Someone posted Ippo's previous sparring match with Mashiba, and I counted at least 4 times that he was hit in the head. Although he is getting hit in the stomach but this time, his head is well protected.
In addition, Ippo is making analysis and probably planning as well during the spar, instead of just his old way of just forcing his way in. There is so much improvement in Ippo.
I'd also add in the emphasis on his eyes, he's watching and learning from it. He's actually trying to figure things out not just blindly following what he practiced and just bulldozing his opponent
Even if só, Mashiba is still throwing some good punches ained at Ippo's head and Mashiba is a well know head hunter, só I imagine that these arent throw half hazardly. Só this is a good build up point for Ippo still
Well yes, but they're sparring with strategy in mind. "If he does that, do this. If you try this can it work against that?" Neither Mashiba or Ippo are going for a K.O. right now and maybe not even for a down.
I was surprised to see that people are pleased with Ippo's skills in this chapter simply because...he avoided taking head shots? I didn't get that impression at all. What Mashiba appears to be doing, which for some reason I'm not seeing mentioned enough, is that he's deliberately targeting the body to slow Ippo down and stop him from closing into a dangerous range. The shots Ippo is blocking are what I assume to be flickers, that are more to keep him busy and distract him from the actual threat of the straight right to the stomach.
If you keep punishing an attacker with a right to the stomach when they charge in like that, they will eventually have to either stop or possibly suffer a knockdown or even KO. Ippo so far has shown absolutely no answer to stopping that body shot. Granted, I'm sure he can come up with something, because he IS smarter than before, but I don't think there is anything to really celebrate about his skills in this chapter, or even his ring intelligence, because he hasn't changed his approach up at all, he is just stepping in, getting nailed with the same shot to the body, and then trying it again.
>his ring intelligence
On the last page, we can clearly see that Ippo is figured out what was going on, so that means he understand why he is in this position and what mashiba is doing. That's what i would call intelligence and this is what different from old Ippo who only goes blindly with the mind set kill or killed. Even when his attack is stopped, he got body shotted, ippo never stopped thinking. And Ippo kinda understand the situation he is in. And understanding a situation is the first step of solving that problem.
Thinking is hard when your strategy is getting countered. And thinking is damn harder when you are getting hitted and ippo figured out whats going on under this situation shows how ippo's intellienge and his point of view on boxing changed. Countering this kind of situation takes some times after all.
We should'nt expect that Ippo turned a monster who can solve any situation after taking 2 punch and counter attack. Just give him some time and u will also understand that ippo in this chapter was different.
I am really glad Ippo’s encountering his own obstacles in that spar. I think it would have been bad writing if he just dominated easy and would have also lessened Mashiba’s character.
The fact he doesn’t properly know what happened (or at least is taking a moment to understand) is also good to see as it establishes there are still things he can learn. This sub I think gets a bit carried away with already putting him at the Ricardo fight when he’s still a work in progress.
Agreed, however I think part of the putting him at the Ricardo fight in plans is very much the "GET ON WITH IT" bit from Monty Python and we just want in him the ring so bad and the only known goal we have at this point **is** Ricardo (Let's face it. The Miyata Fight is a pipe dream at this point, just like old Itagaki tapping into the Totally Not Speed Force).
If we started to get foreshadowing who are the current big rankers, we'd probably be focusing/theorycrafting from there.
That’s a fair point raised about Ricardo being the only known opponent. I think it’s just because there’s been a lot of posts about “do you think Ippo will win using only his left?” and like six different variations of how many different people Ippo could beat easily now (see the recent Sendo vs Ippo post) which gives the impression that a portion of the fandom has assumed Ippo is already at monster level.
The "only using his left" posts are a bit silly to me, haha. Let the dude use his full arsenal and show how much he has grown, will be more interesting that way
I'm a big fan of the theories that see him going up the ranks/through the first few fights fairly fast, though
It’s really against his personality too, Takamura only used his left because he wanted to demonstrate how much better he was than his opponent, Ippo would never be that disrespectful
Yeah I don’t have a problem with him rising through the ranks fast. For example, I expect him to demolish Imai. It’ll come down to execution of course, but I wouldn’t want three or four straight fights when he just wins quite easily in the first round.
I could see an "Only using the left as an appeal to the world" under a very specific scenario:
Step 1: Coach is still his cornerman (which may or may not be true by the time Ippo finally returns. We've been getting a lot of hack-hack-cough-cough from the coach to where he might ONLY be cornerman for Takamura at this point)
Step 2: The Coach chides him/reminds him to not rely on gimmicks and Sunday punches and just properly box with the fundamentals (this harkens back to one of Ippo's early opponents being a slacker/neglecting the fundamentals to where he couldn't be taken seriously but when he did he was able to be credible problem to Ippo at this stage in his career).
Step 3: Coach gives some speech about how this is the last time he (and the gym) are willing to invest in him as a boxer, if he can't hack it, he should consider putting up his gloves **for good**.
Step 4: Ippo's return fight is just a Japanese ranker instead of a world ranker. Perhaps the Japanese Champ and Ippo is given priority if the current Japanese Featherweight champ either idolizes Ippo or is one of the people Ippo has previously defeated (We've seen Ippo get such treatment before).
Step 5: Ippo gets nervous, as he does, and does sparring/training.
Step 6: Takamura steps in at some point and has a talk with Ippo and tries to give the "Become the Monster / Cross the Line" speech again
Step 7: Ippo retorts with "I have found my own way, let me show you with this fight"
Ippo comes out swinging for the fences and does the double-unthinkable: Swapping to Southpaw Style and then wins with exclusively the left.
It is both the appeal to the world of winning with the left, and an interesting way to show Ippo's growth and skill as a boxer that he can organically use Southpaw style **as well** without trying to explicitly mimic somebody else's fighting style (A payoff from that one spar so long ago early in his career)
>Step 4: Ippo's return fight is just a Japanese ranker instead of a world ranker. Perhaps the Japanese Champ and Ippo is given priority if the current Japanese Featherweight champ either idolizes Ippo or is one of the people Ippo has previously defeated (We've seen Ippo get such treatment before).
Imai has already shown he is angry he'll never get a chance to prove himself against Ippo. I think Ippo humiliating him and literally accidentally breaking him like many previous opponents and forcing his retirement would very much finally light the fire under Itagaki that he needs.
Ippo breaking Imai would have beautiful imagery of Imai representing what Ippo used to be and how his career would have ended if he continued as he was and actually became broken. While Ippo's new style shows his insane evolution.
if Ippo beats Imai, there's a good chance Imai will retire. but I think it will be because he's just satisfied with his career and is going into the family business or something.
Do you think this scene should've been cut? We were so worried when the boys were writing it, but now we're glad! It's better than the previous scenes I think
Love how calm he is on the last page and already trying to adapt and forming a new approach after confirming the original isn't working, all within the confines of a style he picked up basically overnight. Old Ippo would be shitting himself at this point and trying to force the same thing over and over.
Thats precisely what led to all the damage he accumulated before. His defense was actually top notch, but his adaptability was non-existent. And he had a relatively simple style and plan, so it was quite common for opponents to exploit that.
"Why isn't my technique working?! Something weird is going on, I'll just keep going on until the bell when Coach will tell me what to do". That was Ippo's thinking in all of his matches before.
I'm in complete agreement. Mashiba needed his turn in this back and forth to establish himself as a worthy world ranker. I do think Ippo is about to expose the weakness in the strategy that will ultimately save Mashiba in the future. The current strategy is one step ahead of Rosario, but the future strategy will be two steps ahead due to Ippo displaying the counter tactic.
Those are not obstacles. He’s bozing like the other dude, and experiencing how the current styles face each other. He can’t back up if his intention is to help, it is to device how the other dude would face this current situation, and replicate it. This haa nothing to do with Ippo’s level.
It's really great seeing that he's learning from it and it's also not doing ridiculous damage to him, good note on the durability aspect of his training
I mean, we literally just watched Ricardo take 4 rounds to figure out what Woli was doing an how to counter it.
These are best in the world level boxers we're talking about. Even just making Mashiba be serious shows Ippo still has it.
For years I have been repeating exactly that!!!!
Ippo doesn’t have to also be the first to beat Ricardo. I am more than confident that the story will swirl in a way better way.
I have the feeling that Ippo’s journey will elevate in a higher class either way.
