Black Boxer, or The Boxer from Abroad in the official K Manga English translation is Round 28 of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo manga series.
Details
- Characters Introduced: Hachinohe Coach, Hachinohe Coach's Wife
- Locations Introduced: Hachinohe Boxing Club
- Title Page Character(s): Mamoru Takamura, Masaru Aoki, Tatsuya Kimura, Ippo Makunouchi
Summary
As Kamogawa and Yagi discuss Ozuma's impressive 3-3-0-3 record, Aoki eavesdrops and informs Ippo that his opponent is really powerful. Nervous at first, Ippo thinks to himself that regardless of how strong the opponent it, he is still just human. Meanwhile at the Hachinohe Boxing Club, Ozuma pummels his sparring partner, to the praise of his coach. While sewing a bag, the coach's wife hurts her finger, Ozuma then takes over the sewing. Recalling how he was homeless until he enrolled at the Hachinohe Boxing Club, he promises to become stronger and earn money to improve the gym and help his family.
Days later in, Ippo arrives at the Kamogawa gym. Then, Takamura runs up to him saying that Ippo's problem is that he is not used to black boxers, so he has Aoki paint himself black to act as Ippo's sparring partner. After Aoki feels unappreciated as they laugh at him, Ippo thanks him for helping ease all the tension he had and prepares for the spar.
Trivia
Volume 9's author note with a photo of Morikawa and Noriko Sakai.
- In the official K Manga English translation of the chapter, when Aoki painted himself black, Takamura did not describe the strategy as an "anti-black boxer" strategy, instead it is "a strategy for him".
- In the official K Manga English translation of the chapter, when Aoki painted himself black, instead of saying "come on, boy", he says "come on, man".
- In pages 3-6, Ippo is wearing a shirt with "NORI-P" on the front. "NORI-P" is a reference to singer Noriko Sakai (酒井 法子) who has a nickname called "Nori-P" (のりピー). There is picture of Morikawa with her on volume 9's author note. Morikawa seemingly was a fan of the singer, and early female character appearances may also be based on her in the past.
| Rookie King Tournament: First Rounder Arc | |||||||||||||||||||
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