FUKUOKA — For a grand champion of this stature, life all boils down to a few critical moments. Hakuho faces his moment of truth in the final meet of the year at the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament starting Sunday.

The Mongolian yokozuna is flirting with history in his quest to equal or surpass the record 69-bout winning streak of yokozuna great Futabayama — a superhuman feat some have compared to New York Yankees slugger Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak that still stands today in the major leagues.

Currently at 62, Hakuho can equal the mark on the seventh day of the 15-day meet at Fukuoka Kokusai Center and put himself into the record books as the only man to ever have achieved 70 consecutive wins on the eighth day.