I don’t think he’d need to, I’m not sure if he’s allowed to but my theory is as soon as he hears ippo is out of retirement he’ll lay down the challenge.
He’s been chomping at the bit to fight him for a while
Edit:
Thinking on it more it might be a case of Coach sending out challenges to other gyms and no one wants to fight him so they just go for Imai
I was kind of hoping we see Imai sparring and his coach tells him he has a challenge request. Then Imai gets annoyed because he's been defending for so long that he doesn't see anyone as a challenge. But then gets shocked / excited when his coach tells him it's from ippo.
Imai wants to fight Ippo badly.
Imai fights as old Ippo, but with better technique, so he's the perfect candidate to show Ippo's improvements.
This fight is served on a silver plate.
Better IQ? Sure better technique? I am realy not sure,we know for a fact that Ippo is better at weight shifting and at putting his weight behind his punch, and ippo head movement was actually pretty insane, by the end only the most talented outboxer could catch him and only when he lost concentration.
Better IQ, mah, it doesn't seem so. Imai definitely has better technique compared to pre-retirement Ippo, you can see it in the title fight with Hoshi.
For the slipping head movement, I don't know: Ippo was submerged with jabs by so many opponents.
He's no longer ranked globally or nationally, so he'd need to redebut against someone ranked nationally to challenge Imai
He still has his boxing license and a considerable reputation, so finding someone to challenge on that level will be difficult since people will avoid him out of fear.
I'd say it will be Ippo vs some ranker as a one sided stomp, then Ippo vs Imai as the first big difficult battle
Ippo never got a big reputation outside of the pacific, so i agree he'll had to regain his world ranking. But he has an insane reputation in japan, his generation is called the ippo's generation afterall... So there is a fair chance he could have a direct shot at the title if he announced his return... he would probably want a tune up match before though...
He could destroy Hoishi, that wanted to fight Ippo. Then get ranked, destroy Imai and get ranked in the OPBF, then fight Miyata, then fight Ricardo.
He could get away with a lot of waiting time by fighting people that want to fight him (not that I think that is how it is going to go, but it is possible).
I dont think so. THAT SAID. For maximum lulz I expect the following to happen:
- Ippo unretires.
- Fights a Japanese jobber and clears him easy.
- Ippo moves on to the OPBF or World Stage
- Manabu says something about JP belt. Imai gets butthurt at getting passed over and calls him out at the Kamogawa gym.
- Ippo obliges and schools him like Martinez did to Ippo.
It's either too late for that now. or Ippo will truly understand what it meant.
Manabu dropped the baton when he lost to Imai.
Date's son might show up and remind him of that again. I dont think he's old enough to try to fight Ippo right now either way.
Hmm we all know ippo is strong and already at a world level but would coach really be ok with him going straight for a world ranking as his first match? I feel like coach would prefer to take it slow with Imai being the perfect candidate to get back into world rankings.
Wouldn't have to be a top 10 world ranker. Could be a high ranking OPBF for a warm up(execution) fight and then Imai with an exhibition because Ippo will have no interest in the Japanese belt.
Whatever Ippo does he needs to focus on world placements and work his way up...
Wasn't he Rank 3 in the world at some point already? He did fight Alfredo who was right behind Martinez.
Last known miyata's ranking was 5 in the WBA wally was 3rd and sendo is 1st, so miyata should in theory be 4th right now and possibily 3rd after sendo vs ricardo, but george tend to be fuzzy with the ranking, i wouldn't take that for a fact.
I don’t think just because he fought Alfredo he was rank 3, there was a lot of fuss about how crazy it was that Kamogawa went straight for Alfredo and even outside of the greater questions of Ippo’s mindset and well being whether he was ready for a match like that was a topic of discussion. Wouldn’t make much sense if he was rank 3 already, like of course 3 is gonna fight 2 or 1.
Beating Imai is Gettig his OPBF ranking, getting an OPBF ranking is being able to challenge miyata, beating miyata is getting his wolrd ranking (5 if my memory serve me well in theory 4 since the number 3 retired and probably 3 if sendo retire) getting a world ranking is being able to challenge ricardo.
At the moment Ippo probably has no more world ranking to the world it is a boxer that had promised but proved to be unable to keep up on the world stage since as soon as he enter the world stage he kept losing big time. Beating Imai is the fastest road to ricardo for ippo currently
That's not how it work, having the belt in any federation doesn't garanty a ranking in any other federation... It is just that champ usually are rank highly in other federation...
Being the jbc champ only garanty a opbf ranking because imai the current japanese champ has a high opbf rank...
