Japan Middle-Class Title, or The Japan Middleweight Title Bout in the official K Manga English translation is Round 50 of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo manga series.
Details
- Characters Introduced: Yoshiaki Yajima, Dynamite Glove Commentator, Dynamite Glove Co-Commentator, Kōrakuen Hall Ring Announcer
- Title Page Character(s): Ippo Makunouchi, Masaru Aoki, Tatsuya Kimura
Summary
As the main event begins, Takamura enters the ring, and so does the champion, Yoshiaki Yajima. As the cheering squad organised by the champion's party irritates Takamura, Kamogawa tells him to calm down and offer moral support. Takamura confidently says he will take the belt and remembering how he met Kamogawa, is ready to fight as soon as the bell rings. When the bell rings, Takamura immediately unleashes a barrage of punches quickly cornering the champion and shocking the crowd, but he is caught by a counter and goes down. Ippo begins to cheer for his gym mate, which causes the entire Kōrakuen Hall to follow him. Now angry, Takamura gets up, and lures his opponent in, only to catch him with a brutal uppercut that shatters his jaw.
Trivia
Volume 9's author note with a photo of Morikawa and Noriko Sakai.
- Throughout the chapter, Ippo is wearing a shirt with "のりP" (Nori-P) on the top right of the front. "のり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.
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