Thursday's shock resignation of Asashoryu leaves sumo with only one yokozuna, fellow Mongolian Hakuho.
"I don't want to believe it," Hakuho told a press conference at Tokyo's Miyagino stable.
"We come from the same place and he was my yardstick. We rose to the top in the same generation and it was an honor to fight him."
When asked about his best memory of his rival, Hakuho could not hold back the tears.
"The first time I beat him [in the 2004 Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament]," Hakuho said. "He was a yokozuna who inspired us.
"Now I feel added responsibility. I will have to do my best for both of us."
"I felt something was different," Hakuho said of their final bouts.
===
Council wanted Asa out
The head of sumo's Yokozuna Deliberation Council said it had voted to ask for yokozuna Asashoryu's resignation on Thursday for sullying the image of yokozuna.
Whether or not Asashoryu reached a settlement with the man he allegedly assaulted in a drunken late-night brawl last month was irrelevant according to the council.
"The out-of-court settlement is merely an agreement among the parties concerned," the council's unanimous recommendation to the Japan Sumo Association said. "It does not mean he [Asashoryu] can avoid his responsibility of meeting the public's expectations."
Council chairman Takuhiko Tsuruta said: "A majority of council members had very severe opinions....This [act] is inexcusable."