m. ET. Session two featuring matches two and three (if necessary) of the series will start at 6 p.m. ET.

Three Olympians, Alejandro Sancho, Ildar Hafizov and G’Angelo Hancock will be featured in the Greco-Roman bouts. Among the 10 wrestlers, there have been 13 trips to a Senior World Championship and one World Championship medal.
Bout 1 – 77 kg GR - Britton Holmes (Army WCAP) vs. Kamal Bey (Army WCAP)

Britton Holmes and Kamal Bey will kick off the action at Hulu Theater in what will be their first match up in recent years. However, that is not the say the two aren’t familiar with each other. Bey and Holmes are teammates who train together every day with Army WCAP. The match in New York City will be an extension of their battles in the practice room.

Holmes, a 2021 U23 World Team member, has been etching his name into the Greco-Roman conversation at the Senior level for some time now. To earn his spot in New York, he won the semifinals at the 2021 World Team Trials Challenge Tournament after upsetting the No. 1 seed, RaVaughn Perkins, 4-3. The win over Perkins displays the level that Holmes is wrestling at. Perkins is a 2016 Olympic Team Trials champion, two-time Dave Schultz Memorial champion and 2022 Pan American gold medalist. He was also the 2022 U.S. Open champion. Holmes has also been at nearly every stop of the Greco-Roman road to success after spending time at the OTC in Colorado Springs, NMU-RTC and now training at Army WCAP.

Bey, a 2017 Junior World Champion, has been a name that highlights Greco-Roman conversation. Bey wrestles an exciting style that people like to watch. He can score in nearly every position and is dangerous to lock up with. Bey competed on the 2018 Senior World Team, took silver at the 2019 Pan American Championships, won the 2019 Dave Schultz Memorial International and placed fifth at the 2018 Junior World championships. To earn his spot at Final X, he defeated 2021 Senior World Team member and 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials champion Jesse Porter.

No recent results
Bout 4 – 87 kg GR - Alan Vera (NYAC) vs. Timothy Young (Illinois)

The second Greco-Roman matchup of the night will be Alan Vera and Timothy Young. Vera, a 2021 World Team member has been dominant this year. At the U.S. Open, Vera won the championship without allowing a single point to be scored on him throughout the tournament. Vera and Young met for the first time in the semifinals of the U.S. Open where Vera wrapped up the match in one period. After Young attempted a front headlock, Vera came out on top and secured a pin with 24 seconds left in the period. The score at the time of the pin was 4-0.

Young, who wrestled at Old Dominion before it was dropped, is a former U20 World Team member. He took third at the U.S. Open this year and will look to make his first Senior World Team in New York. As a Cadet, Young placed fifth at the World Championships in 2014. It will not be easy to do it again at the Senior level with Vera standing in his way. Vera, who in an immigrant from Cuba, is a 2019 Dave Schultz Memorial International champion and took gold at the 2016 Pan American Championships.

Recent results
April 27, 2022 – USMC US Open Semifinals – Vera pin Young, 6-0
Bout 6 - 67 kg GR - Alejandro Sancho (Army WCAP) vs. Alston Nutter (Sunkist Kids)

Alejandro Sancho vs. Alston Nutter is one of the most anticipated Greco-Roman matches of the night. In the last two matches they have wrestled Sancho, a 2020 Olympian, has sneaked past Nutter with 6-5 victories. In the U.S. Open semifinals bout, Sancho scored two points off an arm spin in the first period, he then defended a duck under to score another two points and put two more up on the board to come out 6-0 at the end of the first period. Nutter, a 2021 U23 World Team member and 2019 U20 World Bronze medalist, rallied back in the second period, scoring one point on passivity and four more on a lift, but it wasn’t enough to take the match.

In their 2021 Senior World Team Trials semifinal match, Alston defended an arm throw and scored two points on a takedown. He added another two points early in the first period with a gut wrench. Sancho answered back with a throw, but Nutter reversed him, making the score 5-2 at the end of the first period. In the second period, Sancho took a body lock to a takedown to make the score 5-4. Sancho scored two more on a body lock for the final score of 6-5. Their last two matches have been a battle, as they both aren’t afraid to risk points to go for high scoring moves. As they compete for a spot on the world team, expect even more fight from Nutter and Sancho.
Recent results
April 27, 2022 – USMC US Open Semifinals - Sancho dec. Nutter, 6-5
September 11, 2021 - Senior World Team Trials Semifinals - Sancho dec. Nutter, 6-5
Bout 8 – 60 kg GR - Dalton Roberts (Army WCAP) vs. Ildar Hafizov (Army WCAP)