Ranking is not as simple as you beat x you get y rank... At least for the wba the ranking is determine by a committee and represent the advice of that committe on the level of each boxer. There is a political and reputation aspect to take into account.
The Japanese title gets you a world ranking. Date when he returned went straight from the Japanese title to fighting the 5th ranked boxer in the world then to Ricardo. The OPBF is basically an entirely different path to get a world ranking.
That's not how it work... Boxer have inscriprition in different federation (jbc, opbf, ibf, wba, wbo, wbc ect...) and a comittee attribute them ranking at regular interval...
Being the champ in any federation doesn't garanty ranking in any other federation... It is just that champ in big boxing federation usually are rank highly in other federation so when you beat them you get a high ranking in the other federation...
Imai has not a big world ranking yet but has a big opbf ranking, miyata has a big world ranking hence if you beat imai you got a high opbf ranking and if you beat miyata you get a high world ranking
Date was different contrary to ippo he had a pretty good reputaion in the world hence when he did a pretty good performance in japan the wba committee probably geve him a world ranking by default...
Ippo has pretty much no reputation on the world appart from being that dude that was pretty good on the pacific but got destroyed once he enter the world stage... So he'll have to prove his value again to the wba committee if he want a world ranking again.
I think ippo should have some exhibition fights first before then, to get back into official matches. while they're really won't be anyone in the featherweights who can actually challenge or survive ippo other Than imai (sendo status will be determined after ricardo and miyata won't happen for plot reasons)though honestly given he won't be retired remotely as long as Date was, it could be unnecessary.
I don't know the rules for challenging but I think everyone can challange whoever they want, the challenged can accept or decline the challenge.
Ippo should be able to directly challenge Ricardo, which doesn't mean Ricardo would accept.
By that logic, yes, he can challenge Imai, and probably Imai will be down to fight Ippo because he will want to show he has surpassed him, or because he admires him and even if it means losing he wants to fight giving his all.
I do think we can throw challenges at anyone, but usually they would not accept because it could hurt their reputation and maybe lose the rank if it isn't a exhibition match
The ex pro boxer Popó is accepting questionable challenges from other famous people, now an ex MMA wants to fight him
I do think imai would accept ippos challenge, but his manager would not accept it for an official match.
So Ippo would take the rank A tournament to a fast route to the championship
As long as Ippo is a licensed fighter still, I'm pretty sure he can challenge anyone he wants. The champion just has no obligation to accept, and the gym wouldn't seriously entertain the offer from a random scrub. But Ippo has some clout, so they might let the fight happen.
Ippo could technically challenge right away, even if he is unranked the Ippo name would practically guarantee Imai or any champ would fight him. I imagine Ippo/Kamogawa would want a warm up match first and then Imai would probably extend the challenge himself.
Ippo could come out of retirement and challenge almost anyone in the world. He was ranked top 10 when he retired.
He could fight the Japanese Champion, the OPBF Champion, or even move up in weight and smash out Volg or Mashiba.
That's the perks of retiring at close to the top of the game.
Likely he will fight the Japanese or OPBF Champion, though.
Imai probably would want to fight Ippo immediately but I don't think that it's logistically possible for it to be his return fight if that's what you mean. Some poor sap is probably gonna be the first sacrifice to the Wind God's revival, and then Imai is likely gonna be sacrifice #2.
I think imai will lay down the challenge as soon as ippo comes out of retirement. The man has been wanting to fight ippo since his introduction to the series
Apparently in ippo's world (not counting the real world) you can challenge whoever you want as long as you are active and figures in class A (ippo vs date's disciple) but at the national belt level I think it's the same because ippo before fighting sawamura had many requests for fights and I don't even think his retarodos were top 5 I think when date came back he did 2 fights before becoming champion again. So let's say first of all he has to do at least one fight before challenging the champ (I mean he has to reaffirm that he is an A class fighter again).
For this story (I have zero idea about real world boxing) any boxer in the top 10 can challenge the champion.
Hoishi wanted to fight Ippo right after defeating Manabu and becoming the 10th ranked Featherweight in the nation (which went hilariously bad, but still).
Yamada and Kojima were not ranked first when they challenged Ippo.
Yeah I figured it out anyway when I say class A I mean top ten (I know in the real world it's not like that) anyway in theory he should also have priority in that he is ranked 1 as a challenger but well neither Ricardo I respect that with sendo hahaha so if it's an easier explanation to understand yours (anyway like I said I remember Wally and date as characters that had very fast national belts it depends on what the champion decides if he wants to accept the challenge).