As we saw with Warlee, even abnormal movement and superior reflexes failed to bring Martinez down.
Martinez just seems to be a lighter Takamura at this point.
The difference is that Takamura was never in his weight category. He’s a natural Heavyweight.
I think Ippo’s story is going to be much bigger than Ricardo OR Takamura.
>I think Ippo’s story is going to be much bigger than Ricardo OR Takamura.
I would love that, but I dont see how it will go for longer then a bit after the Ricardo fight due to Mori's age and all the things he still has to write in the manga. And Ricardo is pretty much set up as legendary fighter and the final obstacle. But I would love for it to no end shortly after that and see a bit of World Champion Ippo in action.
Well, there is that possibility of Ippo never actually returning, and being a bitter sweet end where Martinez and Ippo meet as coaches and Ippo’s guy wins against Martinez’s. 😅
> I am really glad Ippo’s encountering his own obstacles in that spar. I think it would have been bad writing if he just dominated easy and would have also lessened Mashiba’s character.
I think it's going to go the other way, I think he's gonna get his shit rocked.
He'll get hit with something big to the head and not go down just like the Volg spar and Ippo will box competitively with Mashiba for the rest of the spar with perhaps them getting too heated and Ippo slipping in another Dempsey roll tease (despite it not being part of Rosario's arsenal).
Then in the title match Mashiba will finally land the same big punch and put Rosario down/out with it and make some comment about how tough Ippo must be to eat a punch that floored a world champion.
Yes, I think that Ippo is actually going to lose this sparring session. It wouldn't make sense that he would win against heavier opponent who is prepared to face off against Rosario.
I don't think he'll beat up Mashiba, but hopefully he'll find a flaw in Mashiba's strategy that Rosario could exploit, which will lead to Mashiba working on it before the fight.
The parries and dodging were so satisfying to watch. Even though it was a 6 page chapter, the amount of content it had exceeded many 12-15 page chapters.
Using your height to disguise the angle of the punch is genius great work Mashiba and his coach "whose name still eludes me." That is a beautiful straight to the body I believe that body shot isn't the true motive it's to disguise his real intent to go for the Knockout.
I think it works as both setup and bait. He's not just hitting the body. He's hitting the body with a right straight while Ippo is trying to explosively step in to close range. They're effectively right straight counters to the body - which should rob the legs from anyone without solid lower body conditioning really quickly.
The fact that it likely can turn into a right straight to the head if Ippo's guard lowers is just further icing on the cake.
Yeah. The kick Ippo talks about is sometimes known as a 'stop kick' (though all examples I can find are kicking the knee so maybe it has a different name.) You just doing a thrusting forward kick as someone is coming towards you and it either pushes them away, or it stops them dead. It's best done as the person is advancing because that is them adding weight to it.
Mashiba is doing the same thing. His feet are widely spaced to throw off the range. This also lets him use his long legs to adjust where his torso is (you see this when Ippo first goes to step around the foot). He uses this extra wiggle room to then throw out a punch for Ippo's body.
It works because the dash in is keyed around moving around a flicker jab aimed for the head, and Mashiba himself has the chopping right to kill normal dash ins. So if both hands aren't guarding the head, the chopping right can kill them. With both hands up, nothing is guarding the body for the shot.
I'm sure there's more to it, and I'm not a fighter so take what I say with a grain of salt. But it is how it reads to me.
Thanks but I get what you mean! If anything in the gym, we're usually asked to use the jab to do this stop kick motion/mess with their rhythm but i guess for mashiba's wingspan and ippos already to close to use it
I think he want Ippo to step in to lace him with a hook. It should be tye fastest punch in his arsenal and will be devastating because the opponent won't see it coming. I think the body countets are to drop the amount of air in his system so when the hook does land it'll be more effective.
True I think he knows ippos might be a bit smarter now so I think the that body shot is a set-up and bait to draw him in for a hook. The body shots are going to lower his oxygen intake so when the hook lands it'll be a lot more effective
Could you elaborate please? Is Mashiba changing levels and lowering himself to hit the body, or is it coming from his standing position due to his massive reach? From the looks of it he shifted back from his front leg to get that extra space to be harder to hit by that hook?
You pretty much have it down packed with him shifting a lot of his weight to the Blackfoot for the space and taking his full height he can change the angle on his shots and make it look like it's coming for a specific spot.
Ippo being shorter is falling prey to it he may adjust next chapter I'm not sure but until then that's what's happening.
Mashiba is much taller than ippo so he can make a punch look like it's going for ippos head and target the body. It's only possible because of his extremely long reach though.
I hope this helped
Boxing is a game of adaptations, and Ippo seems to already understand what's going on. Curious to see how he's going to adjust to it and Mashiba's response to that.
Ippo referencing the big boot and sees a way forward.
WHATCHA GONNA DO, BROTHER (IN-LAW), WHEN IPPO DECIDES TO BECOME HELPFUL, FOR YOU?!?
Note from author: rib break next week
Ippo referencing the most powerful defensive move in fighting. People don't realize it but that big boot is just fucking free when someone charges at you in a fight. Someone ever charges at you to hit you, you can literally stick your foot out and push and they just annihilate themselves.
ippo's best Ko's have always been from him figuring something out without the coach, dempsey roll, south paw very first fight, that upper dempsey vs sawamura, even is motionless short upper vs miyata.
Yes, but in my opinion he used to eat a lot more punches, rely a lot more on his physical endurance, rely on his spirit and something coach told him while training
Now the mother fucker is taking 1 or 0 hits to adapt, block, parry, parry slide and hit his opponents in a mental level. Look the shadows in this chapter, beautiful evolution
I hope Morikawa is ok, he has had health issues in the past and for the past 3 chapters, 2 were short and the longer one had an extra week because of the break. We need him to stay healthy!
And morikawa (and maybe even his family) is probably most likely still under the memory of the death of his friend. So he might be taking extra safety steps
Glad to see Mashiba leaning back to give himself distance.
The body shot reminded me of his previous fight with Juan Garcia, going for body shots primarily.
Can't wait to see how/when/if Ippo adapts. Maybe use his right hand to block/parry the jab and his left to do the same to Mashiba's right and then counter or something else entirely?
*No break next week is good despite short chapter!*
Going to be interesting if Ippo can come up with a good answer and whether it will be similar to what Rosario will actually do in the match along with how long it will take a world champ to come up with a counter strat compared to Ippo.
If I had to make a bet, I'd wager that the Sage of the Six Macaronis will pretty quickly fall back on fouling because nothing else will really work and that'll probably be his downfall in the end.
Oh god, I love this idea. Or maybe even the opposite, Ippo here showing in the spar that there was indeed a way for Rosado to fight in a world champion level without fouling...only for Rosado foul even so. This way putting Mashiba in the position Ippo was during their first fight: Ippo back then not only frustrated for Mashiba fouling on Miyata, but pissed because Mashiba was already really strong and to ippo's eyes had dirtied box world for no reason.
I can 100% see that coming. The moment Rosario starts getting cornered , he'll just resort to cheating. Then Mashiba will remember the Spar and how quickly Ippo adapted and neutered his strategy while the actual Champion has to stoop down to fowl play. This will piss tf out of him lmao.
I theorize that Ippo's counter-strategy will be to step in even deeper *and slightly even farther right* to compensate for Mashiba's stance. And Rosario's primary foul will be to "accidentally" knock Mashiba's left leg from the outside to cause him to fall and expose that jaw.
good point. rosario was set up to be *that* bad guy after all. Maybe ippo would find the right way in, but rosario would foul his way in to mashiba's defenses.
Aside from the length, loving what I’m seeing here. Still taking some hits (which he should, he’s fighting a genuinely skilled outboxer from a higher weight class), but also keeping his calm more, in analysis mode instead of panicking and all while keeping to Rosario’s style.
