Daton Fix to Wrestle Brandon Courtney at Fargo for Junior World Team Spot

A few weeks ago Daton Fix dropped a best-of-three matchup with Thomas Gilman for the senior world team spot at 57 KG.

We confirmed after that matchup with Gilman that Daton would be requesting the wrestle-off, but the details of when/where hadn’t been determined yet. USA Wrestling announced today that the best-of-three matchup with Brandon Courtney will be happening at Fargo on July 15.

Daton will be a pretty heavy favorite over Arizona State’s Courtney and if he wins there will probably be the favorite to repeat as Junior World Champ, which he won last year in pretty dominate fashion.

I spoke with his dad Derek about it and I had a tone of confidence with my expectation that Daton would repeat as the Junior Champ. Derek basically told me to pump the brakes a little. He has confidence in Daton, but knows how tough the things ahead of him are.

“Always one step at a time,” said Derek Fix. “Make the team first, then Juniors is one of the toughest tournaments in the world, so I’m not sure how easy it’ll be to repeat. He has a huge target on his back and isn’t going to sneak up on anyone for sure. The world is watching him.”

If Daton wins here it will make three Junior World Team members for the Cowboys with commit Daniel Kerkvliet at 97 KG and Bear Hughes making the Greco team at 87 KG.

Here is a clip of one of their matchups from last year where Daton won by tech-fall.