They eat, sleep and breathe the sport, living out their days in traditional stables where they undergo rigorous physical, spiritual and mental training in order to reach the top of their game.
Irish Boxing
Brendan Irvine fell at the first Olympic hurdle after suffering heartbreaking defeat at the Kokugikan Stadium on Monday morning.
The Belfast flyweight, who lost to reigning champion Uzbekistani Shakhobidin Zoirov in his first fight in Rio 2016, suffered a similar fate in Tokyo after defeat to Carlo Paalam in the flyweight division.
The Philippine representative won by 4-1 split decision to set up what should be an entertaining final 16 clash with Olympic veteran and winner of seven major tournament medals Mohammed Flissi of Algeria.
The gutsy Irvine just failed to recover from a blistering Paalam start. He lost the first round across the board and just couldn’t conquer the mountain that was left to climb, although it wasn’t for the want of trying.