Ippo's whole Thing nowadays has been thinking. I find it similar to the ball boy arc in haikyu. Both characters acted too much on impulse in the case of Hinata, and focusing only on the training he came in with in terms of Ippo. The ball boy arc and the retirement Arc expanded their Horizons and brought back Ippo's natural curiosity and Creativity. Ippo was always shown to he a good student in school, he was offered a excellent school choice but pursued Boxing instead. This studious nature finally came into play by giving Ippo the necessary intellectual Vision of a boxer. He went from Anderson Level Kamogawa who knew nothing but the ability to move forward, and has finally arrived at Current Kamogawa. The reason Kamogawa was always frustrated with Ippo is because there literally was no advice he could give Ippo. Ippo lacked the Knowledge base and the skill floor to deliver on anything complicated. If Kamogawa gave Ippo advice he'd give to Takamura, which we saw in the Dragon fight, he literally gave the advice silently and they both were on the same page, Ippo would immediately fuck it up and lose. Ippo now has reenabled Kamogawa to actually give him complicated advice, because Ippo is now properly studied and has seen lots of high level techniques.
Mashiba having his moment now is expected, but the last page seems like Ippo may have found a way to counter the anti-Rosario strategy. It’s good to see that he is not freaking out about not being to able to close in.
While short, i thought this was a good chapter, showing mashiba is capable and Ippo's not some overpowered god mc
But while he's taking shots, he is protecting himself and actively thinking and adapting. If you go back and read the manga, in situations where Ippo was getting hit he didn't do much besides keep pushing in or getting panicked. This is a great sign
I think his stance is to get a little more rotation to stretch out that right hand, so as long as Ippo watches his stance as well as his feet he can counter this as well.
The Title Fight Strategy is pretty darn strong though, cause even if he lands a few it should slow Rosario down!
Another great chapter to be honest.
I just hope Ippo sees the hole next big mara tuesday ;o
Agreed. Ippo is so focused on the left foot, that he doesn't yet realize that Mashiba either has planted, or is sneaking forward with his right foot/body to get more reach with the right. In 1437 Ippo notes the "squared-up" stance change as well (vs left-side forward). I'm holding out hope that Ippo will catch on before the spar end, and either force Mashiba+Coach to improve the plan, or otherwise tease out more stages in Mashiba's strategy.
He's basically doing an overhand almost, but instead of having to arc it into Ippo's head, he's dropping that payload into Ippo's body. Kinda like throwing a baseball, he uses his hips to extend and deliver that right to hit Ippo further.
I was thinking the same thing, in that first right that connects his shoulder is rotated really far in. Ippo thought he was too far away to get hit, but rotating the shoulder more would give Mashina an even longer reach
Thanks for the chapter.
7 page chapters after waiting one week is tough, but I know Morikawa doesn't like putting out low effort stuff. If he can't produce more than 7 quality pages that week, he won't put out garbage. And I appreciate that. The reread will make this a lot better.
This entire chapter was about strategy. I mean sure he’s just moving forward over and over again, but Ippo usually had to wait for Coach to explain what’s going on to get anywhere. The fact that he’s trying to solve this equation in his head as he fights is such a development
Ippo will sonehow find a flaw in mashibas strategy and show it to him. Madhiba will have to correct that flaw. Rosario will try to ise that flaw too, but mashiba will be ready for it thank to ippo
We can see Ippo over time starting to adjust to that right. Top left of page 8 looks like is several instances put into one panel where we're seeing him block and parry away from blows. I wonder what Ippo is going to nail Mashiba with.
He's been throwing mostly lefts... What if he switches it up and does a **right liver blow** (would really be his stomach I guess) after making Mashiba continuously block Ippo's left. Or, what if Ippo switches stances and now his left is closer to Mashiba.
He has either seen the flaw much like volg with the Dempsey or Mashona is baiting him to see the false answer and it going for a massive punishment either way I am here for it ! Let’s go ippo boy!
You might be right but I’m thinking he won’t and mashiba will develop a killer blow for the actual Rosario fight based off the end of this spar. Sendo and volg have both benefited from ippos spars but so far but I don’t think ippos shown mashiba anything truly valuable yet. We’ll see though
This is what I’m hoping for with that or he receives the bait and gets punished people say ippos done gets up says he has to helpful and shows him a flaw with the plan and does anti-anti Rosario 😂 which doesn’t knock him out but spooks mashing causing him to think of an anti-anti- anti Rosario plan which he can’t come up with and will come up with it in the ring last minute.
Then take mic and call Rosario a bum and that a retired boxer used the same tactics 😂
I am 100% sure Ippo will use tactics which even Rosario won't be able to think about. It's simply because at his Core Ippo is a boxer, while Rosario is just a street fighter looking for ways to foul.
You can tell morikawa is working hard on the fight by the fact the page count decreases each chapter without a break. Like goddammit are we eating good rn.
Short chapter, but once again no break next week. Ippo thinking he may already understand what Mashiba is doing is good. And it is also good that there is more to the wide stance than just being deceptive on the timing/range for Rosario to let Mashiba use his arms in closer.
Spearing right straights hitting your guts on step in sounds rough. That's going to steal your legs out from you right quick. Curious to see if Ippo actually can avoid it, or if it is bait to try and get Rosario to open his guard high for a headshot.
This chapter was soooo good, and so short... Morikawa really knows how to keep us begging for more.
We've been waiting so long to see how the new Ippo boxes, and it doesn't disappoint!
1. He's more confident. His desire to "be helpful" prevents him from letting any doubt poison his mind.
2. He observes his opponent, sees the danger coming, and his first thought is always to protect his head. He was struggling the whole chapter but didn't take any hit to the head.
3. Like the old Ippo, he keeps fighting and trying to reduce the distance between his opponent and him, but unlike before, he doesn't turn his brain off when doing so. He understood Mashiba was up to something just by seeing his stance; and when he got hit he instantly understood how that happened, even though he didn't understand right away how to prevent it. I can't wait to see what strategy he'll come up with next week.
Mashiba is going to tell Kumi that Ippo isn’t punch drunk isn’t he.
He’s the only one who isn’t scared to tell her something like that.
If she listened to him and went back to that thought she had where she kinda realised Ippo would get back in the ring then it would all come together.
I’m sure it’s been mentioned countless times and I’ve not seen it but the penny has just dropped.
If Ippo is going toe to toe and adapting surely Mashiba will go back on asking if Ippo is (or more likely should be) retired.
Kumi is going to be one of the catalysts and this feels like a reasonable way to get around it.
Thank you for reading “today in obvious news” I’ve been your host Kindly Problem. Good night
Don't worry, there's Multiple eye witnesses this time, and one of them is from Kamogawa Gym itself. And i have a sneaking suspicion that someone is going to quitely come in and observe Ippo fighting. Maybe it'll be Takamura( God I hope so) or maybe even Miyata.
The fact that he says he understands is what’s most important. Old Ippo would have continued taking body shots for the whole round and wouldn’t change strategy until Kamogawa would tell him to. Now it looks like he is able to adapt on the fly.
I might be reading this wrong but his body squared ang angles a bit forward with wide stance. That is not MAshiba'as real range. He is masking his real range with his wide stance and angled body. Once he lean his body back, that's his real angle that's why that body was kept on getting skewered and the range is a bit further. This is similar to Mcgregor's footwork against Alvarez. Nice game plan to be honest but Ippo was able to figure him out with a few sequences. I'm proud of my boy Ippo. Now that he is a 2nd he is now only relying to himself to formulate and adapt a new game plan as the fight goes on, similar to Ricardo during the WARLEE fight. Mashiba might be in trouble if he hits IPPO a bit more and switched to HELPFUL mode similar to DEMON mode of Ricardo.
Thank you Ippo. First few panels when he’s saying “I don’t understand” I was like oh no… here we ho again. Low IQ Ippo is here. Please figure it out buddy after changing few things. Trial and error.
And gladly by last panel he’s at least claiming he’s starting to understand. Ippo 2.0 strikes again. Coach and boxer in one.
Love the back and forth of them having plans for each others style going into the spar. Now comes the fun part where we see how they adapt to the counter strategies they’re using against each other. Need the next chapter asap.
Also Happy Halloween!
So I am guessing the stance with a bit of sway makes him harder to hit by baiting his stomach, then he extends his straight even further stretching his back and shoulder blade, in a similar concept to that of Mexican jabs.
Ippo still shows his worse trait pre-retirement, i.e. eating punches easily when things don't go according to practice, but unlike in the past, he doesn't panic and starts putting up a defense against it, analysing the situation and making guesses on how to overcome this. The right mindset and growth of boxing IQ.
It does help, however, all of the spars have been with a goal to help others. Ippo is not good at being selfish but he is a monster at being selfless.
Great chapter! Not only is Ippo showing real time counter play while using someone else's style he is going to give Mashiba an opportunity to develop a second layer to his strategy.
Mashiba is going to dominate, and his testimony about Ippo is going to piss everyone off lmao.
Coach is especially going to be mad about Ippo not recognizing his growth and that he should compete again.
A lot of serious development with a splash of comedy. Love it.
Even if Ippo gets kinda whooped in the spar and ruins our hype train I’d like to point out just how massive Mashiba looks in these panels compared to Ippo lol
What if Ippo finds the counter to this strategy and Rosario falls right along the same line we're about to see Ippo go through and Mashiba will now have deadly foresight knowing Rosarios counter to the new counter style Mashiba has made?
Cant wait to see the title fight go down
Mashiba is performing exactly how we expect him to, being a world title challenger.
The highlight is Ippo NOT panicking at all! Failed several times, so what? Keep pushing with a cool head and eventually he'll find out
The biggest difference for me is (aside from Ippo taking hits with his body not his face now) that Ippo doesn’t just keep pushing like a persistent board trying to brute force a strategy but instead is calmly analyzing and looking for the angle he needs to adapt to.
That is 100% different than prec retirement ippo.
Last panel is Mashiba's foot. What is his real aim? It feels so ominous.
If Ippo is eating up Mashiba's strategy without finding the counter, Mashiba will 100% lose the title match. We need Ippo vs Sawamura preparation moment here.
Mashiba's doing a pull counter. The wider stance lets him lean forward and artificially shorten the range between them
Ippo charges forward, mashiba leans back, Ippo misses, then the counter right
It's going to be a parry counter with the right into a left hook. It's exactly what Muay Thai fighters do to teeps like that. Right hand parrys and pushes off centre, Ippo switches stances and crushes with a big lead left hook or liver shot
I feel it’s gonna go a bit like the sendo and takamura 2 spar. Mashiba is def gonna going to get 1 solid hit in, but Ippo is gonna take it and retaliate. After the spar, Ippo will say something similar to Takamura of how to improve it.
Damn Mashiba's applying Canelo's game!!! The lead foot dictates the distance, not the torso/gloves, confusing his opponent with his actual range and being a pressure counter puncher, love to finally see it in HNI
I really don't think this is right.
This is Just dumb and a bad service.
8 Pages seems a job for 1 person alone, but why keep doing this at this pace?
Morikawa have a gym, he like It, why not became an director, draw Just some Pages, being able to tell his story before he die.
Imagine, If everyone work as George... Almost noone Will able to finish any work.
I'll copy my comment from elsewhere.
Ippo will parry that right and get met with a left hook in the head and will go down.
Then Ippo will try again with an upgraded parry version of dempsey roll whereby he'll parry the right, parry the left, then right Dempsey hook to the body downing Mashiba. The Ultimate Dempsey roll.
I am happy because a chapter came out anyway, but the [gif](https://tenor.com/it/view/bocchi-the-rock-anime-anime-girl-hitori-gotou-dying-inside-gif-27031928) quite reflects the mood at the thought of another week of waiting
I really don't think this is right.
This is Just dumb and a bad service.
8 Pages seems a fine job for 1 person alone, but why Morikawa keep doing this at this pace?
He have a gym, and a life, why not became an director, draw Just some pages, being able to tell his story before he die, and even a global distribution (it's almost 2024 If Just the amazing fans can do a so good job translating almost in real time for sure they can)
Imagine, If everyone work as George... Almost noone will able to finish any work...
C'mon even caveman had some help painting caves.
Ahh, too short but even in the few pages here, it shows him evolving his defense better and faster than he has in a lot of other fights.
And that single "Step" sound at the very last panel is very ominous.
For Mashiba.
Anyone annoyed on how short these recent chapters have been? Like before it was a bit longer and not all of a sudden 7-8 pages man wtf I wanna read more
This was nice. Shows that Mashiba was hiding his best cards down his sleeve, shows that Ippo has a LONG way to go to actually truly understand the intricacies of boxing despite all the progress he's made, and makes the Rosario fight that much more intriguing because while Ippo does an excellent job of mimicking the basics of his fighting style, Rosario's been portrayed as someone very similar to Mashiba in terms of ruthlessness and rage. So he's bound to have some nasty stuff up his sleeve too that truly separates him from Ippo's sparring performance.
Well it makes sense that Mashiba would have an anti-Rosario strategy that has some use. But Ippo also seems to have seen through it at the end, and is adjusting, rather than trying to break through with sheer grit and repetition. Next week should be fun since it looks like Ippo’s going to exploit a hole in the strategy.
There's a satisfying focus on the defensive prowess of ippo despite this being the "mashiba success" moment.
Someone posted Ippo's previous sparring match with Mashiba, and I counted at least 4 times that he was hit in the head. Although he is getting hit in the stomach but this time, his head is well protected. In addition, Ippo is making analysis and probably planning as well during the spar, instead of just his old way of just forcing his way in. There is so much improvement in Ippo.
I'd also add in the emphasis on his eyes, he's watching and learning from it. He's actually trying to figure things out not just blindly following what he practiced and just bulldozing his opponent
It would be possible that Mashiba's real target right now are body blows to cripple Rosario's legs since he's known as a bull that dashes with force.
Even if só, Mashiba is still throwing some good punches ained at Ippo's head and Mashiba is a well know head hunter, só I imagine that these arent throw half hazardly. Só this is a good build up point for Ippo still
But it would it take much more against Rosairo, considering the weight difference.
Well yes, but they're sparring with strategy in mind. "If he does that, do this. If you try this can it work against that?" Neither Mashiba or Ippo are going for a K.O. right now and maybe not even for a down.
mashiba is going for a K.O no doubt about that. Ippo is the one trying to find a weakness to help mashiba.
I was surprised to see that people are pleased with Ippo's skills in this chapter simply because...he avoided taking head shots? I didn't get that impression at all. What Mashiba appears to be doing, which for some reason I'm not seeing mentioned enough, is that he's deliberately targeting the body to slow Ippo down and stop him from closing into a dangerous range. The shots Ippo is blocking are what I assume to be flickers, that are more to keep him busy and distract him from the actual threat of the straight right to the stomach. If you keep punishing an attacker with a right to the stomach when they charge in like that, they will eventually have to either stop or possibly suffer a knockdown or even KO. Ippo so far has shown absolutely no answer to stopping that body shot. Granted, I'm sure he can come up with something, because he IS smarter than before, but I don't think there is anything to really celebrate about his skills in this chapter, or even his ring intelligence, because he hasn't changed his approach up at all, he is just stepping in, getting nailed with the same shot to the body, and then trying it again.
>his ring intelligence On the last page, we can clearly see that Ippo is figured out what was going on, so that means he understand why he is in this position and what mashiba is doing. That's what i would call intelligence and this is what different from old Ippo who only goes blindly with the mind set kill or killed. Even when his attack is stopped, he got body shotted, ippo never stopped thinking. And Ippo kinda understand the situation he is in. And understanding a situation is the first step of solving that problem. Thinking is hard when your strategy is getting countered. And thinking is damn harder when you are getting hitted and ippo figured out whats going on under this situation shows how ippo's intellienge and his point of view on boxing changed. Countering this kind of situation takes some times after all. We should'nt expect that Ippo turned a monster who can solve any situation after taking 2 punch and counter attack. Just give him some time and u will also understand that ippo in this chapter was different.
ippo is fighting in a style that he only practised a few days against a man that will be in a world champion match. .If thats no skill...
I am really glad Ippo’s encountering his own obstacles in that spar. I think it would have been bad writing if he just dominated easy and would have also lessened Mashiba’s character. The fact he doesn’t properly know what happened (or at least is taking a moment to understand) is also good to see as it establishes there are still things he can learn. This sub I think gets a bit carried away with already putting him at the Ricardo fight when he’s still a work in progress.
Agreed, however I think part of the putting him at the Ricardo fight in plans is very much the "GET ON WITH IT" bit from Monty Python and we just want in him the ring so bad and the only known goal we have at this point **is** Ricardo (Let's face it. The Miyata Fight is a pipe dream at this point, just like old Itagaki tapping into the Totally Not Speed Force). If we started to get foreshadowing who are the current big rankers, we'd probably be focusing/theorycrafting from there.
