Characters / Hajime no Ippo

This is a list of the characters featured in Hajime no Ippo.

Kamogawa Gym

Ippo Makunouchi

"Until I understand what true strength is. I’m the challenger! So I’ll always stand up!"

Voiced by: Kohei Kiyasu (JP), Steve Staley (EN), Gabriel Ramos (Latin-American Spanish)

A shy, humble boy, Ippo lost his father Kazuo at a very young age and now spends his free time helping his mother run their fishing boat business. His introverted nature naturally attracts bullies who like to beat him up.

During one of those beating-up sessions, he is saved by Mamoru Takamura, who takes him to the Kamogawa boxing gym where he also discovers his powerful punch. As it turns out, working your entire life lifting extremely heavy stuff builds a muscle or two. Ippo joins the Kamogawa gym and begins his boxing career in order to find out the meaning of strength.

Ippo is truly an unwritten paper of a student, closely following what he is taught to the best of his ability. He is famous for his ridiculously powerful punching power and endurance, often giving him spectacular comeback K.O.s. His defense isn't bad either, as he uses the peek-a-boo style, reminiscent of Mike Tyson. Despite his shy behavior outside the ring, he shows remarkable courage and determination inside it. He is the current Japanese featherweight champion and ranked 7th in the WBC rankings.

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• All of the Other Reindeer: Was bullied at school because of his sort-of part time work as a fisherman.
• Animal Motifs: Gazelles, given one of his signature punches is named after them.
• Badass Boast: During the weigh-in with former pupil Naomichi Yamada, Yamada thanks his former teacher for teaching him boxing, and that he'll be taking the belt. Ippo's response?
  Ippo: I never taught you how to take the belt.
• Badass on Paper: If you look at only his achievements in the ring- getting every single one of his victories by knockout, for example- you'd probably expect Ippo himself to be some cocky, super capable badass. However, his personality outside of the ring couldn't be more disconnected from his prowess inside it. Either way, it doesn't matter much because Ippo remains a dangerous opponent in the ring regardless of his meek nature.
• Berserk Button:
  • Do not insult his Fire-Forged Friends. Never ever! To put this into perspective, this is what Ippo did to a guy (Hisato Kojima) that did exactly that and took it WAY too far! The Beginning. Middle. End. And the Aftermath. To be more precise, Ippo punched a man so hard, he doesn't even remember FIGHTING him, so yeah. Again. Do. Not. Fuck. With Ippo's Fire-Forged Friends!
  • He also does not like it when someone puts down boxing as a barbaric sport. Even before joining up at the Kamogawa Gym he was seen defending it against a couple of girls who dismissed it as a sweaty and disgusting sport to where he even yells at them.
  • He also does not like boxers that cheat in the ring.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Double Subverted. Even after becoming a boxer, he remains meek in his day to day life and practically allows himself to be scared by anybody who wants to scare him. However, if you're a boxer set to fight him, it's dangerous to assume he'd be the same way on the clock. In the ring, he seems to think of his opponents differently than he does in social situations; the same men that could easily intimidate him on the street simply become obstacles to punch into oblivion when the bell sounds. Also, pushing his Berserk Buttons is a bad idea.
• Blood Knight: Ippo is a positive example of this as he's very eager to fight in the ring and loves to get stronger so he can face much better opponents in order to be the best pro boxer in the world.
• Brainy Brunette: It was stated that while in high school, Ippo could have gotten into any college, implying that his grades were good.
• Butt-Monkey: Tends to get screwed over by life in rather comical ways, even as a Featherweight Champion.
• Canine Companion: A Boy And His Dog. Eventually becomes the owner of a dog, Wanpo.
• Cannot Spit It Out: He's been dancing around making it official with Kumi for years. Amazingly, they're still not officially dating by the time they're in their mid-twenties despite having known each other since they were 16 and having effectively gone on several dates. To be fair, though, his fear of her brother plays a big part in it and he tried to confess once but she fell asleep right when he started.
• Character Development: After over 900 chapters, the fight with Kojima unleashed Ippo's inner rage for the first time ever while also highlighting his fighting style's predictable weaknesses and his foolish strategy of charging head-first into avoidable damage just to hit someone back. The arcs that follow tear apart Ippo's strategies and training, as even if he won against Kojima, every problem Kojima knew about came to bite him back in the ass, leading to Ippo's early retirement, followed by another nearly-catastrophic lash out moment of pure rage against Taihei. Ippo's free time to consider his life, eventually train and get back in shape on more free terms combined with recognizing his Unstoppable Rage and severe defense problems allows him to start recuperating himself significantly, to the point that even Volg realizes Ippo has only become stronger in his supposed retirement.
• Chick Magnet: Has three girls fighting over him.
  • Clueless Chick-Magnet: However, he's far too shy and reserved to fully grasp and take advantage of the situation.
• Covert Pervert: Was caught peeking at Takamura's porno magazines and was okay with the idea of Takamura lending him porno videos. Secretly, of course. He also jumped at Dr.Yamaguchi's "invitation". Oddly enough he rarely has any these thoughts around the girl he likes, Kumi. It's mainly just modest male urges, and even then nothing too perverted.
  • Special mention goes to when a popular reporter came to visit the gym, asked to spar with him, and he allowed her to hit him for a better *cough*view*cough*.
• Crippling Overspecialization: After retiring, Ippo comes to view his reliance on the Dempsey Roll as this. While it was crucial in helping him win many fights, he focused so much on refining the Dempsey Roll that he forgot about fundamentals such as defence and proper jabbing. As such Ippo became much more reactive rather than proactive, taking hits he otherwise could have avoided and contributing to his Game-Breaking Injury.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Ippo is a shy, awkward, overly-polite mama's boy...but once he steps into the boxing-ring, he becomes an intense and unstoppable fighter with a Dynamite Punch that can shatter bones, and an invincible stamina that allows him to keep coming back no matter how many times he's knocked down. It's not uncommon for people who've seen him in the ring, to completely fail to recognize him outside of it. Several times, this has worked to his advantage, since any opponent who've met him outside the ring is bound to underestimate the level of brutality he can unleash inside of it.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The New Dempsey Roll and the (currently not yet perfected) Diagonal Dempsey Roll, the two evolutions of his Signature Move. The New Dempsey Roll requires stopping in the middle of the weaving in order to make the rhythm less predictable (and thus make it more difficult to counter), but suddenly stopping such high momentum places a huge strain on his muscles and ligaments and he runs the risk of tearing something and cutting his career short. The Diagonal Dempsey Roll strains the body even worse, as it effectively involves weaving the body full speed in any and all directions and throwing not just hooks, but any kind of punch desired with the momentum (IE an even more effective form of Bryan Hawk's swayback dodge and Infinity Punch combo) while also stopping and starting on a dime at will.
• Defeat Means Respect: Constantly on the receiving end of this trope. His impressive skill as a boxer and genuine sportsmanship and grace usually keeps from any hard feelings after his victories. Many a former foe returns throughout the series to cheer Ippo on or mentor him in an aspect of boxing they're more experienced in. Some of the more violent and unscrupulous boxers even noticeably chill out after facing Ippo, and become softer or more fair.
• Determinator: While normally a required trait for his combat style, it is starting to cost him dearly in a Deconstruction after his second loss. The severe accumulated damage he has taken to his body over all his matches including his second loss are causing issues with his eye-sight and possibly other health issues that might hinder or even end his career/life.
• Disappeared Dad: His father Kazuo died when he was a child, and we don't know about his relatives aside of his mother Hiroko.
• The Dutiful Son: He is willing to do anything from quitting school to quitting boxing to help Hiroko when she becomes too overworked.
• Extreme Doormat. At first. His dislike of fighting made him a target for bullying. Even after becoming a fighter, he still tends to let brasher guys walk all over him. Luckily though, this doesn't translate into the ring.
• Fanboy: Ippo's favorite fighter is Mike Tyson.
• Gag Penis: He is very well endowed.
• Game-Breaking Injury: His vision and hand-eye coordination has suffered since his second loss and it remains to be seen if there are other effects from his accumulated damage. Thankfully though, while he can no longer tank punches as well as he used to, this ends up Subverted for the time being when it turns out that he's still well enough to get in the ring.
  • As of Chapter 1197, the damage appears to be extensive enough that he suffers his third loss, prompting what he promised would be a permanent retirement. That said, the testing performed on him concluded he did not have punch drunk syndrome yet; and while he would have been at risk of it should he continue boxing, he could recover back to normal given time if he stopped early. Miyata doesn't buy it, thinking Ippo only retired based on suspicion of his symptoms alone and not concrete evidence, and directly asks Ippo who told him he was punch-drunk- Ippo doesn't have an answer, as even the doctors that studied him told him he was not actually punch-drunk. In fact, the only person who insists he is, who has consistently said he was, is his own girlfriend.
• The Gift: Ippo was practically made for elite in-boxing. He's naturally short in stature and also has short arms and a solidly built frame, giving him the right physiology for the job. Most tellingly though, his fists happen to be flat and brick shaped and he has puffy palms, meaning every punch lands with as much surface area -and force- as humanly possible. In other words, his hands were made for knocking people out.
  • He's also extremely multi talented, he's an excellent fisherman, had good grades in school, and becomes a top notch mangaka assistant even after he shows signs of reduced motor control from his head injury. His analytical skills from watching boxing are also incredible. Despite his weaknesses in controlling stress and understanding his boxer's emotions, his advice as a second is so good that it leads Kimura and Aoki to several victories against opponents they would have had no hope of defeating otherwise.
• Glass Cannon: Nowadays as Ippo is retired from boxing and cannot take any more serious damage from his glory days, he still retains a lot of his raw strength and power to where he knocked out Taihei with a single slap to the face.
• Heroic BSoD: Upon knocking out Taihei with a single blow after the delinquent lied to him to get boxing lessons so he could fight other students, Ippo realizes that he not only struck a minor with a probable assault charge, but struck him so hard that he nearly killed Taihei outright. This breaks him hard enough to immediately want to turn himself into the authorities for what he's done.
• Heroes Love Dogs: Wanpo.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: His humility knows no bounds, and for most of his career he bashfully downplays his own potential and triumphs when he's praised. This is common in Japanese etiquette, where attributing your success and skill to luck or the help of others is good form, but Ippo definitely means it. He stays humble as he grows, but with experience comes confidence and he gradually stops selling himself short.
• Humble Hero: Despite his strength and courage, Ippo still behaves rather meekly out of the ring and often humbles himself around his rivals. For example, even though he has defeated both Ryou Mashiba and Takeshi Sendo, he fears Mashiba and tries to avoid discussing a second rematch with Sendou whenever he is around. He also continued to be intimidated by Umezawa, his former bully, long after he began boxing. He has a great deal of respect for his gymmate Takamura and former Japanese Featherweight Champion Eiji Date and he was completely shocked when World Featherweight Champion Ricardo Martinez requested a spar with him. He later recognizes this to be one of his weaknesses after losing to Gonzales. More recent chapters show he is slowly starting to get over it, particularly when a conversation with his coach has him imply he's figured out a way to beat Ricardo Martinez, something Ippo would have considered impossible beforehand.
• I Just Want to Be Badass: "What does it mean to be strong?"
• Interrupted Declaration of Love: In a way. Despite being well known among his friends for taking forever to make it official with her, he did actually confess to Kumi during a beach holiday once, but she happened to fall asleep drunk during the whole thing. Naturally, he loses his nerve by the time she wakes up.
• Invincible Hero: He wins almost all of his fights. And always by KO. Somewhat justified as he literally can't win in any other way, due to his boxing style; if he's landing enough punches that he might have a chance at winning a decision victory, it's not likely his opponent is going to survive the round, much less the match. Averted as time goes on, as his brutal head injuries from his first few losses end his career before he could get a chance to challenge the men at the top.
• Know When to Fold Them: In Chapter 1208, Ippo talks to a doctor about his condition. Though he shows symptoms of chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE, the doctor can't make a diagnosis until he's dead. With this information, he approaches the coach at his gym and reveals his intentions of retiring.
• Lightning Bruiser: He later gains incredible dashing speed, weaving ability (is able to dodge completely Shigeta's rapid fire "Shotgun" punch and Mashiba's flicker) and the Spam Attack Dempsey Roll. His nickname God of Wind derives from his ability to deal very powerful blows quite rapidly.
• Like Father, Like Son: He and his dad not only look alike but both love fighting. Although Ippo started to like fighting when he was introduced to boxing. Both also are very selfless and care more about others than their own selves as Kazuo saved a crew mate on his boat during a storm and Ippo initially supports bullied victims and comforts his friends in their darkest times.
• Made of Iron: Ippo can take ridiculous amounts of beatings, to the point that Miyata mentions that it even functions as a psychological weapon against his enemies, who might start feeling like their punches are weak, which only causes them to make mistakes. While his granite chin is partially natural, a lot of it is also skill, as he always expects counter punches to come and instinctively braces himself. Gonzales becomes the first to truly knock him down in a *long* time, by throwing a punch he didn't expect.
• Magnetic Hero: Earns the respect of many boxers he met.
• Mighty Glacier: At the beginning, he only has his strength and endurance; he later becomes a Lightning Bruiser.
• Mistaken for Gay: Early on in the series, after he accidentally trips into Miyata's butt, Takamura jokes that he had suspicions about Ippo's sexuality from the beginning and says that he "really must be a homo". Ippo's usual mellow Nice Guy reaction to this, of course, then gets him funny looks from all of the other boxers. Keep in mind that Takamura already knows Ippo is straight at this point; he's just a Jerkass.
• Modesty Towel: Tries to wear one around his waist when he first showers with the guys simply because, well... he's a modest person. Takamura mistakes this for size insecurity and removes it for giggles- which is how he discovered Ippo's a "heavyweight".
• Nice Guy: Ippo is a friendly and kind young man.
• Odd Friendship: Ippo and Sendo probably have the closest relationship between any of the rival boxers. This, despite their contrasting personalities, which end up being a major source of humor whenever they're together.
• Older Than They Look: At least David Eagle seems to think he looks young, as he mistakes a 22 year-old Ippo for a kid and autographs the back of his shirt. The stoic Miyata then tells Ippo that the Japanese "just tend to look young to foreigners"... and then turns around to reveal that even he got an autograph.
• One-Hit Kill: Gives one to Kojima. The punch was so severe that the poor guy literally lost all memory of the fight!
• Otaku: This guy probably knows more about Miyata's matches than Miyata's own father, to the point of being able to reenact the whole thing. Actually, he was the first one to figure out the reason behind Miyata cancelling his match against Ippo.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: The whole point of his Signature Move the Dempsey Roll is to take down bigger fighters as Ippo is shorter than most of his opponents.
• Power of Trust: Has this going on with coach Kamogawa and his training. Much of his determination comes from the fact that he refuses to give up unless he has put everything he was taught to use. He comes back from the brink of a K.O. multiple times simply because he felt like hadn't used everything he learned yet.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: What the Dempsey Roll essentially is, but it's also combined with Megaton Punches.
• Red Baron: The Wind God.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The passive, kind, meek blue oni to Takamura and Sendo's tough, Hot-Blooded, boisterous red oni. Ippo is also the emotional, talkative red oni to Miyata's stoic, calm blue oni.
• Respected by the Respected: Ippo may be timid and introverted for the most part but he absolutely dedicates himself to boxing and gives it everything he has. His strength, toughness and sheer willpower have left a strong impression on those he has fought and even the ones who claim not to like him still respect him.
  Ichiro Miyata: You must be joking. If I were to back away from your punches he(Ippo) would laugh at me!
  Takeshi Sendo: I won't close my eyes! I keeping looking at him. Looking at the man that beat me.
  Ryo Mashiba: You're making my sweat run cold. I've seen eyes like this before. My instincts are telling me those eyes are dangerous. Those are Makanouchi's eyes!
  Mamuro Takamura: I know that look. He really is a copy of the most annoying boxer I know. That look that shows no fear. The eyes of a man who won't give up. Hey, Ippo, he's just like you.
  Sawamura: I had beaten on so many guys it had gotten old.....but he was different! That was the first time I had fought someone beyond just brawling. How can someone like that fight so well? How could he have beaten me? What did he see after he won?
  • Even Ricardo Martinez remembered Ippo after only a short spar with him. Even though Ricardo beat Ippo soundly, there was still something about Ippo worth remembering.
    Bill: You sparred with him in Japan before your fight with Date.
    Ricardo...You mean the boy with the Dempsey Roll? How unfortunate. If I had remembered in time, I could have told Gonzalez to be careful.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He's basically the sensitive guy to any of the other boxer's manly-men attitudes, but he fits this dynamic best in scenes with Takamura. In a funny twist, he himself comes off as the "manly man" in comparison to Naomichi when they're together.
• Shonen Hair: It refuses to stay down too, always snapping back into it's usual messy look when he tries to keep it down.
• Shrinking Violet: He is usually a kind and reserved person who dislikes conflict, and because of that he had been bullied since grade school.
• Signature Move: Gazelle Punch, Liver Blow, Dempsey Roll, and the Tekken.
• Skilled, but Naive: Ippo is notoriously simple-minded. In nearly all of his matches, difficulties arose when his opponent did something he had not prepared for, such as Malcolm Gedo's Magic Punch and Wally's Corner Work. In fact, he lost the championship match with Eiji Date entirely because he failed to grasp how the champ was negating the power behind his punches. Interestingly, the few times Ippo did something his opponents didn't expect, he won the match (such as his southpaw stance in his first fight, or his brawling stance in his match with Kojima).
• A Sinister Clue: While Ippo isn't exactly "sinister" in terms of being malicious, all of the times where he "snapped" and struck someone full-force had him throw the devastating blow explicitly with his left hand (e.g. him punching Kojima and making him do a backflip and also him slapping Taihei a good 10 or so feet away).
• Strong Family Resemblance: He looks like a younger version of his father.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Unfortunately, despite all his hard work for 10 months, years of poor defensive technique and eating punches finally catch up to him in his attempted comeback match against Guevarra as he can't tank as many punches as he could in the past; it turns out that he really isn't punch drunk as the doctors confirmed he wasn't and Miyata accuses him of retiring out of speculation from none other than his girlfriend Kumi who not only dislikes boxing, but gave him the impression he would end up in worst condition even though it wouldn't be an issue.
  • Not that long thereafter, Ippo demonstrates why a professional boxer's hands are considered weapons, as in his Unstoppable Rage he strikes a minor so hard with a palm slap across the face that the boy was unconscious on impact, and nearly killed outright. Not only is this a solid demonstration of the raw difference between a citizen and a boxer, but Ippo letting his emotions get the better of him committed an assault on a minor to boot.
• Tiger Versus Dragon: Ippo is the dragon to Sendo's tiger.
• Took a Level in Badass: Transforms from a wimpy doormat to a one of the top boxers of Japan.
  • Gains a number during his retirement. Volg, Sendo, and their trainers are startled to see that Ippo's offense, defense, and technical skill have somehow all shot up despite doing nothing but training others and seconding, but it's exactly those skills that allow him to catch/parry the White Fang and slide counter one of Volg's lefts. And, of course, there's the True Dempsey Roll that has in no way deteriorated.
• Tragic Keepsake: The cap he wears for the fishing trips belonged to his deceased father.
• Twice Shy: With Kumi.
• Underestimating Badassery: Ippo does this to himself, commonly seeing himself as someone who has to live up to the opponent's skill and triumph over them. It's part of his very humble personality. Especially apparent with his 'touch' spar versus Volg in Mexico, where Ippo thinks he's so rusty from retirement he goes all out straight out the gate so as to be of use to Volg. Even with the excuse of being exhausted from weight training, Volg finds him stronger than ever before, with a brand new repertoire of defensive and counter moves leading into the previously unseen True Dempsey. This self-downplay and over-zealous compensation results in Ippo landing a Liver Blow earlier in the spar that immediately causes issues in Volg's next match.
• Unskilled, but Strong: He starts out as this when he only relied on his hard punches and only had minimal technique. But this later becomes an aversion as he learns more boxing skills and he becomes a quick Lightning Bruiser rather than a more enduranced Mighty Glacier.
• Unstoppable Rage: This becomes a recurring event for him. When angered, Ippo blacks out and forgets what he is doing, becoming extremely violent and dangerous. It finally backfires on him outside of the ring when he assaults a minor (though one that probably deserved it) yet has no memory of even doing it.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: His Dempsey Roll.

Mamoru Takamura

"No matter how much talent you have, if you aren't the best, you're nothing because there can only be one king."

Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (JP), Eddie Frierson (EN), Mario Arvizu (Latin-American Spanish)

Big, loud-mouthed, perverted and mean, Takamura is a jerk. He is also undefeated two-time world champion and the idol of everyone at the Kamogawa gym. Because despite his bullying behaviour, he is something of a big brother to the other boxers: he is the one that got all of them into boxing and occasionally uses his vast knowledge to give them advice. Due to his status as the golden champion, he's also their idol. As much as he looks like someone with a giant ego and nothing to back it up, Takamura is something of a Guile Hero, rarely being defeated in anything even unrelated to boxing. He used to be a delinquent feared by everyone on the streets, until coach Kamogawa discovered him and got him into boxing, for which Takamura is very thankful. And despite his normally dirty behaviour, he is honest and serious about boxing. Despite being a natural genius, he is also a hard worker.

We first meet Takamura as he saves Ippo from bullies and takes him to the boxing gym. He has a troubled (due to his jerkass personality) but nonetheless close relationship to coach Kamogawa. Kamogawa notes that he loves to see Takamura fight in the ring. Takamura is actually the disinherited middle son of the Takamura Development company. He was kicked out after starting a huge fight during one of his older brother Suguru's rugby matches. (Despite that, his sister and little brother still support him.)

Takamura gains his first title in an epic fight against Bryan Hawk, WBC Junior Middleweight Champion. He later climbs up a weight class and fights against David Eagle for the next title. Another one of his most notable feats is beating a bear in a fight. The story even made it into the local news, which resulted in the temporary nickname Bearslayer. It also gave him three huge scars on his chest, but those only make him look even manlier. Takamura's latest achievement is defeating Keith Dragon for the Super Middleweight title, making him the first Japanese boxer to conquer three weight classes.

Word of God has it that he's the best boxer in the series. He's described in-story as the ideal boxer, combining athleticism and skill as well as intelligence and instincts. His strength and stamina are almost superhuman and his instincts border on the supernatural. Upon their first meeting, Kamogawa described him as a "diamond that didn't need to be polished", easily able to take the Japanese title at that point already. Kamogawa also believes that Takamura has completely surpassed his teachings and thus often lets him fight however he wants in the ring. He's only had real trouble in three fights so far (his three matches for world belts) and often knocks out his opponent in the first round in showy fashion. Due to his boxing insight, he often serves as the Mr. Exposition during matches of other people.

