The Light and Shadow in the Ring, or The Light and Shadow of the Ring in the official K Manga English translation is Round 152 Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo manga series.
Details
- Characters Introduced: Itō Jackal, Takeshi Ryūzaki
- Real Life People Mentioned: Yōkō Gushiken
- Title Page Character(s): Ippo Makunouchi, Mamoru Takamura, Masaru Aoki, Genji Kamogawa, Haruhiko Yagi, Shinoda, Itō Jackal
Summary
The day of the Class A Tournament semi-finals arrive and Aoki is the first to fight. The round begins with a seemingly even exchange where neither fighter lands any important blows. Aoki attempts his Frog Punch, but is stopped by a punch to the face. The match continues with multiple downs by both fighters, and they arrive to the final round with considerable damage. A punch that catches Aoki by only a few centimetres, makes him lose control of his legs and unable to get up before the end of the count, he loses the fight. Ippo is highly depressed at the results and wants to cheer Aoki up, but at Takamura's advice, he stays to watch Kimura's fight. The match begins and both fighters display highly technical skills, with neither of them landing a decisive blow. They take distance and resume, with Takamura noticing how Kimura is at a disadvantage in skill. Unable to finish the fight by knockout, the fight is declared a draw, meaning they must fight an extra round. Kimura is determined to give it all he has got, but two minutes into the extra round, he is unable to keep up and gets knocked out. Ippo, now more depressed than before, voices how unfair the match was, but Takamura declares that there can only be one winner and that boxing is a "cruel world".