Both Ippo and Takamura have surpassed anything Kamogawa can teach them now, the only difference between the 2 boxers is that Takamura is completely OP and has confidence where as Ippo is kinda OP and has zero confidence sometimes.
I like the current direction that the manga is currently going in. It shows how realistic things may be, not this whole āgreat things happenā or ābecoming the strongestā in short time occurs like in other animes and manga portray. Ippo is strong, but hes still not at that level of a professional world boxer. Gonzalez just showed that there are things he needs to master to be on the top.
you guys donāt understand what coaches should be there to do. If you have a good coach heās not just there to teach you boxing, heās there to make you a better human being. Leaving the gym isnāt realistic because they wonāt have someone looking out for their best interests. If this manga wants to keep it 100, and if Ippo went to train somewhere else that didnāt know/respect him heād get beat down in every sparring session because heās a new body for guys to hit.
What? Thatās not true at all. Ippo isnāt some smuck. Heās a very well respected, highly rated professional fighter.
Pro fighters change gyms and coaches all the time. Itās a business.
Yes he is.
Alf is number 2 in the world for a reason. And he got there by X-Copying Ricardo. Who is, next to Takamura, the strongest boxer in the series.
Alf = Kobe
Ricardo = MJ
Ippo never realistically had a shot other than hoping for a miracle punch.
IMO this also has many parrellels with Dateās last match against Ricardo (where he damn near died).
Yeah that was when he ohko Kojima, who was actually a weight class above him. If he was capable of that, thereās no reason he(Wild Ippo) could not have taken out Metzli Mode Alfredo(who wouldāve fought him in the worst range possible). Kamogawa rebuked him like a buffoon, instead of considering the possibility that Ippo could use a more serious edge like that. Clearly Ippoās capable of bloodlust like Sendo and Sawamura(despite him failing horribly at it when Takamura tried to teach him), he just needs the right triggers.
edit: another thing that gets me about Ippo is just how absorbed in Kamogawa he is. Heās so confident in Kamogawa, he trusts in Kamogawa, and heās proud of Kamogawa. What about himself? Whereās his confidence in his own strength? What about his own goals? What about his original desire to āknow what it means to be strongā? Heās been all over the place these last few fights that itās no wonder Takamura said heās gotten weaker.
edit2: I mean really, Ippo doesnāt really have any heavy bearing on him besides his faith in Kamogawa(the exact same criticism Date levied at him hundreds of chapters ago). Alfredo had that goal of fighting Martinez again at ALL costs, no matter what. Such determination and focus ultimately made the difference and allowed him to deliver that final counter to beat Ippo. :bluu:
As far as i can remember Ippo is just doing this to test out his own strength or find out the meaning of strength or one of those vague ass annoying japanese things.
Then againā¦ this is Ippo, dumbass is probably still boxing so he wont get bullied again, even though hes a national hero and now serious world stage contender, asshole will go back home and be thinking about how to ask Kumi to bake him some bread instead of how he is gonna spend his assumable wealth and break dudes apart on his quest for the title.
Itakagi is gonna surpass him at this rate, the kid has already got the speed to essential stop time, has the balls to give it 100% and is a prodigious talent not unlike Woli, Ippo needs to stop being bitch made before the young blood steals the show.
Takamura on the other hand has still 2 belts to take before he actually goes into fights at his 100%, Ippo dangerously close to wearing clown shoes if he doesnt get his shit together.
edit: Ippo and Kamogawa relationship, I always looked at it like a father son relationship and they kinda fleshed that out a little by making them the same type of fighter and same kinda man as well, also Ippo is Kamogawas prime experiment, putting all his IQ and techniques into the fighter he could have been if he was born in the proper era, on the flip side Ippo doesnt know jack shit and depends on Kamogawa giving him the answers and reinforcing his confidence.
Something that I just realized that Morikawa did (which I really like) is how he set up the end of the fight.