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• The Ace: Takamura is one of the most invincible characters in the series along with Ricardo Martinez. Not only is he undefeated with every win a KO (despite his weight management handicap), he has accomplished feats such as KOing a bear, lifting a truck and defeating a troupe of wild monkeys.
  • However, it's Subverted in the sense that he's not The Ace at anything aside from fighting. He was quite aimless in life before being found by Kamogawa. He's also laughably bad at most other activities aside from boxing, including fishing, singing, and picking up girls.
• Achilles' Heel: While his boxing is flawless, he does have two fatal flaws beyond it - First, his attitude and temper, which can lead him to do reckless or pointless things, and secondly the lack of stamina that comes from his harsh weight management due to fighting several classes under his natural weight.
• Anger Born of Worry: In episode 25, he scolds Ippo for still hitting one of the sandbags, which he had been doing since Takamura started his roadwork. The audience is then treated to a shot of Ippo’s bleeding hands once his gloves are removed.
• Animal Motifs: Multiple, actually. The hawk, the bear and the rhinoceros beetle (with the hawk being probably the most prominent — it's in his surname, and he entered the ring dressed in his hawk costume against both Bryan Hawk and Richard Bison). It also applies to his opponents: every fighter he has fought since winning the WBC Jr. Middleweight Championship has been named after an animal (Rickey Mouse, David "Golden" Eagle, Ronald Duck, Richard Bison, Keith Dragon).
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: You won't find a bigger example of this trope in this universe. Case in point: right after defeating Bison (after Takamura was cornered, badly wounded and on the brink of defeat himself, and Kamogawa stopped from throwing the towel only by his desperate gymmates, Aoki and Kimura, mind you) he got the three championship belts on himself and addressed his fans in the crowd... by belittling them and loudly shouting at them to kneel and bow down to him as he was now the unified champion. The crowd immediately flipped 180 degrees on Takamura, from cheering him to booing him and throwing things at him.
  Japanese spectator: I can't believe I was cheering for THIS guy!!!
• Badass Boast: Pulls one on Hawk, although it's only in his head:
  "That cocky little mug. I bet you never lost a fight before, have you...? But that's because...I've never been...TO AMERICA!!!"
  • He also gives a similar one to Richard Bison:
  "You score 100. But unfortunately for you, I'm the Million Point Man."
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: It's Takamura going berserk that ultimately and finally turns the tides against the unorthodox Hawk at the darkest moment of the fight. Against the by-the-books Eagle, it's remembering his boxing training with Kamogawa to guide his hands when he couldn't see any more.
• Bears Are Bad News: He has to box with a Mama Bear. He lives to tell. And gains the scars to prove it.
• Berserk Button: As an arrogant egomaniac, boxers who either insult him or actually make him work harder for a victory will quickly send him flying into a rage in the ring. Takamura sees himself as the best and everyone else as a small fry, so if any boxer that actually manages to hurt him or make him look bad in the ring, he will do everything he can to destroy them. In a chilling example, he agrees to spar with Sendo, a much younger, lighter and less experienced boxer. Takamura holds back at first, and still effortlessly outpaces his foe, but when Sendo sneaks in an elbow blow on purpose, Takamura begins to beat on him pretty mercilessly (Though Takamura wasn't really upset, in fact he was just fulfilling Sendo's request about going all out). But once Sendo gets a solid blow in, Takamura snaps and retaliates with his full strength, completely obliterating Sendo in a single punch. If Sendo hadn't been wearing protective gear, the consequences would have been dire.
  • Like Ippo, he's also not fond of people who cheat in the ring or otherwise disrespect the sport of boxing. He almost beat the crap out of Marron in the stadium hallway for ordering Iga to humiliate Aoki in the ring by beating Aoki to the point were he would fall at any time but instead only doing enough so that the fight dragged on and Aoki was basically a punching bag.
  • Do. Not. Ever. Disrespect or hurt his trainer/coach Kamogawa. EVER. While he won't say it out loud, Kamogawa is the closest thing Takamura has to a true father figure, seeing that he was disowned by his biological parents. Both of them, while not saying, see each other as family. He almost attacked Bryan Hawk at a press junket for hitting Kamogawa and when one of Ippo's opponent's trash talked Kamogawa, Takamura made it clear to Ippo that it was Ippo's duty to hand the guy his ass.
    Takamura: (in a rare serious tone) You just better not forget one thing. He talked shit about the old man.
  • Lastly, on a more comical note, he can't stand women paying attention to other guys around him (especially if it's Ippo) and he usually reacts with violence.
• Big Brother Bully: Pretty much has this relationship with Aoki, Kimura, and Ippo most of the time (despite not being blood related, of course). Although he bullies them, it's relatively harmless in the sense that Aoki and Kimura are also scrappy fighters who aren't too afraid to argue and fight with him; in fact, they typically join him in teasing Ippo, who takes it in stride.
• Big Brother Mentor: In an, uhm, special way. He takes the younger boxers under his wing and teaches them different techniques to improve their fighting.
• The Big Guy: It's even his nickname.
• Blood Knight: Takamura may be an obnoxious and arrogant fool but if there's one thing he loves most in the world it's boxing. He has shown a great respect for the sport even though he dislikes the challenge of an opponent who can match him he can't help but have a blast fighting in the ring or getting into random bouts outside of boxing.
• Boisterous Bruiser: He's very loud, very tough, and very obnoxious.
• Book Dumb: He's not really much of an intellectual, as he didn't know what the word "aspiration" meant and had to have Ippo explain it to him. Not surprisingly though, he gets enraged as soon as he senses that Ippo was judging him and then starts chewing him out.
• Boring, but Practical; No Sunday punches or gimmicks here. Takamura is simply a well-trained boxer who has perfected his fundamentals and mastered every textbook punch and maneuver. Rather than limiting him, his orthodox style, combined with his natural instincts, have made him the best boxer in the series, bar none.
• Brutal Honesty: He's not one to mince words when it comes to telling inferior boxers just how inferior they are. He even let's his own friends know how bad they are if they're not looking sharp (well, Aoki, mostly).
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Absolutely badass as a boxer. Almost absolutely Jerkass when not at work or at training.
• Casanova Wannabe: He very rarely actually gets some action with the ladies, mostly because he acts like a perverted Jerkass the second he sees an opening. Regardless, he himself has a very high view of his alleged "ability" to get women, as you might expect.
• Cherry Tapping: Beating an opponent with just his left. There was no particular reason for it; he just wanted to show off.
• Combat Commentator: He gives excellent and accurate commentary while sitting in the stands, and his comments usually serve to educate Aoki, Kimura, and whoever else (including the viewer) when they give an inaccurate assessment of a fight. Ironically though, whenever he actually gets the chance to do official commentary for a fight on the mic, he usually messes it up by saying something crazy or, in one case, choosing to focus on pestering Date instead of commenting.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He was an aimless delinquent who roamed the streets getting into trouble after being disinherited from his family's fortune.
• Determinator:You could BLIND this guy and he'd still hit you with his best
• Deuteragonist: He is the second most followed character in the manga.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Specializes in it. Pretty much any and every minor thing that irritates him will warrant a punch to the face to the unlucky person who annoyed him.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: To avoid becoming an Invincible Hero, Takamura has to deal with several difficulties. Against lesser boxers, these don't matter, but against world champions they ensure that the match is exciting and tough. The first is his lack of stamina from fighting several weight classes below his natural weight. The second is his inexperience in fighting at the highest level of boxing, because he quite literally doesn't have a sparring partner, forcing him to learn and adapt to things he hasn't encountered before on the spot. The third weakness is the ongoing question whether or not he has a blind-spot in his right eye.
• Fingerpoke Of Doom: When practicing a kancho on a tile, it is shown that he can penetrate through it with his fingers. This shows how painful the punishment for Taihei's older brother is going to be.
• Finishing Move: Averted. Takamura does not have a Sunday Punch. His basic punches and boxing style is so effective that he's never needed one.
  • More along the lines of Zigzagged as he's actually a bit miffed by the fact that all his fellow gym members have a Sunday Punch save for himself. It gets to the point that he invented his own Sunday Punch called the Bettle's Uppercut... which is just an orthodox uppercut with a bit more oomph added to it. During the one and only time he uses it, it ends up doing nothing against his opponent so he goes back to his usual boxing style, and settles it very quickly soon afterwards.
• The Gift: Many boxers in the series have this, including Ippo and Wally, but Takamura's case is particularly impressive. An aimless miscreant, his potential is noticed by Kamogawa and he begins training at the gym. His strength and stamina far surpass anyone else in the gym from day one, and he has no trouble whatsoever with Kamogawa's intense regimen. He wins his first match a mere few months later in twenty-five seconds with a round one knockout, and absolutely zero sparring in the ring beforehand and no formal training but running and bagwork with only his left hand. He wasn't even warned of the match beforehand, yet quickly overcame the nerves from fighting a professional boxer for the first time in his life, when all his previous fights had been with untrained street punks well below his level. To call this superhuman would hardly be an overstatement. That said, he paid for this by being absolutely worthless when it comes to everything else. It's outright said that if Kamogawa had never found him, he would have lived a sad and lonely life as a bum.
• The Gloves Come Off: Takamura challenges Bryan Hawk with orthodox boxing in the early rounds, simply to prove that Kamogawa's teachings can work against a world champion. After that, he decides to use his more natural brawling style to match Hawk and performs even better.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: His are evil (obviously), but at least are very Badass.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Although he doesn’t show it openly, Takamura is jealous that Kamogawa pays more attention to Ippo than him, to the point of getting angry at Ippo for causing distress to Kamogawa by losing twice in a row. In reality, Kamogawa knows that Takamura doesn't actually need his help for many things anymore and chooses to work with someone who has more potential to grow rather than someone who is already at the top.
• Guile Hero: A master of the Indy Ploy when in the ring.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Despite clearly having some Berserk Buttons, pretty much anything can set Takamura off. For one thing, he gets irritated both when people are rude and cocky to him and when people are too polite and meek with him, so invoking his wrath is practically unavoidable.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Despite ostensibly being a Japanese hero due to his prowess in the ring, he's pretty much despised by the public thanks to his personality. It's not uncommon for his matches to begin with applause and then end with boos and food being thrown at him by the time he's in the winner's circle.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath:
• Hidden Depths: He comes across as a violent, crass bully, but his passion and respect for boxing is sincere and his loyalty to his coach is absolute. Despite his natural strength, he trains extremely hard and devotes every day to keeping in shape and making weight, and his thug-like demeanor belies a keen eye and a deep understanding of the scientific and technical aspects of the sport. Takamura is also capable of being a Nice Guy when he wants to be one. And he likes animals.
• Hot-Blooded: Attacks everything in his life with a burning passion and a disregard for others' safety and/or feelings.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: Takamura is a fundamentally traditional boxer, with no Sunday punches or gimmicks, just good form and excellent conditioning. Observers may make the mistake of thinking he's a Master of None, but the reality is that Kamogawa had to drill this balanced, composed style into him just so he'd be more well-rounded, and he's actually far more dangerous when he's brawling with abandon.
  • Additionally, after ascending to super middlweight, he finally finds himself fighting at his natural weight class, with no more weight management holding him back. This in turn allows him to unleash his actual full potential for the first time ever. Ultimately, he proves to be so powerful that he beats Keith Dragon, an ace world champ just as hyped as the previous ones, in only four rounds.
• Icy Blue Eyes: When he absolutely destroys Bryan Hawk in an Unstoppable Rage. His eyes turn into a very icy blue.
