Mekhi Lewis (Photo/ Kadir Caliskan)TRNAVA, Slovakia -- Mekhi Lewis is three-for-three in winning freestyle tournaments as he claimed Junior World gold on Sunday night at the 2018 Junior World Championships in Trnava, Slovakia.
Just picking up freestyle this summer, Lewis, a wrestler at Virginia Tech, has eased into the style, cruising to the World finals and picking up a decisive 5-1 victory for gold at 74 kilograms.
"I feel great. I thought I could do it, but being in the moment and accomplishing that goal feels amazing," Lewis said. "After all the hard work I put in this summer to learn freestyle and now to be a World champion is the best feeling in the world."
In the championship bout, Lewis went head-to-head with 2016 Cadet world champion Abubakr Abakarov of Azerbaijan.
The Azeri was on the board first with a point on passivity. However, shortly after the shot clock ran out, Lewis scored a takedown and took a 2-1 lead into the break.
The second period saw Lewis pick up two points on step outs for a 4-1 advantage. One of those step outs came when Abakarov was in deep on a shot and Lewis shook him off and threw him out of bounds. That's when Lewis said he knew he had it won.
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