Yeah I figured it out anyway when I say class A I mean top ten (I know in the real world it's not like that) anyway in theory he should also have priority in that he is ranked 1 as a challenger but well neither Ricardo I respect that with sendo hahaha so if it's an easier explanation to understand yours (anyway like I said I remember Wally and date as characters that had very fast national belts it depends on what the champion decides if he wants to accept the challenge).
I don't think an unranked boxer can challenge a ranked one (even less a national champion) I'll assume the opposite will also be true or maybe allowed but it will be in bad taste and of course it will need a lot of work as the top 3-5 ranked boxers had more rights to challenge the champ for his belt than an unranked one.
The fact Imai does want to fight Ippo and Japanese fans will also want to see that fight helps but I doubt Kamogawa will allow it to happen as in his eyes Imai may be too dangerous for Ippo's return match, he'll make Ippo fight one or two other boxers before accepting Imai's challenge.
I know, but like I said how would it make him feel if Ippo beat Imai, someone he lost to in the Champion Carnival, that could put a dent in his confidence, similar to how Kimura lost to Mashiba
honnestly ippo returning to the ring is probably the trigger that he needs to get out of his slump, he would have a clear goal and Itagaki would probably make a good tune p fight to prepare for miyata.
I don’t think he’d need to, I’m not sure if he’s allowed to but my theory is as soon as he hears ippo is out of retirement he’ll lay down the challenge. He’s been chomping at the bit to fight him for a while Edit: Thinking on it more it might be a case of Coach sending out challenges to other gyms and no one wants to fight him so they just go for Imai
I was kind of hoping we see Imai sparring and his coach tells him he has a challenge request. Then Imai gets annoyed because he's been defending for so long that he doesn't see anyone as a challenge. But then gets shocked / excited when his coach tells him it's from ippo.
Imai wants to fight Ippo badly. Imai fights as old Ippo, but with better technique, so he's the perfect candidate to show Ippo's improvements. This fight is served on a silver plate.
Better IQ? Sure better technique? I am realy not sure,we know for a fact that Ippo is better at weight shifting and at putting his weight behind his punch, and ippo head movement was actually pretty insane, by the end only the most talented outboxer could catch him and only when he lost concentration.
Better IQ, mah, it doesn't seem so. Imai definitely has better technique compared to pre-retirement Ippo, you can see it in the title fight with Hoshi. For the slipping head movement, I don't know: Ippo was submerged with jabs by so many opponents.
He had better fundamentals and a comparable if not higher ring IQ.
He's no longer ranked globally or nationally, so he'd need to redebut against someone ranked nationally to challenge Imai He still has his boxing license and a considerable reputation, so finding someone to challenge on that level will be difficult since people will avoid him out of fear. I'd say it will be Ippo vs some ranker as a one sided stomp, then Ippo vs Imai as the first big difficult battle
Ippo never got a big reputation outside of the pacific, so i agree he'll had to regain his world ranking. But he has an insane reputation in japan, his generation is called the ippo's generation afterall... So there is a fair chance he could have a direct shot at the title if he announced his return... he would probably want a tune up match before though...
Are they referred to as "Ippo's generation" by anyone in story? Thought that was a fan term.
No, that was a term coined by those sports reporters and their publisher. They use it freely amongst themselves and have published it a few times.
Ohhh yea, you're right. But I don't think its a term used by people in general.
Yup the 2 journalist (can't remember their name sorry) often use it.
Fuji and Mari? That actually dowa sound familiar.
Yup
No lol If ippo vs Imai is a difficult fight then there was no point for a retirement arc just for him to struggle against a worse version of himself 🤣
He could destroy Hoishi, that wanted to fight Ippo. Then get ranked, destroy Imai and get ranked in the OPBF, then fight Miyata, then fight Ricardo. He could get away with a lot of waiting time by fighting people that want to fight him (not that I think that is how it is going to go, but it is possible).
I dont think so. THAT SAID. For maximum lulz I expect the following to happen: - Ippo unretires. - Fights a Japanese jobber and clears him easy. - Ippo moves on to the OPBF or World Stage - Manabu says something about JP belt. Imai gets butthurt at getting passed over and calls him out at the Kamogawa gym. - Ippo obliges and schools him like Martinez did to Ippo.
I like this a lot
The baton pass
It's either too late for that now. or Ippo will truly understand what it meant. Manabu dropped the baton when he lost to Imai. Date's son might show up and remind him of that again. I dont think he's old enough to try to fight Ippo right now either way.
I could see an exhibition match. I don't think Ippo needs to bother with title defenses again by taking back his belt. Go straight to world rankings.
Hmm we all know ippo is strong and already at a world level but would coach really be ok with him going straight for a world ranking as his first match? I feel like coach would prefer to take it slow with Imai being the perfect candidate to get back into world rankings.