This bout is another one to get excited for. Dalton Roberts, a 2021 World Team Trials Champion and 2020 Olympian Ildar Hafizov both train at Army WCAP and have historically gone the distance in their two previous best-of-three series matches. At the 2021 Senior World Team Trials, Hafizov won the first match on criteria, 3-3. Roberts came back with a 5-3 victory in the second round and a technical fall over Hafizov in the third and final round. The 2018 World Team Trials played out similarly. Hafizov won 4-3 in round 1, Roberts teched Hafizov 10-2 in round 2 and won by decision in round 3, 4-3. Most recently, Roberts narrowly defeated Hafizov at the 2022 Bill Farrell Memorial, Roberts went down in par terre, and Hafizov scored three on a side lift. Roberts scored two points on a front headlock to a go behind making the score 3-2. In the second period, Hafizov went down on par terre and Roberts scored three points on a lift to make the score 6-3 in favor of Roberts. Hafizov scored two more with a turn in the final seconds of the match, but it wasn’t enough for the victory.

Both wrestlers have been on multiple U.S. Senior World Teams. It will be interesting to see how they match up in New York considering they are very familiar opponents. Hafizov, who is also a 2019 World Team member, has a great lift and is good in par terre, while Roberts, a 2019 U23 World Team Member, pushes the pace of his matches and has an incredible gas tank on his side.

Recent results
April 1, 2022 – Bill Farrell Memorial International - Roberts dec. Hafizov, 6-5
September 11, 2021 - Senior World Team Trials Round 3 – Roberts tech. fall Hafizov, 9-0
September 11, 2021 - Senior World Team Trials Round 2 – Roberts dec. Hafizov, 5-3
September 11, 2021 - Senior World Team Trials Round 1 –Hafizov dec. Roberts, 3-3
June 21, 2018 – Senior Greco-Roman World Team Trials Round 3 – Roberts dec. Hafizov, 4-3
June 21, 2018 – Senior Greco-Roman World Team Trials Round 2 – Roberts tech. fall Hafizov, 10-2, 4:30
June 21, 2018 – Senior Greco-Roman World Team Trials Round 1 – Hafizov dec. Roberts, 4-3
Bout 10 - 97 kg GR – G’Angelo Hancock (Sunkist Kids) vs. Braxton Amos (Wisconsin RTC)

The final Greco-Roman match of the night will feature World Bronze medalist G’Angelo Hancock and 2021 Junior World bronze medalist Braxton Amos. Thanks to his World bronze medal, Hancock was the only Greco-Roman wrestler who was already qualified for Final X. At the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament, Amos had to go the distance to qualify the weight. In the semifinals, he beat No.1 seed and 2022 Pan American championships bronze medalist, Nicholas Boykin. In the finals he dominated Haydn Maley, a 2019 NCAA qualifier for Stanford, to earn the spot in New York with Hancock.

Amos and Hancock met previously in the best of three series finals of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Hancock, a 2020 Olympian, won two straight matches by technical fall with perfect 8-0 scores over Amos. Hancock has much more experience at the Senior level. He is a 2020 Pan American Champion, 2019 and 2016 Bill Farrell Memorial Champion, 2019 World Team member, 2019 and 2017 Dave Schultz Memorial champion and 2018 and 2017 U23 and Senior World Team member. Amos, who wrestles for Div. I Wisconsin, is the younger wrestler, but there is no way to determine who will have a better day on June 8. Amos is a very well-rounded in both styles. He is the 2021 Junior World Champion in freestyle, 2021 Pan American Championship silver medalist and was the No.1 P-4-P wrestler in high school by Flo Wrestling.
Recent results
April 3, 2020 – U.S. Olympic Team Trials Round 1 – Hancock tech. fall Amos, 8-0
April 3, 2020 – U.S. Olympic Team Trials Round 2 – Hancock tech. fall Amos, 8-0

Final X New York. presented by Tezos, will serve as the 12th Beat the Streets Annual Benefit. These unique and electrifying annual events help Beat the Streets New York raise millions of dollars to support local youth wrestling programs which empower young people in New York City.

FloWrestling will serve as the host broadcasting partner for both Final X Stillwater, presented by Tezos, and Final X New York, presented by Tezos.
Link to FloWrestling Final X New York broadcast
 There are a variety of ticket options available for Final X New York, beginning at $65 so you don't miss the first in-person Benefit since 2019. Purchase your wrestling-only event tickets on Ticketmaster For information on Benefit tickets and sponsorship packages (wrestling event and exclusive after party access) that also provide the best wrestling-event seats, visit give.btsny.org/benefit or email Fund Development Manager Kerry Doyle at kdoyle@btsny.org.