At the World Championships of September 8–14, Burroughs advanced to the semifinals without much problem, beating four-time African Champion Augusto Midana (spraining his MCL throughout the match) and Rashid Kurbanov, who would go on to win the Asian Games Gold medal 20 days later. Despite initial success in the tournament, he was unable to secure his fourth consecutive World/Olympic title, as he was downed by Denis Tsargush 2–9, but captured the bronze medal by pinning Rustam Dudaiev from Ukraine. The loss to Tsargush marked the first time he had been defeated by an international wrestler in over 60 international matches.