This year's Kyushu Basho, which ended Sunday, saw Hakuho stride through the muck and grime to claim the fifth title of his career with a 12-win, 3-loss record. When push came to shove, his class shined through. Hakuho, who is looking more and more like the second coming of the great yokozuna Futabayama, kept it simple, did his thing and quietly dominated the majority of his bouts. He was able to step up a gear when need be, and wasn't one to lose his concentration too often. "Hak" probably knows the weaknesses he must address in the coming year if Asashoryu comes back at full force. For now, his flaws can be put down to relative youth and over-enthusiasm, when he should be trying to be more patient
Ozeki Kaio, on the other hand, is a wrestler who has been trying our patience.
At the time of writing, he has made no announcements regarding his long overdue retirement, which means that come the New Year's tournament sumo fans will be faced with more reports of his dodgy back, lack of balance and the routine excuse of "need to take the tournament one day at a time."