The Challenger's Mystery is Round 920 of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo manga series.
Details
- Locations Introduced: Soehiro
- Title Page Character(s): Manabu Itagaki, Ippo Makunouchi, Wanpo
Summary
While doing roadwork, Ippo learns that Saeki won the match against Maezono by a fifth round knockout from Itagaki, and Ippo expresses how he is disappointed in Kojima since he thought he was a nice person. Itagaki notices that Ippo isn't mad at Kojima for what he said, which makes Itagaki tell him that he would be mad if someone made a fool out of the opponents he fought like Kojima did him. At the Monthly Boxing Fan, Fujii and the staff talk about how Kojima seems to have a grudge against Ippo and how the editorial department will get others interested in Ippo and Kojima's match. Fujii predicts that Ippo won't slip up against Kojima and that Ippo will train in anticipation of Kojima being bigger than he is, since he has already fought Oda, who came from the lightweight class just like Kojima. Mari realises their talking about a fighter who she hasn't seen Ippo fight, asking them what gym he is from. Mari goes to the Nishikawa gym. She asks the Nishikawa coach, Mikami for the boxer, Oda, however, Mikami reveals to her that Oda has retired after fighting Ippo due to his condition. Mikami calls Oda over to Mari since he became a trainer for the gym. Mari is shocked by his overweight appearance due to the photo she has of him was when he was a boxer. Mari goes with Oda to the Soehiro to interview him. During the interview, Mari learns that Oda felt motivated after his match with Ippo, however, he thought that he didn't have what it takes to compete with monsters like Ippo and retired. Since Oda knows about Kojima, Mari wants to hear details about him from Oda. She is surprised after learning about Kojima not being able to use his right fist because he broke it twice due to his punches being too powerful, resulting in him relying on his left to climb up the JBC rankings. Oda thinks that even if Kojima's right hand was in perfect shape, he doesn't think that the size difference even matters to Ippo. Mari wonders why he would fight Ippo with a handicap like that and provoke him. At the Kamogawa gym, Ippo continues his training by tackling a sandbag that is being held up by Shinoda and Yagi while thinking why Kojima would call his previous opponents hacks.
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| Blind Step | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 95 | 96 | 97 | |||||||||||||||||
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| 913 | 914 | 915 | 916 | 917 | 918 | 919 | 920 | 921 | 922 | ||||||||||
| 923 | 924 | 925 | 926 | 927 | 928 | 929 | 930 | 931 | 932 | ||||||||||
| 933 | 934 | 935 | 936 | 937 | 968 | 939 | 940 | 941 | |||||||||||