I hate to say it, but Ippo got was coming for him for a long time. He used his speed purely for aggression and rarely for evasive defense. Kamogawa’s fighting style is flawed in that respect. “Guts” can only take you so far.
The fight was pretty intense but I’m still pissed off that the #.2 in the world just didn’t play it smart and not succumb to his retarded "Metzli Mode’ bullshit. I mean, I could understand if Ippo managed to weave inside his elite Mexi-jabs and got a solid hit, thus enraging him, but for most of the match Ippo couldn’t do shit.
It was good that Ippo lost from an infight though, his specialty. You’re 1000 chapters too early to face da god Ricardo Martinez.
The main reason why Ippo deserved to lose though wasn’t merely boxing, but his mindset. He has had little emotional and character development. He’s always holding back in some manner and relying on his coach to guide him like baby. Meanwhile, other boxers in the series have used their coaches for pointers or to keep them grounded. Heck, not even Miyata’s dad/ coach babies his son as much as Kamogawa does Ippo.
He has been more concerned with pleasing Papa Kamogawa than finding his own path, and with his true punching power revealed when he did that devastating KO punch he dealt a while back, is holding back his true potential. I was really hoping to see that side of him.
As much as I like the coach, I think his passing would do much good to evolve Ippo into a boxer truly capable of taking on the world. Ippo needs to be forced out of his comfort zone in Nihon and learn and grow like Miyata did.
But now I’m intrigued who the #.1 ranked boxer is behind the Super Champ? Boyd Fairwither?
George Morikawa better put his brain in an android Dr.Gero style so he can finish this manga, so our great grandkids can finally see the finale.
I don’t know what I dread more, that we might be looking at another 1000+ chapters of Ippo or that the world will come to an end before Berserk gets finished.
Shout outs to Alf. I liked him better than Ippo anyway.
it’s not really good writing, ippo hasn’t been doing anything but getting his face rocked until he gets in and then kills people with his in fight nonsense. of course he’s going to lose eventually, but the fucking coach didn’t tell him to just eat punches to the face until he gets in, ffs he’d been training to deal with not getting hit.
oh well, nothing about this manga is really hype for me anymore. the last time i was excited to read ippo was when my avatar image showed up.
Ippo! Learn from this defeat! Tap into your Satsui no Ippo powers*(after you tap into Kumi)* and destroy everyone in your path with one punch, Iron Mike style.
Sendo? Bop. Done. Miyata? Pow. Broken jaw like his pops. Itagaki? Wham. Hope you like being retarded, Hedgehog. Rematch with Alf? Zing. Dude’s fianceé is now a widow, or whatever the fuck you call a person with a dead fianceé
God Martinez will tremble before the might of the TRUE Master of the Fist…
When Ippo wins you people cry that he has plot armor. When he loses you people cry that it’s stupid. You nerds whine more than a 14 year old having her first period.
It is pretty stupid though. I mean, he already had a perfect anti-Ippo strat (that Ippo never got past), then suddenly handicapped himself with his “best mode” which turned out to not be his best mode, except he actually did have a best mode which he achieved at the last second when he out-inside-boxed Ippo.
That bit where he handicapped himself? Really stupid.
Loss was well deserved, but it should have been much cleaner. Maybe even by decision or ref stoppage if non Meltzycheese mode takes too long for spectacular knockout.
I disagree. The first 3-4 rounds of the fight with Alf were probably the best in the manga. Kamogawa’s strategy does work on the world level; Ippo just needs to have a better strategy for when things get ugly, something better than tanking everything and frustrating the opponent into doing something stupid.
Because honestly, if you look at Ippo’s fights, they’re always ugly because when he gets inside, it’s like his brain stops working. He relies too heavily on his own natural stamina and ability to take hits. Opponents get locked in the Ippo vortex because they begin to believe that their boxing isn’t working because Ippo won’t stop coming. So yeah, most people are right in that if Alf hadn’t activated HURRDURRMURDER mode and tried to merk Ippo he would have won more easily, but it’s not that Kamogawa’s style is stupid and dangerous. If anything, Kamogawa’s only sin is that he trusts too much in his boxers’ natural talents, so he just builds on that. Takamura is the best fighter in the manga, but Kamogawa literally beat tactics and orthodox strategy into him so that there was focus to his natural strength and talent. Ippo has stamina and core strength in spades, but Kamogawa hasn’t taken the same sort of approach with Ippo, electing to just build on his natural infighter talents and not teaching him more about avoidance and blocking.
This really should be the approach they have for all fights, but if you look a few pages later, there’s no strategy on how to most effectively damage the opponent. It’s, “get inside, and go HAM.”
MFW Alf gets removed from the rankings due to an illegal substance abuse reveal and Ippo gets the shot by default. Then we’ll really know Morikawa is just trolling us.
I think Ippo’s predicament is similar in real life sports. For example, one can compete in strength competitions locally but when it comes to the world stage, you find out that everyone is monster and suddenly your technique and training pales in comparison.
heres the problem with boxing…lose 2 fights no matter their placement for weird idiotic reason they are thought to be finished forever. it honestly til mma did this mindset start to fade. But in boxing it still exists, so i expect ippo to go into some sort of existential crisis. In mma you can easily lose 3-5 straight, go into some lower league and just work your way back but in boxing you are done.