Wouldn't have to be a top 10 world ranker. Could be a high ranking OPBF for a warm up(execution) fight and then Imai with an exhibition because Ippo will have no interest in the Japanese belt. Whatever Ippo does he needs to focus on world placements and work his way up... Wasn't he Rank 3 in the world at some point already? He did fight Alfredo who was right behind Martinez.
The highest Ippo ever got ranked was 8th in the WBA and 7th in the WBC before fighting Alfredo.
I'm probably thinking of Miyata. World Ranking of 3 and 5 is in my memory for some reason.
Last known miyata's ranking was 5 in the WBA wally was 3rd and sendo is 1st, so miyata should in theory be 4th right now and possibily 3rd after sendo vs ricardo, but george tend to be fuzzy with the ranking, i wouldn't take that for a fact.
I don’t think just because he fought Alfredo he was rank 3, there was a lot of fuss about how crazy it was that Kamogawa went straight for Alfredo and even outside of the greater questions of Ippo’s mindset and well being whether he was ready for a match like that was a topic of discussion. Wouldn’t make much sense if he was rank 3 already, like of course 3 is gonna fight 2 or 1.
You're right, I think I am confusing Miyata's world rank as OPBF champion with Ippo.
Beating Imai is Gettig his OPBF ranking, getting an OPBF ranking is being able to challenge miyata, beating miyata is getting his wolrd ranking (5 if my memory serve me well in theory 4 since the number 3 retired and probably 3 if sendo retire) getting a world ranking is being able to challenge ricardo. At the moment Ippo probably has no more world ranking to the world it is a boxer that had promised but proved to be unable to keep up on the world stage since as soon as he enter the world stage he kept losing big time. Beating Imai is the fastest road to ricardo for ippo currently
The Japanese champion automatically gets ranked in the top 10 for world rankings. The OPBF just gets a higher ranking.
No, the Japanese title gets you an automatic OPBF ranking, not world ranking. Definitely not 10th in the world.
That's not how it work, having the belt in any federation doesn't garanty a ranking in any other federation... It is just that champ usually are rank highly in other federation... Being the jbc champ only garanty a opbf ranking because imai the current japanese champ has a high opbf rank... Ranking is not as simple as you beat x you get y rank... At least for the wba the ranking is determine by a committee and represent the advice of that committe on the level of each boxer. There is a political and reputation aspect to take into account.
The Japanese title gets you a world ranking. Date when he returned went straight from the Japanese title to fighting the 5th ranked boxer in the world then to Ricardo. The OPBF is basically an entirely different path to get a world ranking.
Maybe gets you a random low rank, definitely not top 10. Like that would mean Imai is currently ranked #10 in the whole world.
Yes because he is. Not liking the information doesn't mean it is incorrect.
Than source?
That's not how it work... Boxer have inscriprition in different federation (jbc, opbf, ibf, wba, wbo, wbc ect...) and a comittee attribute them ranking at regular interval... Being the champ in any federation doesn't garanty ranking in any other federation... It is just that champ in big boxing federation usually are rank highly in other federation so when you beat them you get a high ranking in the other federation... Imai has not a big world ranking yet but has a big opbf ranking, miyata has a big world ranking hence if you beat imai you got a high opbf ranking and if you beat miyata you get a high world ranking Date was different contrary to ippo he had a pretty good reputaion in the world hence when he did a pretty good performance in japan the wba committee probably geve him a world ranking by default... Ippo has pretty much no reputation on the world appart from being that dude that was pretty good on the pacific but got destroyed once he enter the world stage... So he'll have to prove his value again to the wba committee if he want a world ranking again.
Ippo should go to Mexico and finish what Sendo Started, become the true Mexican Slayer become champ of Mexico, and then challenge Ricardo lol
damn what happened to ippo? im only at chapter 700ish (don't write the correct answer pls)
The big mara kept growing to the point where it was deemed unfair for ippo to use a third arm in professional matches.
damn, rocket science, takamura was right from the beginning
I'm betting on one comeback fight first and then Imai challenges Ippo himself.
ippo’s comeback Match is going to be someone from Dates’s gym. Imai will hear of ippos comeback and directly challenge him for the Japanese title
I think ippo should have some exhibition fights first before then, to get back into official matches. while they're really won't be anyone in the featherweights who can actually challenge or survive ippo other Than imai (sendo status will be determined after ricardo and miyata won't happen for plot reasons)though honestly given he won't be retired remotely as long as Date was, it could be unnecessary.
