I am extremely excited for this post on NorthAmericanSumo.com! As many readers know, we are entering the prime season for North American sumo wrestling. The US Sumo Nationals is coming up on February 9th (Kansas City), and the US Sumo Open is on March 23rd (Long Beach). Also, a new event is joining our big two this year – the Fitcon 2019 Sumo World Cup on April 12th and 13th (Salt Lake City). Each of these events will have the top amateur sumo talent – not only in North America, but also from around the world.

To celebrate this season of sumo, I hope to host a series of interviews with the who’s who of North American amateur sumo wrestling. To start, I was fortunate enough to conduct an interview with Justin Kizzart. He is a multi-time competitor at the US Sumo Nationals, the US Sumo Open, and the Sumo World Championships. He has twice finished second at the US Sumo Nationals, and he is eyeing the gold in one week. He is also a lightweight sumo wrestler, so he gives an uncommon and interesting perspective on sumo wrestling. Our discussion delves into his entry into amateur sumo, his approach to matches, and what he sees in his future.

Click on the YouTube video below to listen. Warning though: it does include some cursing! Also, further below, there are some gifs of Justin’s matches from the US Sumo Nationals and the US Sumo Open. The first is his bout with Trent Sabo that he describes as his favorite match ever. Lastly, if you want to see other content like this in the future, feel free to email me at NorthAmericanSumo@Gmail.com.

Kizzart vs. Sabo – US Sumo Nationals 2018

Kizzart vs. Wojda – US Sumo Open 2018

Kizzart vs. Unknown – US Sumo Nationals 2018

Kizzart vs. Coleman – Georgia Sumo Open 2018

As we discuss in the interview and seen in the gifs above, I love Justin’s tachiai so much. Most lightweight sumo wrestlers do a “greco-roman” start, where they try to stand up rather than charge forward. Not Justin, though. He can throw down with the best of them, which is extremely difficult for most lightweights to handle.