Wrestler Ghaffari took on Russian Bear instead of Hulkster

It can be awkward when a member of the stick-and-ball sports media finds himself in the midst of Grecos and Romans and other amateur wrestling types on official amateur wrestling business.

To buy time, I usually start mentioning the names of the amateur wrestlers with whom I am familiar: Dan Gable, Big Bruce Baumgartner, that undefeated Cael Sanderson dude who was on the Wheaties box. Jeff Blatnick, the heavyweight who battled back from cancer to win a gold medal and then died too young, at age 55, after heart surgery. Rulon, of course.

And Matt Ghaffari.

I once was in a room with Siamak "Matt" Ghaffari, who stood 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighed around 130 kilos (286 pounds) when he wrestled as an amateur. It was at the old Mardi Gras hotel-casino on Paradise Road. Big Bruce Baumgartner was there, too. It was a tight fit.

I remember grapplers talking about a big amateur wrestling meet that would be held somewhere in town, probably at the Convention Center. They mostly spoke in a monotone. Then somebody handed the microphone to Matt Ghaffari, or invited him to the podium.

Ghaffari was not speaking in a monotone when he challenged Hulk Hogan to a fight.

I remember him going off on pro wrestlers, and on pro wrestlers getting all the publicity when amateur wrestlers were the ones who had the talent and the athletic ability and made all the sacrifices. He went off on the pro wrestlers in a bombastic style they would have appreciated. Ghaffari took over the small room at the Mardi Gras, which may or may not have had wood paneling.

I'll never forget it, and I'll never forget Ghaffari wrestling the Russian Bear on TV during the Olympics — and Ghaffari losing 1-0, and Ghaffari weeping afterward. He had come so close to finally beating the Russian Bear, whose real name is Aleksandr Karelin.

When the wrestling people told me Matt Ghaffari was in town, to serve as a translator between the American wrestling delegation and the delegation from Iran, where he was born — and to award the medals to the Greco-Roman heavyweights at the World Championships at The Orleans — I asked if they would give him my cellphone number.

The big man is 53 years old now, and he weighs only about 240. But I'll bet he could still kick Hulk Hogan's butt, because the Hulkster isn't as big as he once was, either, and he also has other issues, according to the Internet blogs.

I had asked for 10 minutes; we chatted for about 45. Ghaffari apologized for the language barrier, but then he came crashing through it, the way he did at the Mardi Gras hotel-casino when he challenged Hulk Hogan to a fight.

He said he has a good job in downtown Cleveland (he wrestled for Cleveland State) with the Osborn Engineering Company, a firm that designed Tiger Stadium in 1912, Yankee Stadium in 1923 and Notre Dame Stadium in 1929.

He talked about growing up in Tehran but never having wrestled there, because he said the sports federation was like the one in Russia, where you are not free to play the sports you want, only the ones the federation believes you can bring fame and glory to. So he was allowed to play volleyball.

And thus he was totally impressed by the Statue of Liberty before settling in Paramus, N.J., and the inscription on the bronzed plaque about ancient lands giving Lady Liberty their tired, their poor, and their huddled masses breathing to be free, because he was at least two of those.

Ghaffari talked world politics a little, how he thinks it's a good thing the heads of state from his countries have entered into an international nuclear agreement because, well, consider the alternative.

But he mostly talked about wrestling the menacing Russian Bear.

This is how the website Badassoftheweek.com (honest) described Aleksandr Karelin: "The real-life equivalent of what you would get if you mixed Ivan Drago with Fedor Emelianenko and Zangief from 'Street Fighter II' ... one of the most goddamn frightening human beings of all time."

It has been written that Karelin enjoys winter.

It also has been written there is another side to the Russian Bear, who hails from Siberia — a side that likes poetry and classical music. Maybe so. Amy Ghaffari, Matt's wife, said the first time she saw Karelin she thought he might rip her husband's arm off.

Ghaffari said he wrestled The Bear 21 times — 22 if you count an informal match outside a grocery store. He said he lost 21 times — 22 if you count the grocery store.

"No excuses. No bitch," said Ghaffari, who during his wrestling prime won two silver medals at these World Championships and a bronze, mostly because nobody but Karelin won the golds.

"They said there should be two gold medals: one for the Karelin class, one for everybody else."

Ghaffari said he hasn't seen Karelin since they appeared together on the medal podium in Atlanta, that The Bear went into the military and/or politics, that he made a lot of money and doesn't get out of Siberia often.

What would happen should they ever meet again outside a grocery store?

"I would give him a big hug and say wrestling him made me a better person," Matt Ghaffari said.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski.