Kotooshu Katsunori, initially known as Kaloyan Stefanov, was the second son of the family out of four.
Stefanov was involved in sports since his younger days. For instance, he enjoyed playing soccer as a striker.
Despite enjoying soccer, he was only allowed to play as a goalkeeper because he had a large physique.
Therefore, Stefanov decided to move to wrestle. His father taught him the basics of wrestling by the age of five.
If you are interested in wrestling, you might be interested to read about Jaime Yusept Espinal: Wrestling, Olympics & Net Worth.
The transition from wrestling to sumo
He won a European championship in Greco-roman wrestling by the age of 14.
As a result, he was accepted by the Bulgarian National Sports Academy, where he majored in wrestling.
Stefanov dreamt of representing Bulgaria in the Olympics and also looked like to do so.
However, he failed to maintain his weight below 120kg and could not achieve his goal.
As a result, he started to pursue a career in sumo. Similar to wrestling, he made a successful run in sumo.
He competed in the European Sumo Championships, where he became third in both individual and group categories.
Later, he participated and won the German Sumo Championship in 2001. Meanwhile, former yokozuna Kotozakura was also present in the tournament for scouting.
Kotozakura was impressed not only by Stefanov’s performance but also with his duty of sending money home.
