Cover of the Decisive Battle, or The Kickoff for the Finals in the official K MANGA English translation is Round 183 of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo manga series.
Details
- Characters Introduced: Akira Tomonaga, Alan García, Choi Kezhe, Cuyo Verdez, Isamu Sakaguchi, Jin Long-yun, Jirō Yamaguchi, Ken Furukawa, Kim In-sik, Kōji Ōtomo, Masa Uehara, Masahiro Gotō, Roland Hyers, Samuel Arrest, Satoru Imanishi, Shōzō Arai, Thomson Peñalosa
- Real Life People Mentioned: Jōji Morikawa, Naoto Takahashi, Jōichirō Tatsuyoshi
Summary
Ippo gets home after the weigh in, and notices that his mother is not there, but left his lunch ready. After eating, Ippo reflects on all he has achieved and how far he has gotten. Outside of the Kōrakuen Hall, Umezawa organises a cheering squad for Ippo, that includes their former professor, and some of their classmates are present too. In his changing room, Date says to himself that if he loses the match, he has no future outside of Japan, but once he wins, he will be able to challenge the world again and reclaim all that he lost. It is time for the fight, and both boxers are introduced by the announcer with the audience's cheering divided between both of them. They enter the ring, and after meeting in the centre, they go back to their corners and wait for the bell to ring.
Cover Page Details
- The cover of the chapter is professional boxer Jōichirō Tatsuyoshi with his son after winning the WBC bantamweight interim championship against Victor Rabanales on July 22, 1993.
- The two people at the bottom are Jōji Morikawa and Naoto Takahashi, with the latter wearing a shirt that has "Former JBC bantamweight & super bantamweight champion Naoto Takahashi" on it.
- The message reads: "WBC Bantamweight Championship - Jōichirō Tatsuyoshi VS Victor Rabanales - It was a heart-pounding bout. The day before the fight, I was conversing with Jōichirō Tatsuyoshi over the phone, he told me "look forward to it, I'll be fightin' him head-on," with spirit in his voice. "Why head-on! You've got the fastest feet in the world!" I was about to say, but I stopped myself. A slugfest was completely within Rabanales's field of expertise! As expected, Rabanales takes the lead in a power-oriented slugfest, it felt like a repeat of their last fight. However, this time, Jōichirō doesn't retreat. Then, after 34 minutes of grueling violence, the arena roared. In the ring, holding the belt, along with his precious child was... Jōichirō! He held his head high to bask in the emitting cheers. He was so cool! His figure had struck the hearts of every man in the arena! I could barely sleep a wink that night due to the lingering excitement, which I'm sure everyone else who watched that fight experienced as well. - 7'2293 Osaka."
Trivia
- Date and Ippo's match history was shown in in this chapter, revealing the names and results of Date's previous opponents up to this point.
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