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1* ArcFatigue: The match between Ippo and Woli is ''30 chapters long'', not counting Woli's introduction, and a good half of it is [[spoiler:Ippo getting one-sidedly demolished by his opponent.]]
2* ArchivePanic: Simply put, it's been running since 1989 and has more than 1,000 chapters, and the count is still rising.
3* AssPull: There’s a few fights that end like this:
4** The absolute worst offender is Miyata during his fight against Randy Boy Jr. [[spoiler:Miyata comes up with not only a brand new counter on the spot, but it was after his ribs were broken, his stamina entirely spent, and spent a few rounds of getting pounded on. It's a unique counter he came up with on his own, and surpasses what his Father could do in his prime.]]
5** In the Takamura vs. Eagle fight, Takamura is apparently able to close a bleeding eye cut with sheer will. A wound which bleeding Kamogawa couldn't stop. A wound that would've stopped the match right then and there. [[spoiler:He then goes on to win the match while being completely blind.]]
6*** Note that Takamura didn't will the cut closed, merely stopped the bleeding long enough to prolong the match. The bleeding resumed shortly thereafter, [[spoiler:and a doctor stop was narrowly avoided in the process, simply due to both fighters' refusal to accept a match that wasn't seen through until the end.]]
7** Particularly bad in the fight with Woli. [[spoiler:Somehow, all those tap goals Ippo was shooting for (literally drawn as him tapping Woli with a little puff of air) somehow all turn into a Tekken Punch that went COMPLETELY UNNOTICED and Woli is drawn as being magically held down by an Ippo spirit. Of course, this is combined with Ippo's usual invincibility to knockdowns, even after taking 50+ head punches that he himself called 'extremely sharp' - on top of this, his right eye is also COMPLETELY swollen shut and affects his vision... oh wait, no it doesn't, he still sees perfectly fine and has no issues at all. He then goes on to win, because we [[InvincibleHero can't have Ippo losing]], can we? Even his finally punch is an AssPull, because he swings his arm to parry Woli's hit, then the artist draws Ippo rearing back with his left... and then he somehow throws a ''right cross counter'' that Woli cannot dodge instead.]]
8** Itagaki's fight with Saeki was a particularly big example. Itagaki spent the first 4 rounds getting the utter shit beat out of him. There seemed to be no way he could possible make a come back, which some saw as comeuppance for his arrogant behavior before the match. [[spoiler:Then in the 5th round, he suddenly got a second wind and somehow managed to make his ''perception of time'' slow down. He preceded to wipe the floor with Saeki and get a new nickname in the process.]]
9* AwesomeEgo: Takamura spends just about every waking moment outside the ring boasting about his own prowess and mocking other boxers, but his antics are often the funniest parts of the series, and when he does get in the ring you're reminded of just ''[[TheAce why]]'' he's allowed to get away with such braggart grandstanding.
10* BaseBreakingCharacter: In recent years, Kamogawa has come under fire as a piss poor coach in some people's opinions. Some think he's doing the best he can for Ippo and is the major reason why he's managed to come so far, while others think Kamogawa has done nothing but encourage reckless, outdated tactics that put Ippo at a disadvantage time and time again as well as such strategies [[spoiler:gradually leading to Ippo becoming punch drunk due to all the times he's taken hits to the face just to hit the opponent right back.]]
11* BrokenBase: [[spoiler:Ippo’s retirement due to fears of brain damage and being fundamentally broken to the point he loses his comeback fight. Some applaud it as unexpected, ''realistic'', and a natural end to an arc for Ippo who seemed increasingly reluctant to fight. Others see it as a cop out ensuring the Martinez and Miyata fights never occur as they couldn’t possibly live up to the literal decades of hype in and out of universe. Another group theorized the retirement was Mori attempting to TorchTheFranchiseAndRun ensuring there’s never a way to revive the series, although with the manga still going strong almost 100 chapters after the retirement, that theory has been largely discredited. Finally, another group is just waiting for Mori to eventually press the ResetButton and have something spur Ippo out of retirement.]]
12* CatharsisFactor: Most of the boxing matches are against opponents with mutual respect for one another. In spite of this, there are some boxers who are so unpleasant that their defeats are something fans root for:
13** After spending the majority of his screen time being a lecherous, lazy, arrogant, racist, and murderous disgrace to boxing and cornering Takamura for the majority of the match, when the latter turns the match around to give Bryan Hawk a massive beatdown for [[KickTheDog hitting Kamogawa]] during the pre-fight interview, to the point he put the fear of God as well as cripple him into a nervous wreck post-match, is one of the most satisfying moments in the series.
