Rare Breed is Round 1175 of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo manga series.
Details
- Title Page Character(s): Ippo Makunouchi Wanpo, Manabu Itagaki
Summary
Itagaki has Ippo throw a jab, and Ippo realises his arms are short when he compares his arms with Itagaki's. Itagaki tells Ippo that he always closes the distance because of his reach advantage, and that doesn't change because the opponent is a southpaw. He mentions to Ippo that he is a rare type of fight with his own position to take as he continues his training. At home, Ippo's trying to research or think of possible fight plans to use on a southpaws. He ends up practising against his bedding, making it hard for his mother and Wanpo to sleep. At the gym, Kamogawa gathered the southpaws from the nearest weight class in order to give Ippo more experience, but Ippo's still distracting over about not having a fight plan yet until Kamogawa mentions he should just do it (where Ippo remembers Takamura telling him the same thing.) After the spar, Itagaki, Aoki, and Kimura discuss Ippo's southpaw strategy of dashing forward, digging in, and attacking from the inside. They noticed Ippo's improved a lot, and think Ippo's recovered from any injuries he may have had. The think the big problem facing facing the gym is Takamura having a hard time sweating. Takamura's mention he is having a hard time losing weight since he isn't motivated in defending. Ippo and Kamogawa continue to practice for southpaw boxers. During it the practice, Ippo shows signs of the new Dempsey Roll. Ippo apologises for it, since he doesn't think Kamogawa can catch it.