Couple good matches tomorrow. We got Onosato vs Kotozakura and Kirishima vs Hoshoryu. Exciting times. Man Takayasu lived up to his cocaine bear nickname today. He let his hands fly!
He sure did. I think he's probably got the heaviest hands in the division. He doesn't go for KO blows like Takakeisho, but his slap downs are some of the hardest I've seen.
I certainly hadn't forgotten my boy Wakatakakage. That final reversal on Onosato looked a lot like the one he pulled on Takayasu to win the basho back in 2022:
Both Onosato and Takayasu had that look on their faces like "WTF just happened?"
I agree, this tournament just keeps getting better and better. I'm a fan of both Takayasu and Shodai, and I'm really pleased to see them both doing so well.
I knew you'd be happy when Wakatakakage pulled that reversal off. He and his brother are both strong as an ox. They are both guys where you can't just expect to win when you get them to the straw. You really need to work as hard as you can and visualize getting them into the crowd instead of merely just over the line.
Out of curiosity, at what point in the basho does the matchup algorithm change? You mentioned that it switches from being based on your ranking to being based on your current record in the basho, I thought.
There's no hard rule about it. But generally you see the shift come around Day 10 and 11. It all depends on how the race for the cup is going, though. In the first week the JSA are definitely just matching guys based on how closely they are ranked. Once the race starts to take shape they begin looking at what they need to do to determine a winner.
The look on Wakatakakage's face when he strong-manned Onosato out of the ring was intense. So strong!
I think he enjoyed that!
Couple good matches tomorrow. We got Onosato vs Kotozakura and Kirishima vs Hoshoryu. Exciting times. Man Takayasu lived up to his cocaine bear nickname today. He let his hands fly!
He sure did. I think he's probably got the heaviest hands in the division. He doesn't go for KO blows like Takakeisho, but his slap downs are some of the hardest I've seen.
I certainly hadn't forgotten my boy Wakatakakage. That final reversal on Onosato looked a lot like the one he pulled on Takayasu to win the basho back in 2022:
https://youtu.be/Nf1oiDnNqYw?si=InnZRFrU25-9hnPp
Both Onosato and Takayasu had that look on their faces like "WTF just happened?"
I agree, this tournament just keeps getting better and better. I'm a fan of both Takayasu and Shodai, and I'm really pleased to see them both doing so well.
I knew you'd be happy when Wakatakakage pulled that reversal off. He and his brother are both strong as an ox. They are both guys where you can't just expect to win when you get them to the straw. You really need to work as hard as you can and visualize getting them into the crowd instead of merely just over the line.
Thanks for sharing that vid, great find!
Out of curiosity, at what point in the basho does the matchup algorithm change? You mentioned that it switches from being based on your ranking to being based on your current record in the basho, I thought.
There's no hard rule about it. But generally you see the shift come around Day 10 and 11. It all depends on how the race for the cup is going, though. In the first week the JSA are definitely just matching guys based on how closely they are ranked. Once the race starts to take shape they begin looking at what they need to do to determine a winner.
If I remember correctly, just after the half way point.