• Incredibly Lame Fun: He's the only one who finds the Itagaki families corny puns funny, which proves to be his undoing when he confronted the father in a battle of puns as he was reduced to hysterics after the latter made a pun about his wig, causing him to laugh all the way to the gym.
• Insufferable Genius: He's good. And he knows it. And he'll make sure everyone around him knows it.
  • Thought it's balanced by him being a Butt-Monkey outside the ring, especially when it comes to his terrible luck with women.
• It's All About Me: Takamura is incredibly self-centered, to the point where it's his most prominent trait aside from his arrogance.
• Japanese Delinquents: What he used to be in the past. Being scouted by Kamogawa as a boxer gave him a new purpose in life.
• Jerkass: Hoo boy, is he ever. He's a rude, obnoxious, vain, perverted, and extremely arrogant bully with little remorse for how often he offends people- no matter how you look at it, Takamura is genuinely an asshole. Still, his personality being entirely Played for Laughs, his honorable boxing code, and the fact that he's a Butt-Monkey outside of the ring ensures that he never gets too unbearable.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He certainly is a jerkass without remorse in every circumstance but one: Boxing. He not only swore that he would never be dishonest about boxing, it is the only time he will act genuinely helpful to his gym mates, adopting a kind of big brother relationship with Ippo. He was even protective of Aoki despite bullying him almost daily otherwise, simply because he felt that the sport itself was tainted by Aoki's opponent and his coach. His introduction, significantly, is a major Pet the Dog moment—saving Ippo from the bullies and challenging him to become strong. Also the whole battle with Hawk is a Pet the Dog moment as he promises to take the belt from Bryan Hawk and give it to Kamogawa also when declares he'll win for the pride of Japan and it's world former world champions.
• Lightning Bruiser: His punching power and stamina is completely unmatched in the story, but he's also very fast. Faster than people in the Featherweight class, including Ichiro Miyata.
• Lonely at the Top: Takamura is proud of his strength as the World Champion, but he also feels isolated and alone since no lower ranked boxers can relate to him. Seeing Ippo lose on his second return match makes Takamura believe that he’s alone and better off that way.
• Master of All: Easily the most well-rounded boxer in the series. He can in-fight, out-fight, brawl and counter as well or better than any of the characters who specialize in these respective styles. He can win with traditional technique, wild swinging or subtle mind games. His proficiency in almost every aspect of boxing is lampshaded multiple times by other characters.
• Meaningful Name: Taka means hawk. Thus, his nickname in the ring is The Japanese Hawk.
• Mr. Exposition: Usually serves as this during the matches of other people, when it's not one of the reporters doing it. In particular he was the first person to notice why Ippo's famous punches weren't doing much to Eiji Date.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: His skills and fighting style as well as attitude were based on Sugar Ray Robinson, the man who has been cited as the greatest boxer who ever lived.
  • He may also be a nod to Shinji Takehara, a streetfighting, hard-punching Japanese middleweight boxer who held the world title for a time. Takehara was forced to retire due to retinal detachment, and Takamura has had reoccurring issues that match the symptoms of the injury.
• Not Me This Time: When it looked like he was about to attack Bryan Hawk, the rest of the gang tries to stop him only for him to shout that he's actually trying to stop Kamogawa. Since the rest of the guys are holding him back and realize it too late, the old man grabs Hawk by the collar and ends up getting backhanded for his trouble. Takamura was furious.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: If Takamura isn't being arrogant, obnoxious or visibly enraged, something terrible has happened and/or he's about to do something worse.
• One-Hit Kill: His ungodly punching power makes these very common occurences.
• Power Copying: He has no Sunday punches of his own, but has a knack for imitating the techniques and stances of other boxers to Beat Them at Their Own Game. It makes him an ideal sparring partner, as he can adapt almost any style of fighting adequately enough to emulate most boxers he has seen in action.
• Power Limiter: In a way, his weight management. Because Japan lacks boxers in higher weight classes, Takamura needs to lose a lot of weight in order to fight in the lighter weight classes. Because of that he never really fought a boxing match being AT his full power until finally ascending to super middleweight, where his full potential surprises even himself and he ends up destroying the world champion Keith Dragon in only four rounds.
  • In a lesser and somewhat comedic sense, his use of pro wrestling moves. Whenever he bullies someone -or in the rare occasion he fights human opponents outside of a boxing match or sparring- he will us throws, locks, and pins from pro wrestling, as well as headbutts and kicks. This is partially due to his promise to Kamogawa and honor as a boxer not to sully his fists with fighting, partially a practical concern as a world-class boxer punching someone can do much more damage and face more severe consequences than the average street fighter. Of course, suplexing someone's head into concrete isn't any safer or more justified, but he's not exactly a genius.
• Psychopathic Manchild: His antics with the rest of the main cast often have him behaving like an 8-year old school bully. A notable example is him immediately lying to a freaked-out Tomiko that Kimura just beat up Masaru after he put the latter in a Boston Crab, and then pointing at the former getting slapped around by her as he laughs hysterically. There's also his self-centerdness, which comes across as less than an adult man's confidence and more like that of a spoiled brat given how unapolgetically smug he can be, something that's made worse than he can actually back it up due to being a superb boxer.
• Red Baron: "Japanese Hawk" because of his last name containing the kanji for "hawk", and "Bear Slayer" for knocking out a literal bear.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Literally the red oni to almost everyone in the show but to his closes peers he is red to Kamogawa and Ippo's blue. He could be the blue to Bryan Hawk's red even though the two hate each other with a passion, but Takamura is more serious and temperamental while Hawk is a boisterous maniac that is extremely bloodthirsty.
• Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?: "I've won against a bear! I'll tear you to to shreds!"
• Sadist: A comedic example of this, as Takamura really enjoys beating up his friends and making fun of them a little too much.
• Scars Are Forever: Three scars on his chest from a fight with a bear.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He has this dynamic with Ippo.
• Shonen Hair: When it's not styled with hair gel into his usual pompadour. Incidentally, the very rare occasions when this happens are a good time to run the other direction.
• Showy Invincible Hero: When told to make a big show of his next title defense in order to attract attention for the possibility of a world title run, he decided to play up the stories of his getting attacked by a bear during the gym's training camp by entering the ring in a bear skin mantle, whipping it off to reveal the fresh bear claw scars on his chest and shoulders, and beating his opponent senseless in the first round with only his non-dominant hand. Even the famously-stern Kamogawa admits that there's not a damn thing he can say to scold him after pulling that off.
• Sir Swearsalot
• Small Name, Big Ego: In everything BUT Boxing. He still has a huge ego when it comes to boxing, but at least there he damn well backs it up.
• Smug Super: Being a sports series, no one is actually superhuman, but Takamura comes damn near close and he knows it.
• Spin Attack: How he defeats Richard Bison, by spinning his body using his left foot's toe as the pivot, and using the centrifugal force from the spin to make Bison crash against the corner.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He has a very similar face and physique to his older brother, who also happens to be a gifted and renowned athlete. They could be twins, if not for Takamura's pompadour. Inverted with his older sister, who is drop-dead gorgeous, and baby brother, a meek little boy, both of whom have softer features and lighter hair than their brothers.
• Strong and Skilled: Takamura is projected as the ideal when it comes to boxing. Although he is a brawler at heart who makes use of his monstrous altheticism and fighting instincts, Kamogawa nevertheless relentlessly drilled the basics of boxing into him. He therefore can use the fundamental orthodox style and can calculate his opponent's weakness and use his amazing punching power to knock out his opponent. His combination of pure instincts and science makes him the World's Strongest Man of boxing.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky
• Talented, but Trained: Takamura's monstrous talent and superhuman athleticism alone could have carried him the top of the world. Nevertheless Kamogawa drilled textbook boxing into him, which comes in handy especially against ultra-textbook boxers.
• Teeny Weenie: Subverted and Played for Laughs. Though it looks small when we first see it flaccid, judging by his therapy session with Yamaguchi hundreds of chapters later, Takamura's Raging Stiffie actually seems fairly average and maybe even on the bigger side; however, he's still apparently nothing compared to Ippo, and he instantly gets both insecure and enraged whenever Ippo gets positive attention from women.
• Testosterone Poisoning
• Training from Hell: He subjects others and himself to this. In his case, he has to forcibly keep himself five classes underweight for a title match since there's a general lack of credibility in the Pacific Heavyweight scene, to the point that near fight time he's typically so dehydrated he has trouble urinating.
  • In the case of others, he's frequently tapped to emulate major opponents; for example, when Ippo fought Jason Ozuma, Takamura was used because Ozuma's famous specialty hooks are about on par in power with his own despite the much higher weight class. Of course, he enjoyed himself so much (and not being one to hoard the fun) that he dragged Aoki and Kimura into the sparring ring for the same practice to keep his arms warmed up while Ippo recovered from his own near-death experiences.
• Tranquil Fury: Exceedingly rare, given his Hot-Blooded nature, but if he looks solemn in the ring, somebody is in serious trouble.
• Trash of the Titans: His apartment is always full with heaps of trash and scattered porn magazines.
• Traumatic Haircut: Minor but still significant, he loses his trademark hairstyle after a severe beating by Hawk. Inversion occurs as every fan will tell you he looks downright◊ beautiful that way. Happens again during his match against Bison.
• The Un-Favourite: He was disinherited for crying out loud!
• Unstoppable Rage: Against Hawk. Big fucking time.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Averted. With his raw power and wild personality, this is his natural style of fighting, but Kamogawa has trained him to favor the fundamentals of boxing and a cool head over fury and force. But if he's pushed too far, he will revert to this style and there will be blood. Even Kamogawa admits that reckless slugging is Takamura's strong suit.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Takamura is often humiliated and fails at pretty much anything that's not related to boxing. But the fact that he's such a braggadocious jerk makes his failures played up more for comedic relief than anything else.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: More like "vitriolic master and pupil" but he has this with Kamogawa. They will fling insults towards each other at the drop of a hat (mostly due to Takamura's antics), but behind it all, they are like a father and son.
• Volleying Insults: With Date.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Deals these to Ippo twice. Once when he thinks he's not serious enough as a boxer, later when he almost falls victim to Kobashi's tactics.
  • He also secretly resents Ippo for losing to Gonzales, because of the negative emotional impact it had on the coach.
  • On the other hand, he's also often in the receiving end. His Jerkass behavior is often brought up by many others, and Team Dad Kamogawa beats him up with his cane when he goes too far.
• World's Best Warrior: He has conquered *three* weight classes so far (one in which he even unified the WBC and WBA belts), and currently is the Super Middleweight WBC champ. Word of God calls him the best fighter in the series, above even the legendary Ricardo Martinez.
• World's Strongest Man: He is the strongest and most capable boxer in the entire series. Going on an undefeated streak as well as being a unifying champion.
• Would Hurt a Child: Not even kids are safe from getting punched or having rocks thrown at them if they're around when he's in a bad mood. And no matter how young his sparring partner, he'll go easy relative to their inexperience and weight difference, but not their age.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Often uses elaborate suplexes and head/armlocks to show off and harass his friends at Kamogawa Gym. It's revealed in a flashback that he started this approach as a way to fight delinquents (namely Aoki) while honoring his vow to Kamogawa that he wouldn't use his ''fists'' outside of boxing.
• Wrestler of Beasts: While at a training camp in the forest, Takamura was attacked by a black bear. Although he received several injuries, Takamura fought back and defeated the animal with a Cross Counter. He let the bear live when he saw it had cubs, but it was still killed later by Ginpachi Nekota who served it as dinner to the boxers. As a sign of respect to the bear as well as an Intimidation Demonstration before getting in the ring, Takamura chose to wear the bear's head and fur.