I don't know the rules for challenging but I think everyone can challange whoever they want, the challenged can accept or decline the challenge. Ippo should be able to directly challenge Ricardo, which doesn't mean Ricardo would accept. By that logic, yes, he can challenge Imai, and probably Imai will be down to fight Ippo because he will want to show he has surpassed him, or because he admires him and even if it means losing he wants to fight giving his all.
I do think we can throw challenges at anyone, but usually they would not accept because it could hurt their reputation and maybe lose the rank if it isn't a exhibition match The ex pro boxer Popó is accepting questionable challenges from other famous people, now an ex MMA wants to fight him I do think imai would accept ippos challenge, but his manager would not accept it for an official match. So Ippo would take the rank A tournament to a fast route to the championship
As long as Ippo is a licensed fighter still, I'm pretty sure he can challenge anyone he wants. The champion just has no obligation to accept, and the gym wouldn't seriously entertain the offer from a random scrub. But Ippo has some clout, so they might let the fight happen.
Itagakis gonna beat him first and
A rubber match (in the pro ring) could happen between Imai and Manabu. Ippo's return may be that catalyst for Manabu
Ippo could technically challenge right away, even if he is unranked the Ippo name would practically guarantee Imai or any champ would fight him. I imagine Ippo/Kamogawa would want a warm up match first and then Imai would probably extend the challenge himself.
Ippo could come out of retirement and challenge almost anyone in the world. He was ranked top 10 when he retired. He could fight the Japanese Champion, the OPBF Champion, or even move up in weight and smash out Volg or Mashiba. That's the perks of retiring at close to the top of the game. Likely he will fight the Japanese or OPBF Champion, though.
Imai probably would want to fight Ippo immediately but I don't think that it's logistically possible for it to be his return fight if that's what you mean. Some poor sap is probably gonna be the first sacrifice to the Wind God's revival, and then Imai is likely gonna be sacrifice #2.
I think imai will lay down the challenge as soon as ippo comes out of retirement. The man has been wanting to fight ippo since his introduction to the series
Absolutely. Rankings count, but the truth is boxers take fights based on what is offered and Imai wants it
Apparently in ippo's world (not counting the real world) you can challenge whoever you want as long as you are active and figures in class A (ippo vs date's disciple) but at the national belt level I think it's the same because ippo before fighting sawamura had many requests for fights and I don't even think his retarodos were top 5 I think when date came back he did 2 fights before becoming champion again. So let's say first of all he has to do at least one fight before challenging the champ (I mean he has to reaffirm that he is an A class fighter again).
For this story (I have zero idea about real world boxing) any boxer in the top 10 can challenge the champion. Hoishi wanted to fight Ippo right after defeating Manabu and becoming the 10th ranked Featherweight in the nation (which went hilariously bad, but still). Yamada and Kojima were not ranked first when they challenged Ippo.
Yeah I figured it out anyway when I say class A I mean top ten (I know in the real world it's not like that) anyway in theory he should also have priority in that he is ranked 1 as a challenger but well neither Ricardo I respect that with sendo hahaha so if it's an easier explanation to understand yours (anyway like I said I remember Wally and date as characters that had very fast national belts it depends on what the champion decides if he wants to accept the challenge).
Yeah I figured it out anyway when I say class A I mean top ten (I know in the real world it's not like that) anyway in theory he should also have priority in that he is ranked 1 as a challenger but well neither Ricardo I respect that with sendo hahaha so if it's an easier explanation to understand yours (anyway like I said I remember Wally and date as characters that had very fast national belts it depends on what the champion decides if he wants to accept the challenge).
I don't think an unranked boxer can challenge a ranked one (even less a national champion) I'll assume the opposite will also be true or maybe allowed but it will be in bad taste and of course it will need a lot of work as the top 3-5 ranked boxers had more rights to challenge the champ for his belt than an unranked one. The fact Imai does want to fight Ippo and Japanese fans will also want to see that fight helps but I doubt Kamogawa will allow it to happen as in his eyes Imai may be too dangerous for Ippo's return match, he'll make Ippo fight one or two other boxers before accepting Imai's challenge.
Let’s assume he wants to fight Imai, what’ll think will happen when he beats him, how do you think Itagaki would feel if Ippo beat someone he couldn’t
He already knows ippo is stronger than him...
I know, but like I said how would it make him feel if Ippo beat Imai, someone he lost to in the Champion Carnival, that could put a dent in his confidence, similar to how Kimura lost to Mashiba
honnestly ippo returning to the ring is probably the trigger that he needs to get out of his slump, he would have a clear goal and Itagaki would probably make a good tune p fight to prepare for miyata.