Whenever you get Ippo and his opponent throwing haymakers like they do near the climax of a match, itās usually a setup for either a dual exchange or Ippo getting his miracle punch or whatever. So I can imagine a bunch of yāall thinking AW SHIT HERE IT COMES when like 1066 came out because Morikawa already established that Ippo can win in a dual exchange fight because of his experience tanking punches. But THIS TIME it didnāt work; Ippo got counter-punched. In hindsight I really like that because NOW if/when Ippo fights another dude and the setup happens, thereās going to be a small doubt in readersā minds. āBut what if Ippo loses again?ā
Also, I really hope that Morikawa starts exploring the idea of Wild Ippo. Weāve seen at least THREE examples of world boxers having some sort of ace up their sleeve (Metzil Alf, āNatural Brawlerā Ricardo, āCrazy New York Animalā Bryan Hawk). So itās not all that unlikely that maybe Ippo figures he needs to develop Wild Ippo himself, since most of his speed, balance, and stamina/power come from self training, as well as originating his Dempsey Roll.
thats looked down upon in most countries. america is one of the only places you see that happen.
Bryan Hawk didnt really have any ace up his sleeve, he was just 200% genius brawler with animal instincts
Ippos lose was bullshit, pure and simple plot device to keep Miyata relevant.
He is in the manga and is known in Japan. That was his first true international bout. Pro fighters do change gyms all the time. I can tell you when we had well known regional champs and even former major title champs come in to the gym. Guys tried to show them that this isnāt their gym. That they had to prove themselves to be there. Iām not going to name drop because Iām not a fag, but I got some guys from DC at my gym to train for a bout two years back, they tried to come in like they were going to run the place, it didnāt happen. This was a good natured gym too. Egos do get in the way. The reason a lot of guys stay with trainers or within the gym is because they want what is best for the fighter. If youāre not truly a top guy trainers will use you for a payday.
Maxx is 100% right about other guys not changing gyms. I have friends in Japan who refuse to change gym titles. They will train with other guys and make teams and what not but representation and actual coaches/cornermen will always come from their gym.
well does opening up the possibility of another 3 way catfight between Kumi, Mari and Nanako over Ippos D again 
Did Alf stop Ippo falling over? Did he think he had to KO Ippo to spare his life against a fight vs Ricardo hmmm? Hope there isnt a lot of melancholy downtime, but straight to hyped up training eye of the tiger style. Bring on the Ippo who plainly doesnt GAF already. 
I think Ippo just walked into Alfās shoulderā¦ must have mistook it for a fist.
Spoiler
ā¦ if Ippo is so unremarkableā¦
Now I wonder how Dante would have stood up to Alfā¦
Date woulda whipped that niggaās assā¦ He had been training all that time for a rematch with Ricardoā¦ No way he would have lost to Ricardo Jrā¦ and MEXICAN MACHISMO MODE would have sped up the process.
Date isnāt a one-note dummy like Ippo, he actually has a full toolset and the boxing IQ to back it up- He was just Patrick Ewing in the Prime Jordan Era, basically.
EDIT: Itās like people forgot that Date v. Martinez was the only time weāve seen Ricardo even be remotely serious in the ring, while a couple of hundred chapters later we saw Ippo GET ROCKED BY HIS CASUAL LEFT JABSā¦
I love the name Ricardo!
Anyways Iām curious about this series but I donāt wanna start from the beginning. Is there a spot that can catch me up quick without having to read hundreds of chapters or watching hours of anime.
Not really, the story is basically about a chump not wanting to be a chump anymore, plus all the running gags are based on stuff that happen early onā¦ and all the character introductions. Do yourself a service and pick it up from the beginning.
Ippo isnāt really about arcs or stories so much as character development. The long term, in depth character examination is part of itās appeal.
Start from the beginning. You wonāt be bored, even now they talk about stuff that happened in the beginning. I actually have all the episodes on an external hd just in case I feel the need to watch from the beginning (usually during snow days, etc). Plus the Kimura v. Mashiba movie is pretty good.
Damnā¦looks like I got some homework to do.
Is there a site I can read this stuff at or do I gotta collect the magna volumes online.