14* CrossesTheLineTwice: Takamura as a character is this. In real life, he'd be out of work in no time due to him being a lecherous jerk who enjoys pushing other people around and hitting them for his own amusement, but the absurdity of his antics, plus the fact that he generally faces consequences, albeit comedic ones for his behaviour make him extremely funny to watch.
15* CryForTheDevil:
16** Mashiba is a fearsome boxer in the ring, shown as [[CombatPragmatist someone who would do anything to win]]. He gains infamy by [[spoiler: stepping on Ichiro Miyata's foot to win in one of his very first fights]]. When he becomes the [[spoiler:Junior Lightweight champion]], he is nicknamed ''The Executioner'' due to his mercilessness in the ring. [[spoiler:There's also the fact that Mashiba practically raised his sister Kumi ever since their parents died in an accident, so only she and one of his bosses know how hard Mashiba has worked to take care of her. The scene where this softer side of him was shown as quite the TearJerker in the anime.]]
17** In the manga, Sawamura is also depicted as merciless and uncaring. [[spoiler:In fact, he and Mashiba later meet in one of the ''dirtiest'' fights in the manga. It is later revealed that he had a violent childhood and was rejected by almost everyone while growing up.]]
18* FanNickname:
19** [[LooksLikeJesus "Jesus" Date]], referring to his long-haired and bearded Messianic look on the road to his rematch with Ricardo Martinez.
20** Ricardo Martinez being called [[RedBaron "El Diablo"]]. He's never referred to as El Diablo in the manga or anime.[[note]]"El Diablo" is a nickname coined by Paraparajmo of the Dynamite Glove forums during the [[TurnOfTheMillennium late 2000s]]. His name comes from his dominance in the series and how unbeatable he was in the ''[[MarketBasedTitle Victorious Boxers 2: Victorious Road]]'', specifically during the (Japanese release) story mode when you play as "Jesus" Date. Paraparajmo also came up with a strategy to beat the videogame version of "El Diablo" that was easy to do with some practice: Lots of body uppercuts.[[/note]]
21* FauxSymbolism: [[spoiler:Mashiba]] growing a ''horn-like bump''? Hell, yes! Malcolm Gedo's face also looks a lot like a skull when he is smiling in the ring.
22* FriendlyFandoms: Has a bit of this and FandomRivalry with ''Manga/TomorrowsJoe'', both being boxing series published on the same magazine (albeit at different time periods). Still, the rivalry side is mostly civil, as most people enjoy both series for different reasons.
23* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff:
24** The first series of the anime was aired dubbed in Spanish in Mexico, and its fandom is RABID. Not surprising, since boxing is considered one of Mexico's "national" sports (second only to ''soccer'', and just barely).
25** It has a decent following in the Philippines when its anime was airing as ''[[MarketBasedTitle Knockout]]'' probably due to boxing's upsurge of popularity in the country from the late 2000s to 2010s thanks to the rise of the boxing career of Creator/MannyPacquiao. Hence we get [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a81zpE5sbgw fan videos]] like this too.
26* InformedWrongness: During the Wally vs Ricardo fight, Wally pulls multiple maneuvers that would likely be penalized in a real life boxing match such as hiding behind the ref (and even throwing a punch at his opponent over the ref's shoulder) and jumping on and off the ropes around the arena. When the ref understandably tells Wally that he needs to stop doing that or else he'll be penalized, it's treated by the story as though the ref is giving an unfair advantage to Ricardo, who has been boxing in a completely standard way the entire time.
27* IronWoobie: Volg. His backstory is just sad, and he struggles with his boxing career. In the latest chapters, [[spoiler:he was only given his title shot on short notice, but he took it because he feels it's the only chance he has at making it big]]. Currently, it doesn't look hopeful, but hopefully he'll pull through in the end.
28** [[spoiler: Sure enough, after probably one of the most uphill battles in the series, where it takes multiple rounds for Volg to land just ''one'' punch with any serious meat to it, he narrowly and decisively comes out victorious over Mike Elliot, just as everyone else had given up on him winning.]]
