Perrysburg’s Marcus Blaze goes 3-1 on first day of U20 world wrestling championships

PONTEVEDRA, Spain — Marcus Blaze, the 2023 U17 world champion and Perrysburg High School wrestling standout, was dealt his first international loss on Saturday.

Wrestling at the U20 World Championships in Spain for Team USA in the men's freestyle at 61 kilograms, Blaze suffered a 7-2 loss to Masanosuke Ono of Japan in the semifinal after seven straight wins over two age-group World Championships. He won his first three matches Saturday to reach the semifinals.

Blaze and Ono matched each other for style, and it was only in the final seconds when Blaze could penetrate his opponent's defense and score a takedown for two points. Out of the seven points Ono scored, three were escapes, and one was for Blaze's passivity in the first period.

Team USA coach J'den Cox explained that an early start against Ono could have been the difference.

"Blaze's style does match up well," Cox said. "Maybe it was a matter of getting started a little bit earlier. In the second period, we started dictating a little bit more. I can understand Ono shut down in the second period with a six-point lead. Just little things you can work on, small mistakes and learning big lessons."

Before the semifinal loss against Ono, who is the Japanese national champion, Blaze won three matches dominantly. He opened the day with a fall against South Korea’s Dohyung Kim in 1:15, then he followed it up with an 11-1 tech fall of Amir Hamayan (Turkmenistan) in a little more than two minutes.

Even a tough opponent in U17 European champion Jamal Abbasov of Azerbaijan failed to match the pace of Blaze's wrestling. Blaze won 7-1 in the quarterfinal, which was filled with some incredible scrambles and offense.

Abbasov had defeated Benjamin Davino at the U17 World Championships last year, and Blaze made the U20 Worlds team this year in June by beating Davino of Ohio RTC in two straight matches.

"It's something that has changed in my game and bettered it," Blaze said about his offense after his quarterfinal win. "Last year, I had a really good defense, but started to transition into a bunch of offense. It's awesome. I wrestle folkstyle and didn’t even do par terre for six months. Par terre is fun, and it's awesome to trick people."

Blaze is registered to compete at the Non-Olympic World Championships Team Trials next weekend in Omaha.

But before that, he has one more task at hand.

The teenager can still win his second world medal in as many outings at the world championships. Blaze will compete for the bronze medal Sunday.

Cox was confident Blaze would pull it off for himself and Team USA.

"Blaze is an amazing competitor," he said. "There is tomorrow. That was the theme of our camp, and that's the theme here. Things might not swing your way, but you don't change who you are. There will be time to soak it in and time to look back at matches. But this ain't the time. We have matches to do tomorrow and weight to cut off today. We will stay focused on what we have to do with the same passion, the same fire, and the same fight. I want that attitude no matter where we are in the bracket."