Perfect Sparring is Round 1439 of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo manga series.
Details
- Title Page Character(s): Ippo Makunouchi
Summary
Ippo realises how Mashiba's new stance works: he sticks out his front leg to create a "barrier" that makes it hard to push in, and with his upper body more squared up, his right will be closer to his opponent, making it reach longer. Ippo tells Mashiba that his method for the world title match is amazing, which Mashiba counters with a left jab. Ippo begins to block a barrage of punches while thinking of how Mashiba's already hard to dodge left is even harder now that he has to focus on Mashiba's right as well now because of the new stance. Ippo sees a right coming and guards his body since it was an unguarded area, however, he gets hit in the face, as Mashiba predicted he would lower his guard. After the three round spar ends, Ippo is glad they are both uninjured. Mashiba suggests that they continue sparring, but Ippo claims that he is all beat up, and while he has some gas left in the tank, he is not an active boxer, so he doesn't have the mental stamina or focus to keep going. Mashiba tells him he is fine since he said he still had some gas left. Mashiba thinks of how angry he is still when he saw Ippo with Kumi the other night, believing that it is unforgivable that he was trying to see how far he could go with her, so he isn't letting his chance of pulverising him go to waste. Ippo thinks of how he just came to the gym to be helpful, so he wishes that Mashiba wouldn't use this situation just to harass him because he was visiting Kumi the other night. Ippo stomps his foot down and lets Mashiba know he is ready to fight. As their second spar begins, Ippo and Mashiba are fighting at close range when Mashiba knocks legs with Ippo. Ippo yells at Mashiba for it, but Mashiba tells him it wasn't on purpose. As Ippo lands a right uppercut, the Tōhō coach yells at Ippo since he switched to orthodox, which Ippo apologises that he got carried away, and Mashiba yells at the coach to not stop them. As Ippo and Mashiba takes multiple hits from their bloody brawl, Itagaki snaps some pictures on his phone to document the fight.
| 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 | ||||||||||