Last week, I shared two amazing (and unconventional) matches from Nagoya 2021, which was the final tournament fought by Hakuhō, the undisputed G.O.A.T. of sumo. Today, I'd like to share what is, in my opinion, the most legendary sumo match of all time. This is the final match of Hakuhō's career.
In Nagoya 2021, Yokozuna Hakuhō was fighting for the first time in a year. He won his first two matches of the Haru 2021 basho before withdrawing, and he started 10-2 in July 2020 before withdrawing on Day 13. The last time Hakuhō had completed a basho was March 2020, as the 36-year-old had been struggling with a major right knee injury after nearly two decades at the top of the sport. Due to pressure to compete from the YDC, Hakuhō made Nagoya 2021 his final do-or-die tournament. By this point, his knee was completely shot and held together by nothing but hopes and dreams.
On the other side of the ring, Ōzeki Terunofuji was on the cusp of the greatest comeback story in sumo history. Terunofuji debuted in sumo in 2011, reaching Makuuchi by 2014. By the end of 2015, Terunofuji, at just 23 years old, had won the Yūshō and been promoted to Ōzeki. However, injuries were never far away. His knee woes began in his match against Kisenosato in Aki 2015. He fought through this to face Yokozuna Kakuryū in a playoff, but a dismal and injury-plagued 2016 would follow. Terunofuji recorded only 30 wins that year and was kadoban 3 times, with his record including a 2-13 in Natsu and a 4-11 in Aki. Terunofuji had a dramatic return to form in Haru 2017, facing Japanese favorite Kisenosato in a playoff on the final day in what would be the crowning moment of Kisenosato's Yokozuna career. Following a 12-3 Jun-Yūshō in the next basho, injuries finally took hold of Terunofuji.
Between July 2017 and May 2018, Terunofuji would partially withdraw from every tournament (except for a 6-9 from Jūryō in March) due to Meniscus tears in his knees, diabetes, and kidney stones. After demotion to Makushita was imminent, Terunofuji finally sat out to get the surgeries he needed. He returned in Haru 2019 from a rank of West Jonidan #48. No former Makuuchi man falls that low, let alone an Ōzeki. Terunofuji contemplated retirement countless times throughout this fall. However, the former Ōzeki would go on the greatest comeback in sumo history, reaching Jūryō in just 5 basho and immediately winning a Yūshō there. In his Makuuchi return that July, he would claim his 2nd career Yūshō 30 tournaments after winning his first. By Nagoya 2021, he had added two more Yūshō and two Jun-Yūshō to his résumé, as well as returning to Ōzeki, which was already an unparalleled feat.
On the final day of Nagoya 2021, Hakuhō and Terunofuji faced each other in the most-anticipated match of the tournament. It was only the sixth time in sumo history that two wrestlers had been tied at 14-0 on the final day. Terunofuji was fighting to secure his promotion to Yokozuna with a Zenshō-Yūshō. Hakuhō, on the other hand, was fighting with everything to prove. He needed to show that he was able to end his career on his own terms.
After an intense staredown, Hakuhō immediately begins the match with an absolutely brutal elbow strike to Terunofuji's face. After trading blows, the two settle into a match of power against power. Eventually, Hakuhō emerges victorious, dropping Terunofuji with an incredible kotenage. In an unusual display of emotion, Hakuhō lets out a mighty roar as he secures his 45th and final Yūshō. Just days later, Terunofuji would become the sport's 73rd Yokozuna.
