I'm not suggesting he wasn't the favorite, but he was far from a sure thing. Yes he's had a solid little run, albeit in a pretty weak and watered down weight class.He was the #1 seed and definitely favored to win it by some.
He's beaten some very high level wrestlers.
Do you even follow wrestling?
Look up the 2023 World Championships in Belgrade.
Once again, he's the #1 seed for a reason.
It's not like peak Karelin or Sadulaev just dropped out of the weight class.
If Spencer wins it, and I think he will and would have with or without Micic, no one with a wrestling brain will be saying, "yeah bit Micic wasn't there" in the years to come.