Masaru Aoki

Voiced by: Wataru Takagi (JP), Peter Doyle (Credited as Jim Taggert) (EN), Benjamín Rivera (Latin-American Spanish)

Ippo's senpai and Kimura's best friend. Aoki provides much of the gym's comic relief and exercises one of the world's most unusual fighting styles. A few of his signature techniques include the fan-favorite Frog Punch, double punch, an untorqued (ineffective) corkscrew punch, and the utterly ridiculous Lookaway (which has also been adopted by Takamura). In the past, he and Kimura were the toughest high-school thugs around, but now Aoki's real job is at a ramen restaurant. Due to the numerous times being dumped by the pretty girls in high school, he's developed a taste for women with unattractive faces. He has fought for the Japanese lightweight championship, losing in a draw, and shares an apartment with his girlfriend, Tomiko, a friend of Kumi Mashiba whose nice personality and good body more than compensate for her less-than-stellar face. Aoki seems to be based on either former world champion Jorge Páez, or hardcore fight fan hero Emanuel Augustus for their offbeat fighting styles and records. His current record stands at 20 Matches 11-6-4 (W-L-D), with 6 KOs, and the best rank he reached is 1st in Lightweight. His signature "Look Away" technique is based on a skill former World Middleweight Champion Jake LaMotta had used in his career and his signature move the "Frog Punch" is based on real-life former world champion Koichi Wajima whose signature move was called the "Frog Jump".

Aoki is ranked 7th in JBC Lightweight rankings.

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• The Ace: Subverted with Boxing, but played straight with everything else. Aoki is good at baseball (people from his high school team say that if he and Kimura kept playing, they would have went to Koshien), bowling, and his ramen shop is extremely successful. He's also the only one of the main characters with a girlfriend. Even Takamura begrudgingly acknowledges that Aoki (and Kimura) are untouchable at every sport but boxing.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: In the manga, Aoki doesn't appear until after the first Ippo vs. Miyata spar, where he is seen as the latter's sparring partner. The anime instead had him and Kimura present at the first spar, taking some lines that were used by generics in the manga.
• Animal Motifs: The frog. As he puts it himself, he "may never fly" like a bird, but he'll never stop jumping towards his goal regardless.
• Ass Shove: He meets Ippo by showing a kancho in his ass. Over 1200 chapters later, Aoki gets a painful kancho from Takamura (whose fingers can penetrate through tiles) for being an irresponsible older brother to Taihei.
• Awesome, but Impractical: His Frog Punch. It is an upper thrown with his entire body in order to amplify its power. It is a high-risk, high-reward move suitable for someone who lacks raw brute strength.
• Big Brother Instinct: He is the oldest son of a large family, as such, he made sure to use his restaurant money to pay for their education since the house was growing too small for them as they kept growing up.
• Butt-Monkey: Bordering on Cosmic Plaything every now and then.
• Can't Catch Up: Inverted, and Played for Laughs. He and Kimura get picked on by Takamura constantly for allowing Ippo to catch up to and then surpass them in both skill and in terms of career success within just a few years.
• The Chew Toy: Even more unlucky than Ippo, and that's something.
• Confusion Fu: His fighting style is rather unorthodox. The sheer audacity of his unorthodox tactics eat away at an opponent’s rhythm and focus pulling them right into his pace. Though that is not to say he’s unskilled at subtle acting.
• Cool Big Bro: To Taihei, his youngest brother.
• Cowardly Lion: Coward might be a bit strong, but out of the protagonists, he's the one most likely to complain and/or be scared when he has to face a strong opponent.
• Deer in the Headlights: It is revealed that he has a specific case of boxer eye that makes him close his eyes when someone throws a straight punch at him. Fortunately, he managed to surpass his fear after Takamura spends a whole night punching him.
• Delinquents: He and Kimura, in their Backstory.
• Foil: To Kimura. While they are Those Two Guys and considered roughly equal as boxers, Aoki's boxing style is ugly and unorthodox, compensating for his lack of skill with trickery and wild moves. Kimura's boxing is extremely orthodox, and his skills are all decent across the board but never excellent. Watching Kimura fight is like seeing a perfect tutorial on the basics of boxing, while Aoki's fights are unlike any boxing match anyone has ever seen.
• Game-Breaking Injury: Downplayed, he had boxer eye, which is a Career-Ending Injury for most boxers. However, it's a specific type that only works with straight punches.
• The Gift: Inverted in regards to the shape of his fist; unlike Ippo and Itagaki who have fists that are perfectly made for their style of boxing, Aoki's fist has a round shape, which means they will always naturally slip off his target and are actually terrible for boxing.
• Has a Type: A Running Gag of the show is that Aoki has an attraction to Gonk girls, much to the disgust of his friends.
• Hot-Blooded
• Irony: Aoki is excellent at just about every sport but boxing- which of course, happens to be the only sport he wanted to pursue professionally.
• Look Behind You: Aoki weaponizes this trope, as seen in his fight with Katsutaka Imae.
• Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration: Before he became a boxer, he burned off some of his restless energy by constantly having his hands down his pants and fiddling around with himself. In public.
• Playing Possum: A favorite tactic of his in the ring.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Hot-Blooded red oni to Kimura's Only Sane Man blue oni.
• Shipper on Deck: Among Ippo's friends he is the one who tries the hardest to get Ippo together with Kumi, sadly all his attempts have failed to this day.
• Signature Move: Look Away into Frog Punch.
• Team Chef: Justified, he has a part-time work in a ramen restaurant.
  • Chef of Iron: Well, he can kick ass, so..
• Those Two Guys: With Kimura.
• Took a Level in Badass: After surpassing his trauma with straight punches, Aoki's boxing ability skyrockets. While he does lose to Iga, it was more because Iga was far stronger than Aoki. The following matches have Aoki displaying less gimmicks, and using more boxing and brawling techniques to defeat his adversaries.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Played it straight in his backstory, then inverted it when he became the only Kamogawa boxer with a girlfriend - and Tomiko is a Genki Girl as well as a borderline female Gonk.
• Weak, but Skilled: Aoki lacks the brute strength that most of the series' boxers posses, and his stamina isn't particularly great either. He makes up for this by employing a very unorthodox fighting style, and making use of intricate tactics and mind-games during his matches. Most who see it end up thinking he's just a clown fooling around, but there's much more to it than that.
• What the Hell, Hero?: He scolds Taihei for disrespecting Ippo's teachings.
• Worf Had the Flu: He had boxer eye since the beginning of his career, which caused him to lose or tie with opponents that he could have defeated had he not been hindered by the condition. At least a few of those ties were against champions.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Uses this tactic in the first two rounds his title match by taking advantage of the damage he has received thus far... and it pays off marvelously.