29*** ...Except in Chapter 1004, [[spoiler:the victory might be short-lived thanks to a corrupt ref.]]
30*** Despite this interference, [[spoiler:Volg manages to fight his way through to victory.]] That is what it means to be made of iron!
31* JerkassWoobie: Sawamura. Kawabe certainly sees him as this.
32* LoveToHate: Bryan Hawk is an incredibly racist, conceited and murderous boxer that makes [[{{Jerkass}} Takamura]] seem decent in comparison, and fights his boxing match that juxtaposes the themes of hard work in the story. In spite of this or rather due to this, the story is at its emotional high due to being the [[WakeUpCallBoss first genuinely tough match for Takamura]], giving him the fight of his life at the time and rooting for Takamura for a change to take down the arrogant boxer down a peg.
33* {{Narm}}: It can get a tad silly how the story treats Date Eiji like he's ancient (with Takamura often mockingly calling him "old man"/"geezer" and several plotlines about how his body is breaking down with time) when he's explicitly pointed out as being ''[[YoungerThanHeLooKS 29]]'' years old when the story arts, which isn't all that old even by boxing standards (in most combat sports, a fighter in their mid-to-late 30's is often considered "old", especially if they've started fighting at a young age). While 29 certainly isn't young by boxing standards, the story seems to think it's way older than it actually is.
34** Historically, there have been many boxers at comparable weight classes that have won and defended world titles well into their late 30s, such as: octuple champion Manny Pacquiao, four-division world champion Roberto Durán, long-time WBO Flyweight/Jr. Bantamweight king Omar Narváez, and undefeated lineal world champion of four weight classes Floyd Mayweather Jr. On the other hand, they're all the exception to the rule and they were also considered quite old around the time they kept on boxing at that age while most of their peers have already retired.
35* PeripheryDemographic: This is a show where half the characters are big, muscly dudes. YOU DO THE MATH!
36* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: Two video games were released for Platform/PlayStation2 in 2003 and 2005, the second being for the 15th anniversary of the series. Saying they were mediocre is speaking highly of them, at least in terms of character designs, which are all but unrecognizable, but they were also really realistic in terms of actual gameplay (which was taken out of the ''Boxer's Road'' series). The [[Platform/{{Wii}} Nintendo Wii]] adaptation that came out in 2008 does little better. (The second game at least was a pretty solid fighter, though)
37* RootingForTheEmpire: Usually inverted when Japan cheers for Takamura as [[HeroWithBadPublicity Takamura's]] portrayed as the villain in fights. However, it's played straight in his fight against Peter Rabbitson. After 10 long rounds of Takamura swinging and missing and Peter Rabbitson dodging and avoiding without even ''trying'' to attack, the crowd gets fed up and starts to cheer for Rabbitson instead of Takamura, despite the fact that Takamura's loss means there will be no longer be an international champion from Japan. [[spoiler:In the end, Rabbitson ends up losing to Takamura.]]
38* SignatureScene: [[spoiler:The scene where Ippo defeats Sendou with the Dempsey Roll has become so iconic that any work that has a Shout Out to Ippo will include an attack just like his Dempsey Roll.]] Dudley from ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' uses a Dempsey Roll shot for shot like Ippo's, as well as ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'''s Steve Fox. Both based entirely on that scene.
39* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Manga/TomorrowsJoe''. Sendou even has Joe's characteristics.
40* {{Squick}}: ''Everyone's'' reaction to Takamura groping Aoki's girlfriend Tomiko while she and Aoki were making out on the beach. Takamura ''does'' apologize, but his apology is, [[DiggingYourselfDeeper well...]]
41* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: [[spoiler:Ippo's possible brain damage]] has not gone over well with fans, [[spoiler:especially with the revelation that he plans to retire.]] Many fans accuse the creator of effectively giving the fans the middle finger by denying Ippo his destined fights through "realism".
42* UglyCute: Tomiko. She looks rather weird but she's downright adorable due to her likeable personality.
43* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: A interesting case. ''Hajime no Ippo'' began with a setting that was more or less contemporary (having begun publication in 1989), but due the sheer number of chapters and slow publication rate compared to the pacing of events in the story itself, the manga effectively became a 90's period piece (and the same goes for the anime adaptations). As of 2019, the narrative has ''just now'' reached the year of 1999. The most self-evident tell-tale sign of this is how every character still uses VHS to record and watch fights of themselves or their opponents.

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