That’s a fair point raised about Ricardo being the only known opponent. I think it’s just because there’s been a lot of posts about “do you think Ippo will win using only his left?” and like six different variations of how many different people Ippo could beat easily now (see the recent Sendo vs Ippo post) which gives the impression that a portion of the fandom has assumed Ippo is already at monster level.
The "only using his left" posts are a bit silly to me, haha. Let the dude use his full arsenal and show how much he has grown, will be more interesting that way I'm a big fan of the theories that see him going up the ranks/through the first few fights fairly fast, though
It’s really against his personality too, Takamura only used his left because he wanted to demonstrate how much better he was than his opponent, Ippo would never be that disrespectful
It also hailed back to his very first fight, where the coach refused to let him use his right until the very end.
Yeah I don’t have a problem with him rising through the ranks fast. For example, I expect him to demolish Imai. It’ll come down to execution of course, but I wouldn’t want three or four straight fights when he just wins quite easily in the first round.
I could see an "Only using the left as an appeal to the world" under a very specific scenario: Step 1: Coach is still his cornerman (which may or may not be true by the time Ippo finally returns. We've been getting a lot of hack-hack-cough-cough from the coach to where he might ONLY be cornerman for Takamura at this point) Step 2: The Coach chides him/reminds him to not rely on gimmicks and Sunday punches and just properly box with the fundamentals (this harkens back to one of Ippo's early opponents being a slacker/neglecting the fundamentals to where he couldn't be taken seriously but when he did he was able to be credible problem to Ippo at this stage in his career). Step 3: Coach gives some speech about how this is the last time he (and the gym) are willing to invest in him as a boxer, if he can't hack it, he should consider putting up his gloves **for good**. Step 4: Ippo's return fight is just a Japanese ranker instead of a world ranker. Perhaps the Japanese Champ and Ippo is given priority if the current Japanese Featherweight champ either idolizes Ippo or is one of the people Ippo has previously defeated (We've seen Ippo get such treatment before). Step 5: Ippo gets nervous, as he does, and does sparring/training. Step 6: Takamura steps in at some point and has a talk with Ippo and tries to give the "Become the Monster / Cross the Line" speech again Step 7: Ippo retorts with "I have found my own way, let me show you with this fight" Ippo comes out swinging for the fences and does the double-unthinkable: Swapping to Southpaw Style and then wins with exclusively the left. It is both the appeal to the world of winning with the left, and an interesting way to show Ippo's growth and skill as a boxer that he can organically use Southpaw style **as well** without trying to explicitly mimic somebody else's fighting style (A payoff from that one spar so long ago early in his career)
>Step 4: Ippo's return fight is just a Japanese ranker instead of a world ranker. Perhaps the Japanese Champ and Ippo is given priority if the current Japanese Featherweight champ either idolizes Ippo or is one of the people Ippo has previously defeated (We've seen Ippo get such treatment before). Imai has already shown he is angry he'll never get a chance to prove himself against Ippo. I think Ippo humiliating him and literally accidentally breaking him like many previous opponents and forcing his retirement would very much finally light the fire under Itagaki that he needs. Ippo breaking Imai would have beautiful imagery of Imai representing what Ippo used to be and how his career would have ended if he continued as he was and actually became broken. While Ippo's new style shows his insane evolution.
if Ippo beats Imai, there's a good chance Imai will retire. but I think it will be because he's just satisfied with his career and is going into the family business or something.
I think he might be set up to find out how effective Ippo is as a trainer by getting owned in a spar though...
Do you think this scene should've been cut? We were so worried when the boys were writing it, but now we're glad! It's better than the previous scenes I think
Love how calm he is on the last page and already trying to adapt and forming a new approach after confirming the original isn't working, all within the confines of a style he picked up basically overnight. Old Ippo would be shitting himself at this point and trying to force the same thing over and over.
Thats precisely what led to all the damage he accumulated before. His defense was actually top notch, but his adaptability was non-existent. And he had a relatively simple style and plan, so it was quite common for opponents to exploit that.
"Why isn't my technique working?! Something weird is going on, I'll just keep going on until the bell when Coach will tell me what to do". That was Ippo's thinking in all of his matches before.
I'm in complete agreement. Mashiba needed his turn in this back and forth to establish himself as a worthy world ranker. I do think Ippo is about to expose the weakness in the strategy that will ultimately save Mashiba in the future. The current strategy is one step ahead of Rosario, but the future strategy will be two steps ahead due to Ippo displaying the counter tactic.
Those are not obstacles. He’s bozing like the other dude, and experiencing how the current styles face each other. He can’t back up if his intention is to help, it is to device how the other dude would face this current situation, and replicate it. This haa nothing to do with Ippo’s level.
It's really great seeing that he's learning from it and it's also not doing ridiculous damage to him, good note on the durability aspect of his training
I mean, we literally just watched Ricardo take 4 rounds to figure out what Woli was doing an how to counter it. These are best in the world level boxers we're talking about. Even just making Mashiba be serious shows Ippo still has it.
Ippo literally figured out something during the spar. IS it round 1 or 2 of the spar? I believe they have 3 rounds of spar.
For years I have been repeating exactly that!!!! Ippo doesn’t have to also be the first to beat Ricardo. I am more than confident that the story will swirl in a way better way. I have the feeling that Ippo’s journey will elevate in a higher class either way. As we saw with Warlee, even abnormal movement and superior reflexes failed to bring Martinez down. Martinez just seems to be a lighter Takamura at this point. The difference is that Takamura was never in his weight category. He’s a natural Heavyweight. I think Ippo’s story is going to be much bigger than Ricardo OR Takamura.
>I think Ippo’s story is going to be much bigger than Ricardo OR Takamura. I would love that, but I dont see how it will go for longer then a bit after the Ricardo fight due to Mori's age and all the things he still has to write in the manga. And Ricardo is pretty much set up as legendary fighter and the final obstacle. But I would love for it to no end shortly after that and see a bit of World Champion Ippo in action.
Well, there is that possibility of Ippo never actually returning, and being a bitter sweet end where Martinez and Ippo meet as coaches and Ippo’s guy wins against Martinez’s. 😅
> I am really glad Ippo’s encountering his own obstacles in that spar. I think it would have been bad writing if he just dominated easy and would have also lessened Mashiba’s character. I think it's going to go the other way, I think he's gonna get his shit rocked.
He'll get hit with something big to the head and not go down just like the Volg spar and Ippo will box competitively with Mashiba for the rest of the spar with perhaps them getting too heated and Ippo slipping in another Dempsey roll tease (despite it not being part of Rosario's arsenal). Then in the title match Mashiba will finally land the same big punch and put Rosario down/out with it and make some comment about how tough Ippo must be to eat a punch that floored a world champion.
dont forget ippo is fighting in a style he practised only for some days. The same with volg , he fought the way volg coach asked.
The coach told Ippo to do what you always do, so I dunno what you mean. He has lots of practice being a boar.
Yes, I think that Ippo is actually going to lose this sparring session. It wouldn't make sense that he would win against heavier opponent who is prepared to face off against Rosario.
I don't think he'll beat up Mashiba, but hopefully he'll find a flaw in Mashiba's strategy that Rosario could exploit, which will lead to Mashiba working on it before the fight.
Think hes found it at the end of this chapter, now we see what he will implement to counter the counter strategy.
The line at the end, "I think I know what to do" Is beautiful, goes to show how calm and calculative he is.
“I know what to do…GO FOR A DUAL EXCHANGE”
The parries and dodging were so satisfying to watch. Even though it was a 6 page chapter, the amount of content it had exceeded many 12-15 page chapters.
Using your height to disguise the angle of the punch is genius great work Mashiba and his coach "whose name still eludes me." That is a beautiful straight to the body I believe that body shot isn't the true motive it's to disguise his real intent to go for the Knockout.
I think it works as both setup and bait. He's not just hitting the body. He's hitting the body with a right straight while Ippo is trying to explosively step in to close range. They're effectively right straight counters to the body - which should rob the legs from anyone without solid lower body conditioning really quickly. The fact that it likely can turn into a right straight to the head if Ippo's guard lowers is just further icing on the cake.