Tatsuya Kimura

Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (JP), Grant George (EN), Alfredo Gabriel Basurto (Latin-American Spanish)

Ippo's senpai and Aoki's best friend. He is the smooth, collected type and a romantic at heart, but trains as hard as anyone. His style incorporates a fast left and faster footwork and is considered by Miyata to have "no weaknesses" yet, it also doesn't have strengths either which creates Kimura's weakness. In the OVA, which was dedicated to Kimura, he is in training for his bid for the Japanese junior lightweight championship against Ryo Mashiba, he developed a devastating vertical combination known as the Dragon Fish Blow, which Kimura learned while watching his pet fish jump up and eat his meal in front of him. Another interesting fact is that, out of all the opponents that had fought Ryo Mashiba, Kimura is the only one Ryo had feared during a match. In the past, he and Aoki were the toughest high-school thugs around, but now Tatsuya's real job is at his family's flower shop. His current record stands at 24 Matches 17-5-3 (W-L-D), with 8 KOs, and the best rank he reach is 3rd in Jr. Lightweight. However, this rank was enough for him to get a title match, because the 1st & 2nd resigned from fear of Mashiba.

Kimura is ranked 7th in the JBC Jr. Lightweight rankings. After losing to Ryo Mashiba, he announced his retirement from boxing. Shortly after, unable to stay away from boxing, he returned saying he'd spell his name in katakana (タツヤ, Tatsuya) instead of kanji (達也,, Tatsuya). Kimura's character seems to be at least partially based on former world champion "Fearless" Freddie Pendleton, who had been a journeyman fighter his entire career, yet was still able to fight on even terms with some of the best in the world with his high level of skill.

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• 10-Minute Retirement: He made a promise that he'd retire if he wasn't able to take the belt from Mashiba in their championship bout. Despite fighting his heart out, he just barely loses by a matter of centimeters. It's the fact that those centimeters would weigh on his mind for the rest of his life and the fact that he genuinely loved boxing that he decided to un-retire himself. Takamura is displeased with this.
  Takamura: DAMN YOU! QUIT ALREADY!
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Kimura doesn't appear in the manga until the lead-up to Ippo's pro debut, where he just casually appears to give info on his opponent. In the anime, they had him and Aoki watch the first Ippo vs. Miyata spar, taking over some lines from generic gym members as well.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Kimura is seemingly more well-adjusted than his gym mates and has a form-perfect but unambitious fighting style. However, in his match with Mashiba he develops a devastating finishing move and terrifies the feared boxer with his tenacity and skill.
• Big Brother Mentor: Has his moments, being more down-to-earth than Aoki and Takamura.
• Can't Catch Up: Inverted, and Played for Laughs. He and Aoki get picked on by Takamura constantly for allowing Ippo to catch up to and then surpass them in both skill and in terms of career success within just a few years.
• A Day in the Limelight: In the Mashiba vs. Kimura OVA.
• Delinquents: He and Aoki, in their Backstory.
• Drives Like Crazy: Well, not exactly a swerver, but Kimura would often bonk his face while doing a wheelie on his bike back in the 80s, knocking both him and Aoki off, leading to a hilarious exchange:
  Aoki: (whilst chasing the bike) You sloppy driver!
  Kimura: (in a high pitched screech) SHUT UP!
• Foil: To Aoki. While they are Those Two Guys and considered roughly equal as boxers, Aoki's boxing style is ugly and unorthodox, compensating for his lack of skill with trickery and wild moves. Kimura's boxing is extremely orthodox, and his skills are all decent across the board but never excellent. Watching Kimura fight is like seeing a perfect tutorial on the basics of boxing, while Aoki's fights are unlike any boxing match anyone has ever seen.
• Hunk: While Aoki and Takamura have intimidating appearances that put women off, Kimura is noted as being handsome and manly. Not that it makes him any more successful with the opposite sex, of course.
• Jack of All Stats: During Kimura's spar against Miyata in preparation for his match against Mashiba, Miyata tells Kimura that he has no weaknesses, but he doesn't have any strengths either. This comment is what led to Kimura developing a Sunday punch. To emphasize this further, even the shape of his fist is completely standard and unremarkable.
• Nice Guy: At Kamogawa Gym. Miyata is cold and condescending before he leaves, Takamura is a wicked bully, Aoki is a crass prankster and Kamogawa is a gruff old taskmaster. Kimura is, for the most part, benign and helpful, and seems the most welcoming at the gym when Ippo's training begins, though he can still get in on some mischief at Ippo's expense from time to time. His pleasantness stands out less over time as they all take a shine to Ippo.
• Not So Above It All: Takamura and Aoki are petty, thickheaded stooges who constantly harass Ippo and each other. Kimura usually stays out of it, though it's not uncommon for him get caught up in Aoki's mischief or roped into Takamura's debauchery.
• Only Sane Man: Sometimes.
• Out of Focus: Though he's always present, he typically gets the least attention story and character wise compared to the other four main boxers. However, he did take the leading role in he and Aoki's backstory.
  • Massively subverted for his fight with Mashiba, in which Kimura is given top billing and becomes the only boxer Mashiba has ever feared.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Only Sane Man blue oni to Aoki's Hot-Blooded red oni.
• Signature Move: Dragon Fish Blow, which he developed specifically as an anti-Mashiba punch. And it very nearly succeeded.
• Those Two Guys: With Aoki.

Manabu Itagaki

Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (JP)

The most recent addition to the roster, the charming Manabu has a prodigy's talent and was the captain of his high school's boxing team. Cheerful and a lover of bad puns (as are the rest of his family), Manabu is a fierce outboxer with extremely high speed and reflexes and whose fighting style is uncanny in its resemblance to Miyata's. His most powerful technique is a furious hail of mid-power blows known as the Hedgehog or Porcupine, which was employed in an East Japan Rookie Kings showdown with his longtime nemesis, Kyosuke Imai. Outside of boxing, Manabu is employed as an assistant at the Makounouchi family's fishing business. He has a big crush on Kumi but prefers to keep his feelings for himself because of his respect for his Idol Ippo. Itagaki's character is based on retired world champion Oscar de La Hoya for his prodigy-like natural ability and good looks, whom Itagaki has admitted to idolizing in the manga. His current record as the Rookie King of his class stands at 14 Matches 12-2-0 (W-L-D), with 10 KOs.

Itagaki is currently listed as 1st in JBC Featherweight rankings and 4th in the OPBF after winning the Class A Tournament. Itagaki is one of the speed square which consists of 3rd Saeki, 5th Karasawa, 7th Fukui.

Recently, It's been shown that Itagaki has become quite smitten for Kumi, but realizes feeling is not mutual.

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• Big Entrance: Runs and jumps into the ring, then poses on top of the corner post while shouting "Ita-Gakiin!".
• The Bro Code: Itagaki seems to be a believer in this. He hasn't even tried to make a move on Kumi despite knowing that he, and Mashiba are pretty cool; and that Ippo has been dancing around confessing to her for half a decade. Though this is likely because he knows Kumi will turn him down.
• Cannot Keep a Secret: Using Kumi's date information to trick Mashiba into sparring him.
• Chick Magnet: In his debut match, he managed to have a crowd of girls cheering for him despite being a rookie.
• Confusion Fu: How he starts taking the advantage in his match with Saeki.
• Dance Battler: His boxing moves list includes shuffling and moon-walking.
• Fragile Speedster: Bordering on Glass Cannon at times. His style is based around his natural agility and as such he can't take much punishment but good LUCK hitting him.
• The Gadfly: He occasionally enjoys annoying other people, Ippo being one of the exceptions.
• The Gift: Like many other boxer's in this series, Itagaki has increadible natural talent. He mentioned that when he first started boxing in high school, he could already dance around the upper classmen who had years more experience on him. He's so good that he can pick up on and use moves from other people just by watching them.
• Humble Pie: Loses to longtime rival Imai in their match for the belt that Ippo relinquished, by knockout and during the first round to boot. While still cocky, his confidence and performance seem to have suffered because of it.
• Innocently Insensitive:Downplayed. While his sometimes mean observations or jokes are not entirely devoid of malice, they're not usually meant to be as hurtful as they end up coming across.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: He attempts to hide his interest in Kumi in order to not get in Ippo's way, and sometimes even helps their relationship progress such as giving Kumi his ticket which was seated next to Ippo.
• Likes Older Women: Not only with Kumi but also invited Mari on a "date".
• Naïve Newcomer
• Pride: Underneath his humorous personality, the guy is very cocky. The only thing that keeps him from being a Smug Snake is the fact that he's genuine friends with everyone at the gym.
• Power Copying: Is able to effortlessly copy the various signature quirks and sunday punches of other boxers.
• Pungeon Master: Apparently, his entire family is like this.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: See Signature Move.
• Red Baron: Chronos, Speed King (after defeating Saeki)
• Signature Move: Hedgehog.
• Skilled, but Naive
• Super Mode: When he focuses.
• Teach Him Anger: When asked to remind Ippo of what could be critical advice to calm him down, he decides not to pass the message on so that he can see what happens when Ippo is furious enough to hit someone as hard as possible.
• Time Stands Still: Time appears to move differently for him and his opponent. Hence his Badass Nickname, Chronos (God of Time).

Genji Kamogawa

"Not everyone who works hard is rewarded. But! All those who succeed have worked hard!"

Voiced by: Kenji Utsumi (JP), Mamoru Miyano (young, JP) Richard Epcar (EN), César Arias (Latin-American Spanish)

Head coach and founder of the Kamogawa gym. He fought as a prizefighter in Japan shortly after the end of the Second World War. Along with his friends, Ginpachi Nekota and Dankichi Hama, Kamogawa developed a style of fighting that both presumably became the forerunner of boxing in Japan and emphasized scientific theory in its techniques. In his prime, Kamogawa's talents included the fearsome, yet self-destructive, Tekken (Iron Fist) blow which is a body blow enough to knock someone down and an unyielding spirit which has been passed onto his students. As a coach, Kamogawa's wealth of knowledge and experience has been tapped into on multiple occasions during training as well as in matches. He may seem to be a bit gruff towards his boxers, but maintains very strong relationships based on trust and spirit; i.e., he rescued Takamura from his life as a thug by introducing him to boxing. Although he rarely admits it aloud, he is extremely proud of his two best reliable straight-forward boxers, Takamura and Ippo.

