ippo

The Ideal Partner is Round 1432 of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo manga series.

Details

Summary

While doing roadwork, Sendō thanks Miyata for helping him, and comments how he must be helping him as well since it is hard for him to get sparring partners as well. Miyata remarks for him to say that when he actually hits him, making Sendō irritated. Sendō asks about how Mashiba's search for sparring partners is going. Miyata claims that it is harder for Mashiba to get sparring partners because unlike Ricardo, who is rooted in the basics, Rosario is a very peculiar boxer, so there aren't many who can emulate his style, as they need to be a high-level in-fighter who uses the southpaw style. Sendō points out that he is a high-level in-fighter, but Miyata comments that he should worry about himself, making Sendō mad. At the Tōhō gym, the manager informs the coach that the two boxers that got from Thailand and the Philippines want to go back home because they said they don't want to be human punching bags, as they didn't know that Mashiba's reach was that long. The manager notes that Mashiba is a peculiar boxer as well, so it is near impossible to get used to him, however, the coach urges him to search for more southpaw in-fighters by calling all gyms in Japan and overseas, but the manager explains that they already did. The coach wonders if there is anyone who can give them a virtual Rosario. At the Makunouchi Fishing Boat, while watching videos of Rosario's matches, Ippo observes how his head movement is incredibly fast, slipping past any punches that come towards him, and his step-in is fast as well. Ippo remembers that he is a southpaw, meaning that his lead hand is his right, which hurts his opponents' lefts, which could make Mashiba's Flicker Jabs useless. Ippo knows that Mashiba has his short uppercut, however, he sees one of Rosario's opponents use the technique, and Rosario dodged it with a head slip, stepped inside, and hit him with a jumping left hook. He notices that Rosario's head movement is similar to the Dempsey Roll, and the jumping left hook looked similar to the Gazelle Punch. Ippo believes that this is the worst match up for Mashiba, as his long arms is a problem if Rosario can easily get in close range, however, if he could get experience with a world-level in-fighter who can do the Dempsey Roll and Gazelle Punch, he would be able to adapt better, but he doesn't know where to find someone who fits that description. Ippo remembers that he was supposed to build two figurines for Kumi's job. Ippo builds them, but realises that he built them incorrectly, as one has short arms and one has long arms. He notices he used extra parts for the one with long arms, so he tries to pull them off to make it equal, but he accidentally snaps a joint on the smaller one, making the arms even shorter. Ippo decides to leave it like that since Kumi might not know what the finished product is supposed to look like. Ippo then notices that the short one is like Rosario and the long one is like Mashiba,. He puts the figures in a position of Rosario dodging a short uppercut while throwing a left, making him wonder again if there is any sparring partner that can do Rosario's scenario. Ippo goes to the Kamogawa gym and has Mari call the Tōhō gym for an update on Mashiba's sparring situation. The coach answers and informs Mari that they upped the number of rounds because it is a title match, and that his condition is good, noting that he left is a killer as always. After the call, the coach thinks how he didn't want the information to leak to Rosario's side, so that was all he could say. Inside the Kamogawa gym, Ippo asks Aoki, Kimura, and Itagaki if they know anyone who is a southpaw in-fighter who can use the Dempsey Roll, Gazelle Punch, and who has experience with Flicker Jabs. Ippo later asks Takamura on the gym's rooftop, and was surprised to find out he does know someone nearby that fits that description. Takamura points to his left eye and tells Ippo to look into it to see the face of the one he is talking about. Ippo looks, sees his reflection, and realises that Takamura's means him.

Trivia

Arc Navigation

Bold Retirement
Judgement Day
Manga Volumes
138 139 140 141 142 143 144
Manga Rounds
1414 1415 1416 1417 1418 1419 1420 1421 1422 1423
1424 1425 1426 1427 1428 1429 1430 1431 1432 1433
1434 1435 1436 1437 1438 1439 1440 1441 1442 1443
1444 1445 1446 1447 1448 1449 1450 1451 1452 1453
1454 1455 1456 1457 1458 1459 1460 1461 1462 1463
1464 1465 1466 1467 1468 1469 1470 1471 1472 1473
1474 1475 1476 1477 1478 1479 1480 1481 1482 1483