Hakuho to end sumo’s most successful career

Yokozuna Hakuho, the most successful wrestler in sumo history, has decided to bring down the curtain on a career that includes 45 grand tournament titles and a slew of other records, a sumo source said Monday.

The Mongolian-born Hakuho will begin the paperwork that allows him to open his own stable under his ring name, a process for which he took Japanese citizenship in 2019.

Hakuho, 36, who wrestled out of the Miyagino stable, ends a 14-year run at the sport’s highest rank marked by both overwhelming success, occasional controversy and recent injuries. At the very least, he goes out a winner of sorts.

After an injury-plagued year in which he missed all or part of six tournaments starting in July 2020, Hakuho defied the odds and came back to win this year’s July tournament in Nagoya in one of the top sports stories of the year. Not only did he defeat rival Terunofuji on the final day, it completed a perfect 15-0 run to title.

But that proved to be the final time he would walk away with the Emperor’s Cup, as he was forced to miss the recently completed Autumn tournament for reasons beyond his control. He and the rest of the Miyagino stable had to sit out after two members tested positive for the coronavirus.

How he would have fared will never

be known, but he made no secret of the fact that the victory in Nagoya took its toll on his tender right knee, and he had avoided active sparring in pretournament training. That appeared to be when he had come to grips with the notion of ending his career.

Hakuho, whose real name is Monkhbatyn Davaajargal, came to Japan when he was 15 and made his pro sumo debut at the 2001 Spring tournament. Utilizing his superior athletic ability — perhaps inherited from his father, a freestyle wrestling

silver medalist at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics — and sharp ring sense, he quickly made his way up the rankings.

He won his first tournament title in 2006, and a year later, became the sport’s 69th yokozuna. From there, he tore the record book to shreds.

At the 2015 New Year’s tournament, he passed the legendary Taiho for most titles with his 33rd, a record he would extend to 45.

He also set records for most career wins (1,187), most makuuchi division wins (1,093), most wins as a yokozuna (899), most tournaments at the yokozuna rank (84), most wins in a calendar year (86, twice), and most titles with a 15-0 record (16).

In 2010, he won 63 consecutive matches, second-most in the modern era after the 69 posted by the legendary Futabayama.

As successful as he was, however, Hakuho also had his share of controversy and detractors. He was castigated in recent years for his occasional roughness in using hard slaps and forearms to the throat, moves viewed as being below the dignity of a yokozuna, and openly criticized judges’ decisions.

After he pulled out of the 2020 July tournament because of a worsening of his chronic right knee condition, the Yokozuna Deliberation Council, an advisory body of the Japan Sumo Association, voiced its concerns over his repeated absences and issued him a stern warning that was only just short of a demand to retire.

Hakuho underwent surgery on his knee in March this year and, putting his career on the line at the Nagoya tournament, showed the indomitable spirit that keep him on top for so long by storming to a 15-0 record for the championship.

His departure marks a changing of the guard, as it coincides with newly promoted Terunofuji’s first tournament title as a yokozuna. (Sept. 28)

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo Hakuho, right, defeats then-ozeki Kisenosato to win the New Year’s tournament in January 2015 for his 33rd career title, breaking the all-time record previously held by Taiho.