During Ippo's comeback fight, Coach Kamogawa was hospitalized due to over fatigue. Therefore not being able to teach Ippo a technique that would utilize both attacking and defending simultaneously. He was shocked during Ippo's match with Ponchai when, during the timeout after the first round, Ippo declares a Knock Out within the Second Round. Coach Kamogawa's pride was lifted up, however, when Ippo did the Dempsey Roll for the first time, not even knowing what it was called.

Ippo's matches with Volg and Sanada proved how tight the bond between the Coach and his athlete is. During Ippo's fight with Volg, Ippo made a remark to Kamogawa: "Amazing". Kamogawa thought that Ippo was referring to Volg's Power. Ippo stated "I followed everything you taught me during training and it's working.". During the end of the fight with Sanada, Ippo was sitting on the neutral corner due to the damage he sustained from the fight. Kamogawa reached out a hand to Ippo to let him up and Ippo stared in amazement at his Coach's hand, referring to it as "The hand that pushed me to exceed my limit".

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• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Usually his main strategy as he prefers his boxers to rush in and use their punching strength. This works about 99.9% of the time.
• Berserk Button:
  • Disrespecting Japanese boxers and their motivation or willpower will certainly set him off. This was shown when Volg's trainer talked ill of the Japanese way of boxing. He became so upset that he pushed Ippo beyond his limits to beat Volg and even developed a new move to beat him.
  • A more comical one is Takamura's loud and obnoxious ways. During the show he is seen swinging his cane at him and yelling at him for basically everything he does.
  • Disrespecting his gym's boxers is his biggest one, to the point where he attacked Bryan Hawk at the press conference (something he had just told Takamura NOT to do under any circumstances).
• Cool Old Guy: Much physically and mentally stronger than you'd think.
  • He's able to hit Takamura with a counter. Granted, Takamura got pissed off and KOed him with a single punch, but remember he's a 80-something year old.
  • He commands so much authority over the gym that nobody will backtalk him when he puts his foot down. Even Takamura, the one who gives Kamogawa the most grief and irritation out of all his boxers, will back down when he's pissed off the old man. And he is not above using his cane to beat some ass when somebody is screwing around (for comedic effect, of course).
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: He developed the Tekken Punch.
• Determinator: In his past. Big time. And he's still very strong-willed.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Gives this reaction to Miguel when he heard his warning. Twice. First, after he and Ginpachi was curbstomped by Ralph, Miguel warns them that Ralph is indeed dangerous. They look away from him. Miguel continued, they better not think about revenge for their own safety. They got even more pissed. The second one is more like Don't You Dare Pity My Pupils, after Ippo defeats Warlee, Miguel warned him to not let Takamura and Ippo stall for too long or they would be broken, out of his genuine worry and respect. Kamogawa replied that his pupils are not fragile and it's none of his business.
• A Father to His Men: The stern, fatherly type to his boxers.
• Grumpy Old Man
• Hair-Trigger Temper / Hot-Blooded: Kamogawa is old and grumpy and it's very easy to set him off, especially if Takamura is being a total idiot. But he's actually shown to be a very strongwilled person, especially in his younger days when he was determined to beat Sergeant Anderson. But overall, he's still an old man not to be messed with.
• I Was Quite a Looker: The flashbacks reveal that he was very Tall, Dark, and Handsome
• Kubrick Stare: When Kamogawa gets angry he usually has his head down and his piercing eyes shooting a Death Glare at someone.
• Like a Son to Me: Kamogawa considers Takamura the greatest son he's never had. In addition to this, Yagi says that all of Kamogawa's pro boxers (yes, even Aoki and Kimura) are surrogate sons to the old man.
  • He later sees Ippo as a son in some ways even more than Takamura, as Ippo never had Takamura's natural fighting instincts, just a well developed physique. Kamogawa basically built Ippo from the ground up and poured even more time and care into Ippo than Takamura, who was already an amazing fighter and simply needed refinement and conditioning. Kamogawa cares deeply for Ippo due to Ippo's diligence in following his instructions and the faith he has in Kamogawa. To date, Ippo is the only boxer Kamogawa has trained that has made Kamogawa question his own methods and actions with a few times being My God, What Have I Done? moments when even Takamura rarely ever gets Was Too Hard on Him from Kamogawa.
• Obsolete Mentor: Has degrees of this with Takamura. To put it simply, Takamura's boxing genius and insight is simply so great that Kamogawa can't actually give him much advice when it comes to tactics or strategy. Kamogawa knows this as well and believes that Takamura would have become world champion under just about any coach, and thus the world belts aren't really his achievements as a coach. However, he's still a guiding hand and manages to rein in Takamura's personality flaws from time to time.
• Old Master: The elderly manager of the gym and personal mentor to Ippo and Takamura. Being a fairly realistic sports series, he's certainly not whooping any of his young students like a shonen series sensei, but he's still robust enough to do focus mitt training with champion boxers in their prime and shows remarkable reflexes and perception for a man of any age, let alone a senior citizen. And while it's usually Played for Laughs, when he does throw a punch at someone, it's fast and hard. It's also played with in that despite his wisdom he makes plenty of mistakes when training his boxers, and he believes he shares some of the blame for some of Ippo's behaviors that may have contributed towards ending Ippo's career.
  • Other characters have remarked that Kamogawa is a genius in his own right when it comes to training his boxers, developing new techniques or modifying old ones; when his boxers have a match, he goes to great lengths training them to counter their opponent's strengths or exploit their weaknesses. This even goes so far as knowing a good deal of human physiology, with Dr. Yamaguchi being impressed with how he trains Ippo so as to minimize injury. Even during the first days of training Ippo, he focused on building the kid's confidence, drilled Ippo into punching KO zones with subtle but clever mitt placement, and deliberately set up a healthy rivalry with Miyata to encourage both of them to train hard.
• Parental Substitute: To Takamura, after he's disinherited by his rich family. Also towards Ippo, who grew up without his dad.
• Signature Move: Tekken, a left (or right) hook body blow that hits so hard it indents his fist in his opponent's flesh.
• Stern Teacher
• Team Dad: Oh so much.
• Unskilled, but Strong: In his younger days as a boxer he was more of a brawler type of boxer and preferred his powerful punches. This goes to show during his fight with Anderson as he relied heavily on the Tekken punch rather than skill.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: His friendship with Nekota. They argue and tend to start fights even in their old age, but they are fiercely loyal to one another. They have difficulty letting one match go where it ended in a draw and they keep talking about resolving it one day. In their younger days, Nekota’s defeat at Anderson’s hands is what motivates Kamogawa to train hard for his match against the American soldier.

Haruhiko Yagi

Voiced by: Toshihiko Nakajima (JP), Paul St. Peter (EN), Germán Fabregat (Latin-American Spanish)

Manager and Assistant Trainer of Kamogawa Boxing Gym, he also acts as a cutman during matches. Called "Yagi-chan" by his pupils, he is the one responsible for the gym's finances, equipment maintenance, promoting matches and acquiring and selling tickets. He knows a great deal about boxing himself, having been a boxer at Kamogawa Gym once.

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• The Ace: Not with boxing, but with fishing and Mahjong. It's revealed that two of Yagi's mahjong students became high ranking professional players.
• Informed Ability: He is a good fisherman. So good that he's banned from a local fishing hole.
  • As seen during the fishing contest, where he puts his skills on full display and acts like a Smug Super.
• Mr. Exposition: Befitting Yagi's job as manager, he's usually the first to report on the prospective opponents of the gym's boxers.
• Team Mom: Yagi is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the gym like booking fights and paying the bills, resulting in him being the guy who handles the little things and is the most reliable at being the voice of reason among the management.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: In episode 15 of Rising.

Tomoyuki Shinoda

Voiced by: Seiji Sasaki (JP)

One of the main staff at the Kamogawa gym. He acts as the chief trainer and second of Masaru Aoki, Tatsuya Kimura, and Manabu Itagaki, and one of the seconds for Ippo Makunouchi and Mamoru Takamura's corner. Shinoda carries out Genji Kamogawa's tradition of strict training.

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• Ascended Extra: Started out as a background extra to give Kamogawa gym more staff but eventually developed a speaking role and even got a subplot focusing on his worries that his training methods are holding his trainees back.
• Eyes Always Shut: Drawn this way since the beginning.
• Heroic BSoD: Considers retiring after he lets Aoki and Kimura's teasing get to him and starts thinking that his training methods are dragging them down, Has another when Aoki and Kimura lose badly in the Class A Tournament, with Aoki ending up hospitalized.

Taihei Aoki

One of Aoki's many younger brothers. One of the two newest members of the Kamogawa Gym who is being taught by Ippo Makunouchi, whom he looks up to. He used to be the leader of a group of delinquents at his school before joining the Kamogawa gym.

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• Delinquent Hair: He had medium length, dyed blonde hair that was styled into a pompadour in his debut appearance, but after the incident between Ippo and Taihei, Kaneda and Taihei shaved their heads bald as part of their apology. His hair has grown since then, but he retains his natural brown-red color.
• First-Name Basis: Unlike most characters, he's generally referred to by his given name. Ippo not knowing his full name becomes a plot point later on. It also hides the fact who his older brother is.
• Hate Sink: He's an abrasive, unlikeable Jerkass that only thinks about himself, and while he idolizes Ippo, it's for his power in the ring rather than as an individual. He's all the worst aspects of someone who only takes away the violence and the "king of the ring" mentality from the sport, culminating in using Ippo's boxing training to overpower other delinquents without telling anyone. The resulting aftermath is considered expected by everyone but Ippo himself, and serves as the catalyst for a genuine Heel–Face Turn.
• Japanese Delinquents: What he was until Ippo literally smacked some sense into him.
• Kick the Dog: He signs up with the gym and learns under Ippo in the art of boxing.. to use it for street fighting against other delinquents. Never mind the dangers of professional boxing used in regular white-knuckle brawls, he specifically exploited and betrayed his own idol's trust for the sake of his own ego and pride. Ippo isn't happy when he find out.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Gets slapped with an open palm strike by Ippo for trying to use boxing as a street brawling tool and exploiting the Kamogawa Gym's good name for it. The strike proceeded to send him flying several meters away, unconscious on impact and bleeding from his face, and outright gave him memory loss of the incident beyond the sole mental image of Ippo's complete and utter rage. It's enough to ultimately Scare 'Em Straight and genuinely start Taihei onto the path of legitimate boxing.
• Those Two Guys: With Kintaro, due to both being under the tutelage of Ippo as the newest members of the gym.

