In 1971, when the great Taiho retired from the sport of sumo with 32 Emperor's Cups to his name, Hakuho was not yet born.
Sumo was, with but a few exceptions, a Japanese-only sport, and nobody could have possibly predicted a skinny teen from Mongolia would one day join, and top, even Taiho's records in Japan's quasi-national sport.
Losing his first-ever bout, back in the sixth-ranked jonokuchi division, to finish with a less-than-stellar 3-4 record in his first tournament in May 2001, perhaps even fewer would have predicted that the 80-kg, 180-cm newbie, Davaajargal Monkhbat, would last long in the sport.