The Other Weakness is Round 766 of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo manga series.
Details
- Characters Introduced: Gedo's Coach
- Title Page Character(s): Ryō Mashiba
Summary
Mashiba thinks it is weird that Kamogawa and gang are being so careful. He wonders if they think Ippo could actually lose to his next opponent. Mashiba's injures start hurting. Mashiba can't believe that a half dead Ippo managed to make him flinch. He wants Ippo to lose. Ippo with a swollen face admits that he totally lost. Yagi tells Ippo that it was a good fight, trying to get Kamogawa to agree with him. Kamogawa agrees that Ippo lost no matter how you look at it, but think the only saving grace was Ippo didn't fall. Kamogawa realises the Dempsey Roll didn't end up work either, but he already knew it wouldn't work going into it. This surprises Ippo and Yagi. They wonder if Mashiba had a Dempsey Roll counter measure plan. Kamogawa tells them that Mashiba didn't do anything special. Instead of saying that it didn't, he should say that its effectiveness was decreased instead. Mashiba's height is remarkable compared to those who are in or near his weight class, and Ippo is pretty short. Because the height difference was so great, when Ippo tried to aim for his head, it was like he was hyper extending himself and the short rotations of his weaving are thrown out of whack. As a result, the Dempsey Roll's greatest strength - it's high power and high speed combination potential is naturally diminished and that is how he got him. Yagi finally understand, and mentions that Mashiba's height is kind like a built in way to beat the Dempsey Roll. He adds that with the spar being as sudden as it was, there is no surprise there. Now that we know the root of the problem they can sort out how to deal with it. They can and counter measure for opponents that have a big height advantage. Ippo comments that even if they done all that, he still think he would have taken that right uppercut. It was an amazing punch. He feels like it was a punch designed to beat him. Kamogawa agrees. Kamogawa notes that there is no way Mashiba forgot about losing to him in the Rookie King Tournament. He probably been thinking for a long time about what he wold do if he fought you again. In other words, he paid Ippo back. Ippo starts apologising for his poor performance, and Kamogawa tells him to stop. What he shown him wasn't that useless to him. Kamogawa notes that Ippo was moving forward even though he knew he was in danger, and that his body was reacting before even his mind did. With Gedo, Ippo can't think things over or hesitate. Ippo will have to force his way in and lay it on think, where it is vital that Ippo is able to fight without any thought. He needs to attack instinctively. Ippo has recover from the spar and is doing roadwork with Wanpo when Itagaki arrives. He heard Ippo got beaten pretty badly, but Ippo didn't look that bad. Ippo tells him that it took a week for him to get up and about again. Ippo mentions that he hasn't seen Itagaki at the gym in a while, and wonders where he heard it from. Itagaki tells Ippo that he still been going to the gym, but at a different time where he doesn't see them. In fact, he didn't really know anything about it at all until he heard from Mashiba himself. But Itagaki thinks Mashiba was exaggerating since Ippo doesn't look that bad. But Ippo mentions that it was bad, they had to cut the sparring down from thee days to just one. Itagaki think Mashiba was looking pretty beat up, so maybe the decision was mutual. Not to mention that Kamogawa isn't the type to back off after being beaten, where there must have been a reason why it was called off. They arrive at the gym when Aoki and Kimura are waiting for him. They tell Ippo he's got a visitor. Ippo is surprised, when they tell Ippo to be quiet since they can hear the coach talking. Kamogawa starts shouting. Itagaki and Ippo know Kamogawa is really angry. Ippo's never heard the coach that angry at anyone before except Takamura. He wonders who he is talking to, and then he sees Gedo after peeking inside. Gedo starts telling that as a Filipino champion, he is quite busy. But even so, he will wait for him. He mentions if you want to fighting, so he is waiting for him. He wants to do the match, but they need to figure out the details, about the money. That makes Kamogawa angry again, when he is talking about the fight money. Aoki mentions to Ippo that since the date and details of the prize cash weren't decided yet, Gedo got tired of waiting and came to negotiate personally, all the way from the Philippines. Kimura thinks he is totally lying about being busy. What he's trying to say is he'll fight as soon as the money settled. Itagaki asks if he is just after the money. Kamogawa asks Gedo that before they talk money, he wonders if Gedo at least knows who he is fighting. Gedo claims he does, and then purposely mispronounces Ippo's name. Kamogawa gets angry that he said Ippo's name wrong on purpose. Yagi tries holding him back, while Gedo apologises. Itagaki and Aoki want to go in and beat him up, but Ippo wants to listen more. Kamogawa ask him if he came all the way from overseas to negotiate or to annoy him. Gedo tells him he wants to discuss business, but if they can't come to agreement, then he will leave. So he wants to know how much money. Kamogawa tells him the prize money is one million yen. Gedo's side is excited, but he tells them to wait since he thinks Kamogawa will cough up even more money. He asks Kamogawa to repeat it. He changes the amount to two million yen. Ippo is shocked. Kamogawa mentions he went along with his bluff, but in exchange for the extra money, he has a condition. The match will be one month from now at the Kōrakuen Hall in Tokyo with two million yen as the prize money. The condition is that the money will only go to the winner. A winner takes all match.