Morty

If Ichinojo could lose about 30 kg I reckon he would be unstoppable. But he is way too heavy, which is definitely not good for a bad back, and at that weight he is one basic knee injury away from following Terunofuji. When Ichinojo made the top rank at about 190kg he looked incredible, but since he ballooned, not so much. I doubt he will drop the weight, meaning I can't see him going any higher than Sekiwake. He has the size and talent to go higher, but not at 227 kg I don't think

I know Endo is 28 and was kind of the "start" of this new generation, and hasn't fulfilled his potential, partly due to the knee injury and also, it seems to me, because he doesn't like getting whacked in the face. But when he gets on the belt he is so good, so I hope he may yet work it out and have a late run at upper Sanyaku, similar to the way Takayasu did.

The quality of opponents went up towards the end. Shodai and Tamawashi are better than Wakatakakage and Ishiura. Combine that with the fact he already had his KK and was probably tired, it's understandable. Great basho for him though, one of my new faves.

Anyone who thinks Asanoyama's yusho will have an asterisk next to it... Asanoyama will get his portrait up in the KK and his name in the record books. In 12 months time only a small percentage of (mostly) foreign fans will remember what happened on day 13 of this basho in that bout. In five years time almost no-one will remember and in 10 years time it will just be that Asanoyama won as a Hiramaku rikishi. Beyond that he will just be a name in the record books recorded as a guy who won this particular yusho. Build a bridge and get over it.

I think on the balance of evidence, that his heel probably wasn't out. However, to play devil's advocate, there is an old adage in combat sports that the best way to win is to win clean so there can be no doubting the win. The instant you let the judges get involved you are in trouble. Always better to knock out your opponent than let the judges decide who won the fight. There are about eight million boxing matches that prove this to be true. Not counting the fusensho, Tochinoshin won his first eight going forward. When he lost to Endo he was going forward. The loss to Abi was neither forward nor backwards (coz it was too fast). The last two days he has been going backwards and attempting to pull. Either he has hurt himself again, or he is worn out, or he has stopped doing what wins him bouts (getting on the belt and lifting aite out). Going against Kak tomorrow and then whoever he is matched against Sunday, I hope he goes back to grabbing the belt and going forward.

He's really good looking.

All the little guys in Makuuchi won today and handily. Terutsoyoshi was the standout, and the look on Toyonoshima's face after he lost to Enho was priceless. He looked across at Enho and was like "damn, he got me!"

Yeah, that's what I meant

More oxygen is generally considered to be beneficial for every type of injury and increases healing times. Standard first aid practice is to put people on oxygen (if you have access to it) regardless of what they have wrong with them. And sucking on some oxygen is categorically the best thing out there for a hang-over...

Absolutely beautiful uwatedashinage, perfectly executed. Tochinoshin forgot how good Endo is on the belt and paid for it

I wondered about that...

I have been wondering why it has all those square marks on it and it is so beat up. Anyone got any ideas - some form of cupping or something else?

Much like yesterday Enho's opponent only turned up with a Plan A. It was a better Plan A than Chiyoshoma's the day before, in that it included both keeping Enho away from Yago's belt AND attempting a pull down, but much like Chiyoshoma, when Plan A didn't work, there was no Plan B about how to deal with the little guy once he grabbed the belt. Then splat!

Chiyoshoma had a reasonable Plan A (keep Enho away from his legs) but no effective Plan B (beat Enho). Eventually Plan A failed and then the lack of a Plan B, or even Plan C (what do I do now?) left him looking relatively foolish. Ho hum.

When Yago did that pull down he did so by grabbing Chiyomaru's cheeks/double chin/jowels.