I really don't know how many in this thread actually saw Karelin wrestling. No video can do justice, can give you a hint of the power that the man put on the mat. I was there in Sydney, in 2000, as a reporter covering the Olympics. King Kong Karelin, as usual, went through the field like a rhino, and when he had to wrestle Rulon Gardner for the gold it was just a matter of waiting for another massive display of power. Karelin already wrestled with Gardner a couple of years before and humiliated him with a 5-0, throwing him face first twice to the mat. A cuban wrestler who saw that match insists that at one point Karelin lifted Gardner over this head... Let me tell you, Gardner was huge, and I mean FECKIN HUGE. That same cuban wrestler told me once: "to wrestle with Alexandr is like wrestle with a horse, the guy is just unstoppable..."
That day in Sydney, a guy sitting next to me was shouting "the gringo (Gardner) is covered in grease!". The truth is that Gardner was now way too heavy for Karelin classic move, and also that Karelin was quite old (33 years old). But the match was so close that the point for Gardner had to be checked on the monitor screen for several minutes.
In any case, that point was the first that Karelin conceded IN 15 YEARS. Read that again: 15 years. For the sofa- and keyboard-warriors around the world it is maybe impossible to understand what that it means to go through 15 years wrestling at the very top level in the world without conceding a single point.
But Karelin was not only a beast. I always remember Carl Lewis' classic phrase: "Power is nothing without control". Karelin was the perfect example of that: he was ridiculously strong but also he had the technique to make the most of his strength.
Would Karelin be able to beat Cain? I don't know. Maybe, considering how well the wrestlers are doing in today's MMA. But the first post in this thread stated that he would "ragdoll" Cain. And I have no doubt that Karelin would ragdoll Cain all night long and then he would throw him over the fence for good measure.