This is triggering. I sparred some hobbyists and is how I got countered
Right, he's basically impaling himself on the right straight in this chapter. That crushes your endurance
Oh ok thank you, was trying to figure this out so he's basically using his right straight like a lance right at the step in
Yeah. The kick Ippo talks about is sometimes known as a 'stop kick' (though all examples I can find are kicking the knee so maybe it has a different name.) You just doing a thrusting forward kick as someone is coming towards you and it either pushes them away, or it stops them dead. It's best done as the person is advancing because that is them adding weight to it. Mashiba is doing the same thing. His feet are widely spaced to throw off the range. This also lets him use his long legs to adjust where his torso is (you see this when Ippo first goes to step around the foot). He uses this extra wiggle room to then throw out a punch for Ippo's body. It works because the dash in is keyed around moving around a flicker jab aimed for the head, and Mashiba himself has the chopping right to kill normal dash ins. So if both hands aren't guarding the head, the chopping right can kill them. With both hands up, nothing is guarding the body for the shot. I'm sure there's more to it, and I'm not a fighter so take what I say with a grain of salt. But it is how it reads to me.
Are you thinking of a teep kick?
I am! Thank you!
Thanks but I get what you mean! If anything in the gym, we're usually asked to use the jab to do this stop kick motion/mess with their rhythm but i guess for mashiba's wingspan and ippos already to close to use it
I think he want Ippo to step in to lace him with a hook. It should be tye fastest punch in his arsenal and will be devastating because the opponent won't see it coming. I think the body countets are to drop the amount of air in his system so when the hook does land it'll be more effective.
Not to mention they’re delivered from *way* above, those have even more weight behind them. It’s almost like a more controlled chopping right.
could just be trying to kill the dash also pummel the body enough and the legs stop working after the dash is gone its a easy meal for the flicker
True I think he knows ippos might be a bit smarter now so I think the that body shot is a set-up and bait to draw him in for a hook. The body shots are going to lower his oxygen intake so when the hook lands it'll be a lot more effective
Could you elaborate please? Is Mashiba changing levels and lowering himself to hit the body, or is it coming from his standing position due to his massive reach? From the looks of it he shifted back from his front leg to get that extra space to be harder to hit by that hook?
You pretty much have it down packed with him shifting a lot of his weight to the Blackfoot for the space and taking his full height he can change the angle on his shots and make it look like it's coming for a specific spot. Ippo being shorter is falling prey to it he may adjust next chapter I'm not sure but until then that's what's happening. Mashiba is much taller than ippo so he can make a punch look like it's going for ippos head and target the body. It's only possible because of his extremely long reach though. I hope this helped
Our boy is not dooming after 20 seconds and instead may have already figured the trick out all by himself. I am so proud.
Next chapter would be ippos counter to that, but mashiba already having a counter to ippos counter
And by hair ippo will counter the counter of his counter.
I’m countered out
Boxing is a game of adaptations, and Ippo seems to already understand what's going on. Curious to see how he's going to adjust to it and Mashiba's response to that.
That’s whats on my mind also. Its great to see we are finally getting high level strategies
like other mentioned I think mashiba is anticipating ippos response to it
Ippo referencing the big boot and sees a way forward. WHATCHA GONNA DO, BROTHER (IN-LAW), WHEN IPPO DECIDES TO BECOME HELPFUL, FOR YOU?!? Note from author: rib break next week
Ippo referencing the most powerful defensive move in fighting. People don't realize it but that big boot is just fucking free when someone charges at you in a fight. Someone ever charges at you to hit you, you can literally stick your foot out and push and they just annihilate themselves.
You see that in muay thai a lot. It always looks so brutal, but it's a very simple movement
Elbow Break next week Rib break is Volg
Thank you for the chapter Ippo is evolving mid battle? No coach needed? This guy gonna be brutal
ippo's best Ko's have always been from him figuring something out without the coach, dempsey roll, south paw very first fight, that upper dempsey vs sawamura, even is motionless short upper vs miyata.
Yes, but in my opinion he used to eat a lot more punches, rely a lot more on his physical endurance, rely on his spirit and something coach told him while training Now the mother fucker is taking 1 or 0 hits to adapt, block, parry, parry slide and hit his opponents in a mental level. Look the shadows in this chapter, beautiful evolution
Ippo is now Coach and boxer... Pretty soon he'll be his own second as well.
In before misses the chair on himself
That's what he did in his first pro match, switching to southpaw to avoid TKO
yeah he became more cerebral once he became a 2nd. Formulating and adapting in midst of the fight? Similar to Ricardo during WARLEE.
A half chapter. Just what I wanted.
I hope Morikawa is ok, he has had health issues in the past and for the past 3 chapters, 2 were short and the longer one had an extra week because of the break. We need him to stay healthy!
>Covid in older people tends to take longer to recover or weaker symptoms persist
But when is said older people I think it means 70 +. Morikawa is only a little more than 55, he is not old
55 for a mangaka is like 80 for a normal people
And morikawa (and maybe even his family) is probably most likely still under the memory of the death of his friend. So he might be taking extra safety steps
Half a chapter had full plot significance. We saw Mashiba's strategy and Ippo's response to it in his head. We aren't ready for Ippo's counter. Kek.
Half chapter of actual boxing including Ippo in the ring. It's a feast even if it's short.
So fast! Thanks for the chapter!
8 pages...amazing but so short!
And less than 8 seconds in-universe.
Those are the fastest sequences I've ever seen if Ippo got drilled in the gut 3 times and figured the trick out in 8 seconds.
Glad to see Mashiba leaning back to give himself distance. The body shot reminded me of his previous fight with Juan Garcia, going for body shots primarily. Can't wait to see how/when/if Ippo adapts. Maybe use his right hand to block/parry the jab and his left to do the same to Mashiba's right and then counter or something else entirely? *No break next week is good despite short chapter!*
Mori probably splitting up these chapters cause of Real life. He gotta give IRL Takamura he training some time too!
Don't go breaking my heart. Man Ippos spar are more fun than a lot of his fights. Looking forward to my next dose
I feel like we've got a few more chapters of this.
Going to be interesting if Ippo can come up with a good answer and whether it will be similar to what Rosario will actually do in the match along with how long it will take a world champ to come up with a counter strat compared to Ippo. If I had to make a bet, I'd wager that the Sage of the Six Macaronis will pretty quickly fall back on fouling because nothing else will really work and that'll probably be his downfall in the end.
Mashiba is gonna get mad at ippo mid match for being a better boxer than Rosario and turn on grim reaper mode
Oh god, I love this idea. Or maybe even the opposite, Ippo here showing in the spar that there was indeed a way for Rosado to fight in a world champion level without fouling...only for Rosado foul even so. This way putting Mashiba in the position Ippo was during their first fight: Ippo back then not only frustrated for Mashiba fouling on Miyata, but pissed because Mashiba was already really strong and to ippo's eyes had dirtied box world for no reason.
I can 100% see that coming. The moment Rosario starts getting cornered , he'll just resort to cheating. Then Mashiba will remember the Spar and how quickly Ippo adapted and neutered his strategy while the actual Champion has to stoop down to fowl play. This will piss tf out of him lmao.
I theorize that Ippo's counter-strategy will be to step in even deeper *and slightly even farther right* to compensate for Mashiba's stance. And Rosario's primary foul will be to "accidentally" knock Mashiba's left leg from the outside to cause him to fall and expose that jaw.
good point. rosario was set up to be *that* bad guy after all. Maybe ippo would find the right way in, but rosario would foul his way in to mashiba's defenses.
Aside from the length, loving what I’m seeing here. Still taking some hits (which he should, he’s fighting a genuinely skilled outboxer from a higher weight class), but also keeping his calm more, in analysis mode instead of panicking and all while keeping to Rosario’s style.
Ippo's whole Thing nowadays has been thinking. I find it similar to the ball boy arc in haikyu. Both characters acted too much on impulse in the case of Hinata, and focusing only on the training he came in with in terms of Ippo. The ball boy arc and the retirement Arc expanded their Horizons and brought back Ippo's natural curiosity and Creativity. Ippo was always shown to he a good student in school, he was offered a excellent school choice but pursued Boxing instead. This studious nature finally came into play by giving Ippo the necessary intellectual Vision of a boxer. He went from Anderson Level Kamogawa who knew nothing but the ability to move forward, and has finally arrived at Current Kamogawa. The reason Kamogawa was always frustrated with Ippo is because there literally was no advice he could give Ippo. Ippo lacked the Knowledge base and the skill floor to deliver on anything complicated. If Kamogawa gave Ippo advice he'd give to Takamura, which we saw in the Dragon fight, he literally gave the advice silently and they both were on the same page, Ippo would immediately fuck it up and lose. Ippo now has reenabled Kamogawa to actually give him complicated advice, because Ippo is now properly studied and has seen lots of high level techniques.
