Magic Inside the Ring is Round 760 of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo manga series.
Details
- Title Page Character(s): Haruhiko Yagi, Genji Kamogawa
Summary
On the roof of the Kamogawa gym, Kamogawa asked Yagi his opinion on Ippo's spar with Fukui. Yagi believed it was a great first round knockout win, but if it was an actual match, Fukui might be a tougher opponent, since Fukui had strong basics, nice footwork, but decided to slug it out with Ippo instead. Yagi wonder if Fukui did that to memorise how it felt to be hit by the JBC champion, and get rid of the bad taste from his last match. He hoped that Fukui used it to put what happened to him in perspective, and he believed that Kamogawa played the part of a bad guy in order for Fukui to reconsider his retiring. Kamogawa agreed with him, and noted that if Fukui used his footwork, Ippo have still won by knockout before the middle rounds, but only if Fukui was determined to win. If Fukui held back to aim for a point win, there was no telling what would have happened, which made him realised how fearsome Ippo's next opponent who was able hold back with no intention of beating Fukui that was able to fool everyone watching it shown that Gedo had a degree of control in the ring. Outside, Ippo caught up to Fukui, and walked with him to the train station since he wasn't from Tokyo. Fukui told Ippo that it is hard for him to talk since his jaw hurts from their spar. Ippo apologised, but Fukui tells him he doesn't need to since he feels grateful to him. He talks about the hits he received from Ippo by praising them, where everything is on a completely different level. Thanks to Ippo, he has no regrets about retiring. Ippo mentioned that he thought Fukui wasn't fighting in his natural style, since he didn't use his footwork more in the spar, where it could have gone differently. Fukui was okay with it, but Ippo wanted him to fight his real style, and not something that would cause him to lose. He felt Fukui had the potential to go much further, where it would be a waste if he retired now. Fukui admired that Ippo fought will fight with his all each match, but he doesn't think Ippo can understand what it was like for him to be declared a winner of match where he couldn't land a clean on the opponent no matter how many punches he threw at Gedo. By the 3rd round, he knew Gedo was a lot stronger than him, when he started to chase after him in order to win. In order to respond to his fans that were cheering for him, to show the crowd he could try everything to win. But as the match went on, there were plenty of times he was beaten, but nothing happened. The match continued like that but after chasing after Gedo aggressively, he managed to get the point advantage. It went just like Gedo planned. When the match ended, Fukui was declared the winner. Fukui knew Gedo was holding back and went easy on him to let him win. Ippo told Fukui that a win was still a win, and he should get his head together to focus on his next match. Fukui couldn't handle the fan applause anymore. The whole crowd applauding him for beating such a tough opponent, where he kept on hearing congratulation as he went back to the locker room. His hometown wanted to let him know how proud they were of him. Proud of his bogus victory, when the whole thing was a sham. Fukui ran all the way home after it happen. He never wanted to feel like that again. Ippo realised that Kamogawa was able to figure something like this would happen from watching the tape, where he knew something like that could ruin a boxer. Fukui apologised, and asked why Ippo knew the name Gedo. Ippo mentioned that Gedo will be his next opponent. Fukui warned Ippo to take it serious, he doesn't know how Gedo did it, but he definitely used some kind of magic. Inside the ring with four six meter walls, Gedo did something to him so he couldn't understand his range at all. Fukui tried to use his left to gauge the distance, but he couldn't tell if he was too close or far. His sense of distance was distorted the entire match. Fukui thought Gedo maybe be a charlatan boxer, but he has earned his nickname, "The Magician." He doesn't know who will win between Ippo and Gedo, but he wants Ippo to win since he can't forgive Gedo. While Fukui was leaving, Ippo asked if he wanted to quit boxing. Fukui told him that he had no regrets fighting, but he can't accept Kamogawa bad mouthing his coach. Since Fukui lost, Kamogawa believed it to be true, so he planned to show Kamogawa that his coach is actually good. Fukui told Ippo he hopes to see him again inside the ring as he leaves.