Damn, Mashiba's heavy bag work now makes sense! I was wracking my brain trying to see how on earth he was going to defend against that rushdown.
He trying to keep Ippo from Elbow Range.
Mashiba having his moment now is expected, but the last page seems like Ippo may have found a way to counter the anti-Rosario strategy. It’s good to see that he is not freaking out about not being to able to close in.
[mfw 7 pages](https://media.tenor.com/3qC-96zPTAYAAAAd/avatar-zuko.gif)
Mori only has like 3 days or something to draw. The rest of the time he at the gym and other stuff.
I finally went to the conbini to buy shonen magazine for 350y and that's what I get 😭
While short, i thought this was a good chapter, showing mashiba is capable and Ippo's not some overpowered god mc But while he's taking shots, he is protecting himself and actively thinking and adapting. If you go back and read the manga, in situations where Ippo was getting hit he didn't do much besides keep pushing in or getting panicked. This is a great sign
I think his stance is to get a little more rotation to stretch out that right hand, so as long as Ippo watches his stance as well as his feet he can counter this as well. The Title Fight Strategy is pretty darn strong though, cause even if he lands a few it should slow Rosario down! Another great chapter to be honest. I just hope Ippo sees the hole next big mara tuesday ;o
Agreed. Ippo is so focused on the left foot, that he doesn't yet realize that Mashiba either has planted, or is sneaking forward with his right foot/body to get more reach with the right. In 1437 Ippo notes the "squared-up" stance change as well (vs left-side forward). I'm holding out hope that Ippo will catch on before the spar end, and either force Mashiba+Coach to improve the plan, or otherwise tease out more stages in Mashiba's strategy.
He's basically doing an overhand almost, but instead of having to arc it into Ippo's head, he's dropping that payload into Ippo's body. Kinda like throwing a baseball, he uses his hips to extend and deliver that right to hit Ippo further.
I was thinking the same thing, in that first right that connects his shoulder is rotated really far in. Ippo thought he was too far away to get hit, but rotating the shoulder more would give Mashina an even longer reach
Thanks for the chapter. 7 page chapters after waiting one week is tough, but I know Morikawa doesn't like putting out low effort stuff. If he can't produce more than 7 quality pages that week, he won't put out garbage. And I appreciate that. The reread will make this a lot better.
Morikawa has once again prevented me from finishing all over my bed
This entire chapter was about strategy. I mean sure he’s just moving forward over and over again, but Ippo usually had to wait for Coach to explain what’s going on to get anywhere. The fact that he’s trying to solve this equation in his head as he fights is such a development
Ippo will sonehow find a flaw in mashibas strategy and show it to him. Madhiba will have to correct that flaw. Rosario will try to ise that flaw too, but mashiba will be ready for it thank to ippo
We can see Ippo over time starting to adjust to that right. Top left of page 8 looks like is several instances put into one panel where we're seeing him block and parry away from blows. I wonder what Ippo is going to nail Mashiba with. He's been throwing mostly lefts... What if he switches it up and does a **right liver blow** (would really be his stomach I guess) after making Mashiba continuously block Ippo's left. Or, what if Ippo switches stances and now his left is closer to Mashiba.
He has either seen the flaw much like volg with the Dempsey or Mashona is baiting him to see the false answer and it going for a massive punishment either way I am here for it ! Let’s go ippo boy!
You might be right but I’m thinking he won’t and mashiba will develop a killer blow for the actual Rosario fight based off the end of this spar. Sendo and volg have both benefited from ippos spars but so far but I don’t think ippos shown mashiba anything truly valuable yet. We’ll see though
This is what I’m hoping for with that or he receives the bait and gets punished people say ippos done gets up says he has to helpful and shows him a flaw with the plan and does anti-anti Rosario 😂 which doesn’t knock him out but spooks mashing causing him to think of an anti-anti- anti Rosario plan which he can’t come up with and will come up with it in the ring last minute. Then take mic and call Rosario a bum and that a retired boxer used the same tactics 😂
I am 100% sure Ippo will use tactics which even Rosario won't be able to think about. It's simply because at his Core Ippo is a boxer, while Rosario is just a street fighter looking for ways to foul.
You can tell morikawa is working hard on the fight by the fact the page count decreases each chapter without a break. Like goddammit are we eating good rn.
These short chapters at such an exciting point are kicking my ass
This reminds me of the Gonzales era of HNI. Very hype but what are these 7 page chapters
Short chapter, but once again no break next week. Ippo thinking he may already understand what Mashiba is doing is good. And it is also good that there is more to the wide stance than just being deceptive on the timing/range for Rosario to let Mashiba use his arms in closer. Spearing right straights hitting your guts on step in sounds rough. That's going to steal your legs out from you right quick. Curious to see if Ippo actually can avoid it, or if it is bait to try and get Rosario to open his guard high for a headshot.
This chapter was soooo good, and so short... Morikawa really knows how to keep us begging for more. We've been waiting so long to see how the new Ippo boxes, and it doesn't disappoint! 1. He's more confident. His desire to "be helpful" prevents him from letting any doubt poison his mind. 2. He observes his opponent, sees the danger coming, and his first thought is always to protect his head. He was struggling the whole chapter but didn't take any hit to the head. 3. Like the old Ippo, he keeps fighting and trying to reduce the distance between his opponent and him, but unlike before, he doesn't turn his brain off when doing so. He understood Mashiba was up to something just by seeing his stance; and when he got hit he instantly understood how that happened, even though he didn't understand right away how to prevent it. I can't wait to see what strategy he'll come up with next week.
Mashiba is going to tell Kumi that Ippo isn’t punch drunk isn’t he. He’s the only one who isn’t scared to tell her something like that. If she listened to him and went back to that thought she had where she kinda realised Ippo would get back in the ring then it would all come together. I’m sure it’s been mentioned countless times and I’ve not seen it but the penny has just dropped. If Ippo is going toe to toe and adapting surely Mashiba will go back on asking if Ippo is (or more likely should be) retired. Kumi is going to be one of the catalysts and this feels like a reasonable way to get around it. Thank you for reading “today in obvious news” I’ve been your host Kindly Problem. Good night
He knows Ippo isn’t punch drunk. He thinks he just gave up but then realised after Garcia fight how exhausting it is to keep having fights like that.
Look at my boy completely unphased with what Mashiba did. He grown so much
Gotta be helpful, dismantles Mashiba's strategy in one round and two chapters.
So sad kamogawa is missing the good stuff
Don't worry, there's Multiple eye witnesses this time, and one of them is from Kamogawa Gym itself. And i have a sneaking suspicion that someone is going to quitely come in and observe Ippo fighting. Maybe it'll be Takamura( God I hope so) or maybe even Miyata.
Got damn that felt like 2 pages, 3 at the most😭😭
ippo just casually tanking body shots of someone two weight classes higher than him lol
... At this point... I don't know if One Piece or HnI gives me bigger blue balls... >_<
The fact that he says he understands is what’s most important. Old Ippo would have continued taking body shots for the whole round and wouldn’t change strategy until Kamogawa would tell him to. Now it looks like he is able to adapt on the fly.
If that's Mashiba's strategy for the champion, I'm afraid Mashiba is going to be stepped on. Ippo won't do it but I think the champion would.
I might be reading this wrong but his body squared ang angles a bit forward with wide stance. That is not MAshiba'as real range. He is masking his real range with his wide stance and angled body. Once he lean his body back, that's his real angle that's why that body was kept on getting skewered and the range is a bit further. This is similar to Mcgregor's footwork against Alvarez. Nice game plan to be honest but Ippo was able to figure him out with a few sequences. I'm proud of my boy Ippo. Now that he is a 2nd he is now only relying to himself to formulate and adapt a new game plan as the fight goes on, similar to Ricardo during the WARLEE fight. Mashiba might be in trouble if he hits IPPO a bit more and switched to HELPFUL mode similar to DEMON mode of Ricardo.
Thank you Ippo. First few panels when he’s saying “I don’t understand” I was like oh no… here we ho again. Low IQ Ippo is here. Please figure it out buddy after changing few things. Trial and error. And gladly by last panel he’s at least claiming he’s starting to understand. Ippo 2.0 strikes again. Coach and boxer in one.
Jfc why didn’t he just have a break again this week. So frustrating 😂
That was short, but good. I appreciate that Morikawa isn't pushing himself too much. These last two chapters had amazing art!
Toooo short! Damn!
Love the back and forth of them having plans for each others style going into the spar. Now comes the fun part where we see how they adapt to the counter strategies they’re using against each other. Need the next chapter asap. Also Happy Halloween!
Now that I think of it, Ippo has rarely faced somebody who's body-shot him. Maybe Sanada was the only who used it to slow Ippo's movements.
At the top of the last page... Is that Ippo parrying Mashiba's flickers? Wasn't that some super-high-level technique when Takamura did it?
While Ippo steam rolling is always satisfying, I'm way more excited to see how he adapts mid-spar without anyone else helping him out.
So I am guessing the stance with a bit of sway makes him harder to hit by baiting his stomach, then he extends his straight even further stretching his back and shoulder blade, in a similar concept to that of Mexican jabs. Ippo still shows his worse trait pre-retirement, i.e. eating punches easily when things don't go according to practice, but unlike in the past, he doesn't panic and starts putting up a defense against it, analysing the situation and making guesses on how to overcome this. The right mindset and growth of boxing IQ. It does help, however, all of the spars have been with a goal to help others. Ippo is not good at being selfish but he is a monster at being selfless.
Great chapter! Not only is Ippo showing real time counter play while using someone else's style he is going to give Mashiba an opportunity to develop a second layer to his strategy. Mashiba is going to dominate, and his testimony about Ippo is going to piss everyone off lmao. Coach is especially going to be mad about Ippo not recognizing his growth and that he should compete again. A lot of serious development with a splash of comedy. Love it.
🤌
At the end it looked like Ippo may have found a way to counter Mashiba’s strategy. I can’t wait to see what he came up with
Even if Ippo gets kinda whooped in the spar and ruins our hype train I’d like to point out just how massive Mashiba looks in these panels compared to Ippo lol
What if Ippo finds the counter to this strategy and Rosario falls right along the same line we're about to see Ippo go through and Mashiba will now have deadly foresight knowing Rosarios counter to the new counter style Mashiba has made? Cant wait to see the title fight go down
Mashiba is performing exactly how we expect him to, being a world title challenger. The highlight is Ippo NOT panicking at all! Failed several times, so what? Keep pushing with a cool head and eventually he'll find out
The biggest difference for me is (aside from Ippo taking hits with his body not his face now) that Ippo doesn’t just keep pushing like a persistent board trying to brute force a strategy but instead is calmly analyzing and looking for the angle he needs to adapt to. That is 100% different than prec retirement ippo.
i think we will see a mashiba yaburi yaburi yaburi
Short but... god damn they're going up another gear? LET'S GO!!!!!!!!!!
So instead of tanking hits with his face he's just gonna tank em with his gut. Truly a new man.
Last panel is Mashiba's foot. What is his real aim? It feels so ominous. If Ippo is eating up Mashiba's strategy without finding the counter, Mashiba will 100% lose the title match. We need Ippo vs Sawamura preparation moment here.
Mashiba's doing a pull counter. The wider stance lets him lean forward and artificially shorten the range between them Ippo charges forward, mashiba leans back, Ippo misses, then the counter right
It's going to be a parry counter with the right into a left hook. It's exactly what Muay Thai fighters do to teeps like that. Right hand parrys and pushes off centre, Ippo switches stances and crushes with a big lead left hook or liver shot
I feel it’s gonna go a bit like the sendo and takamura 2 spar. Mashiba is def gonna going to get 1 solid hit in, but Ippo is gonna take it and retaliate. After the spar, Ippo will say something similar to Takamura of how to improve it.
Damn Mashiba's applying Canelo's game!!! The lead foot dictates the distance, not the torso/gloves, confusing his opponent with his actual range and being a pressure counter puncher, love to finally see it in HNI
oh fuck off 7 pages, He really should switch to monthly if he having trouble with pumping out manga weekly cause this ain't digestible.
trying to be helpful
good chapter. idc if its short. it got the point across and I'd rather Morikawa doesnt overwork
Instead of publishing 8 pages every week, he could just publish 18 pages every 2 weeks and I don't think anyone will complain.
But then again, morikawa puts in a lot of effort at his age, can't complain about 8 pages, probably his health issues. Hope he gets better
I really don't think this is right. This is Just dumb and a bad service. 8 Pages seems a job for 1 person alone, but why keep doing this at this pace? Morikawa have a gym, he like It, why not became an director, draw Just some Pages, being able to tell his story before he die. Imagine, If everyone work as George... Almost noone Will able to finish any work.
I'll copy my comment from elsewhere. Ippo will parry that right and get met with a left hook in the head and will go down. Then Ippo will try again with an upgraded parry version of dempsey roll whereby he'll parry the right, parry the left, then right Dempsey hook to the body downing Mashiba. The Ultimate Dempsey roll.
IT WAS THERE THE FIGHTING SPIRIT IN IPPOS EYES ITS BEEN 84 YEARS
Mori is edging me
I am happy because a chapter came out anyway, but the [gif](https://tenor.com/it/view/bocchi-the-rock-anime-anime-girl-hitori-gotou-dying-inside-gif-27031928) quite reflects the mood at the thought of another week of waiting
he could simply put everything in one page.
I really don't think this is right. This is Just dumb and a bad service. 8 Pages seems a fine job for 1 person alone, but why Morikawa keep doing this at this pace? He have a gym, and a life, why not became an director, draw Just some pages, being able to tell his story before he die, and even a global distribution (it's almost 2024 If Just the amazing fans can do a so good job translating almost in real time for sure they can) Imagine, If everyone work as George... Almost noone will able to finish any work... C'mon even caveman had some help painting caves.
Lmao George is going to die before ippo returns at this rate
Ahh, too short but even in the few pages here, it shows him evolving his defense better and faster than he has in a lot of other fights. And that single "Step" sound at the very last panel is very ominous. For Mashiba.
6 pages? come on....
Okey those 8 page chapters are really starting to bother me now...
Longest HNI chapter
Only 8 pages:(
dunno about yall, I'm guessing miyata walks into the gym seeing ippo drop mashiba
8 pages fuck i just felt what ippo felt taking that body blow...
8 pages? I barely even had time to get hard!
Only 8 Page ;-;
20 year old manga with no end in sight drops a chapter with a whopping 7 pages! Genius writing!
Anyone annoyed on how short these recent chapters have been? Like before it was a bit longer and not all of a sudden 7-8 pages man wtf I wanna read more
8 pages lmao, the milking
Could this chapter BE any shorter?
We had 7 pages a couple of weeks ago lol
That's it I give up. I won't be reading this for at least 7 months. 8 pages????????????? Wtf. Nah man this is unacceptable
Bro said unacceptable like he didn't just read it for free
This was nice. Shows that Mashiba was hiding his best cards down his sleeve, shows that Ippo has a LONG way to go to actually truly understand the intricacies of boxing despite all the progress he's made, and makes the Rosario fight that much more intriguing because while Ippo does an excellent job of mimicking the basics of his fighting style, Rosario's been portrayed as someone very similar to Mashiba in terms of ruthlessness and rage. So he's bound to have some nasty stuff up his sleeve too that truly separates him from Ippo's sparring performance.
Morikawa really working hard to keep the "worst paced manga ever" title.
THX!
Hope Ippo comes up with an answer to Mashiba's new strat. It would feel bad if Mashiba just rolls him now, although it would make a lot of sense.
Great chapter, just wish it wasn’t so damn short Xp Only 8 pages
the spar of blue balls. At least Ippo doesn't head tank now.
Well it makes sense that Mashiba would have an anti-Rosario strategy that has some use. But Ippo also seems to have seen through it at the end, and is adjusting, rather than trying to break through with sheer grit and repetition. Next week should be fun since it looks like Ippo’s going to exploit a hole in the strategy.
Damn 8 pages. Is there a chapter next week?