Kintaro Kaneda

One of the two newest members of the Kamogawa Gym who is being taught by Ippo Makunouchi, who he looks up to. He used to be with a group of delinquents that went against Taihei Aoki's school before joining the Kamogawa gym.

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• Delinquent Hair: He had long, dyed blonde hair in his debut appearance, but after the incident between Ippo and Taihei, Kaneda and Taihei shaved their heads bald as part of their apology. His hair has grown since then, but he retains his natural black color.
• Japanese Delinquents: Was one - and a rival to Taihei to boot - until he was inspired by Ippo to straighten up his act.
• Oh, Crap!: He's was a witness alongside Umezawa to Ippo slapping Taihei so hard the latter was Blown Across the Room and nearly killed outright, as Ippo was Blinded by Rage and Taihei was given Laser-Guided Amnesia. The former already terrified him shitless, the latter made him so horrified he changed his ways too.
• Those Two Guys: With Taihei, due to both being under the tutelage of Ippo as the newest members of the gym.

Rivals

Ichirou Miyata

"My father's style of boxing is not wrong!"

Voiced by:Tomokazu Seki (JP), Jason Palmer (EN), José Antonio Macías (Latin-American Spanish)

Miyata is a very skilled outboxer specializing in counters. As a rookie, he was recognized as a genius, although his great abilities stem more from hard work than one might initially believe. He's a very cool-headed and intelligent person. Despite his somewhat cold demeanor, he has a great fighting spirit and is nicer than one might think at first.

He's Ippo's main rival but also idol, as the two constantly try to top each other and grow as boxer with the other one as their goal. He's the current reigning OPBF Featherweight Champion, which he won from Arnie Gregory. Miyata has a deep relationship with his father and trainer, who was the reason Miyata got into boxing in the first place, to prove that his fathers way of boxing isn't wrong. This is why he got into boxing much earlier than any of the other boxers, long before he could even become pro boxer.

Miyata is a Fragile Speedster and very skilled counter-puncher. He loves high-risk, high-reward counters. He has very low punching power and a "glass jaw", which are significant weaknesses. He attempts to overcome these with technique and speed. He has a remarkably great fighting spirit, probably on par with Ippo's. Somewhat surprisingly, Word of God says he's the third best pound-for-pound boxer in the series.

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• The Ace: To a slight degree.
• Achilles' Heel: His lack of physical strength and his "glass jaw" the second is inherited from his dad.
• Aloof Ally: He's not very friendly towards them, but he'll still help and support his former gym mates if the need arises.
• Animal Motifs: Not a specific kind, but birds in general. With the way he moves inside the ring, Miyata is described as having "wings". His fragility also draws comparison with this animal, with sometimes feather motifs shown.
• Book Dumb: Miyata is fairly intelligent when it comes to boxing and he even bothered to learn English and Thai for his boxing matches. However, he’s stumped when he has to help his juniors solve some factorization problems.
• Chick Magnet: Miyata is handsome and the girls in the crowd cheering for him certainly appreciate that.
• Counter-Attack: His main boxing philosophy passed down from his father and to make up for his weak punches. This is why his fights often start with him using his speed to run around the opponent or alternatively get pounded one-sidedly until he lands a One-Hit Kill counter.
• Cross Counter: The main user of this type of counter in the series, but usually connects as a full on counter rather than an exchange of hits.
• Dramatic Wind: His tie loves flapping.
• Determinator: Yeah, really. In fact, the "green eyes of determination" that are sometimes seen first appeared in him.
• Even the Guys Want Him: Ippo
• Fragile Speedster: He later gains excellent counters that make his attack power much more fearsome on top of his speed, but he remains fragile, due to his weight control. To quote Kamogawa, "A blade with an incredible cutting edge is easily broken."
• Generation Xerox
• Glass Cannon: He can't really take punches from much stronger boxers.
• It's Personal: Towards Randy Boy Jr.
• Last-Name Basis: For the guys at Kamogawa gym, as well as strangers. His own father and new management call him by his first name though.
• Like Father, Like Son: He uses his father's fighting style Weak, but Skilled. His father is afraid of Miyata using this style when he got severely injured due to an opponent with great power and strength broke his jaw. This costed Miyata's father's boxing career. When Jimmy Sisfa arrives to fight Miyata his dad attempts to throw the fight due to him wanting to protect his son.
• Missing Mom: His parents are divorced and we don’t hear much about his mother.
• Nerves of Steel: Miyata's ability to keep calm while taking a high-risk high-reward fighting strategy of counters is one of the qualities that impresses fans and boxers alike.
• Not So Stoic: He usually wears an intense expression, especially in the ring. However, there are times where his stoicism drops. He stifles a laugh after witnessing Ippo run away in a comical fashion during their first sparring match. He also became very frustrated with Ippo when the latter refused to stay down in the third round and began hitting him more aggressively.
• Odd Friendship: You wouldn't expect brash, Hot-Blooded Takamura and calm, stoic Miyata to not only be friends, but to have one of the oldest friendships in the series, going back to when Miyata was a kid and Takamura was still in high school.
• Power Limiter: Similarly to Takamura, Miyata has to undergo drastic weight management regimens in order to box as a featherweight, compounding his stamina and strength issues. Several coaches, his own father included, have commented that he'd probably be much better off going up to lightweight, but Miyata insists on staying in featherweight so that he can step back into the ring with Ippo one day. It's a testament to Miyata's incredible skill & sheer determination that he has managed to become the OPBF Champion in spite of this.
• Red Baron: God of Lightning.
• Signature Move: Jolt Counter.
  • Finishing Move: The Corkscrew Counter◊ affably named "Red Lightning".
• The Stoic: The closest it gets in the series.
• The Unfought: Aside from their very early sparring matches, Miyata and Ippo have yet to face each other in an official match. Their seemingly fated battle has been delayed time and again. It eventually reached the point that Ippo retired before they could stand against one another in the ring.
• Weak, but Skilled: His physical strength and durability are pathetic. He makes up for it by being one of the most skilled boxers in the story, with excellent counters that compensate for his lack of strength.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: He took up boxing to fulfill his father's shattered dreams. In a subversion, his dad and coach isn't a stage father and they get along quite well.
• When He Smiles: He’s usually pretty stoic even in the ring. When he wins his last match in Thailand, he gives a young fan of his a smile and a thumbs-up.
• Write Who You Know: Miyata's appearance, personality and boxing style were all inspired by a friend of the author.

Takeshi Sendo

"They really hurt, these knuckles o' mine"

Voiced by: Masaya Onosaka (JP), Doug Erholtz (EN), Irwin Daayán (Latin-American Spanish)

Nicknamed the Naniwa Tiger in his hometown where he is quite a popular figure, Takeshi Sendo is a brash and hotblooded boxer. He has an elaborate backstory, so much that he had is own gaiden chapter focusing on his past. His mother died a few years after he was born, his dad was a firefighter who died while rescuing a boy during a blaze when Sendo was very little. Sendo continued to follow his father's advice by trying to help others. One day he and his friends got beaten up by bullies. Frustrated of being unable to protect them, he swore to do it by any means - and the next day, he grabbed his baseball bat and ambushed said bullies, beating them up as punishment. By high-school Sendo had become very extreme with his protection - he was leader of a gang of delinquents and quite possibly the most feared street fighter in Osaka. Despite that, he never attacked people but rather defended the weak. His absolute refusal to turn a blind eye or a deaf ear on such injustice got him into trouble quite often.

Because he's such an excellent fighter, he got rather bored since nobody could satisfy his hunger for an equal. That is, when Yanaoka met him and introduced him to boxing, after resisting one of Sendo's attacks. Easily becoming East Japan Rookie King, he saw Ippo Makunouchi which made him very excited, to say the least.

Sendo has an extremely aggressive boxing style, barely ever using a proper defense and preferring to take hits if he can dish out something in return. His punching power is spectacular and on par with Ippo's. He also has excellent natural fighting instincts but lacks a bit in technique.

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• Animal Motifs: The tiger.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Sendo's main style of boxing he aggressively attacks his opponents with full power without stopping. Interestingly this also acts as a sort of defence because of Sendo's power and insticts as his opponent's are wary of countering him or getting too close as his punches are both lethal and unpredictable.
• The Berserker: Sendo's fighting style consists of attacking at his opponents at full force with his incredibly powerful punches, indomitable willpower, and amazing endurance he becomes damn near unstoppable. He's also able to hit harder and can tank much more damage than usual whenever he's angry which serves as a great advantage as he let's loose all of his rage by brutally bulldozing his opponent into a bloody pulp.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Like Takamura, Sendo is brash, impulsive, and is always eager for a fight.
• Blatant Lies: HELL NO I'M NOT! HE'S (Ippo) MY ENEMY!
• Blood Knight: Hilariously, he tries to explain to Ippo that he's this trope without sounding like a dumb brute. Though in all seriousness Sendo loves fighting as he's ridiculously strong and gets very excited when he finds an opponent that is just as or even stronger than him. He even challenges World's Strongest Man Takamura, to a sparring match and even provoked him into getting serious just to have a better fight.
• Blood Upgrade: Whenever Sendo has blood drawn he usually ends up letting loose his rage upon the one who caused it. His most notable example is during his second fight with Ippo where he hit Sendo so hard that it caused him to bleed which triggered him into going in an animalistic fury by brutalizing Ippo.
• Bully Hunter: Ever since he was a kid. So much that he became a Delinquent... to protect people from other gangsters.
• Confusion Fu: To a minor degree. Sendo is an instinctive fighter and less refined than others which makes his moves and punches hard to predict. Miyata has stated (and keep in mind that Miyata's fighting style is based around countering his opponents) that because Sendo's punches are devastating and come in at wild angles without a predictable rhythm, it's very hard to match the timing of Sendo's attacks for a counter. Sendo's sheer agressiveness also means that his opponent's are under immense pressure just to get close.
• A Day in the Limelight: He got his own gaiden arc/chapter that shows his Backstory in greater depth.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Not necessarily "defeat", considering it was a sparring match, but he's the first ever boxer to down Ricardo Martinez. However, later, he goes on to enforce this trope in full by beating the boxer who "killed" Ippo's boxing career, Alfredo Gonzalez.
• Delinquent: For righteous reasons. He even forms a gang to protect the weak from bullies who pick on those who can't defend themselves.
• Determinator: Quite possibly the greatest one in the series. He took the Dempsey Roll twice in a match and got back to his feet both times.
• Determined Defeatist: At the end of his second match against Ippo, absolutely refuses to fall to the ground or go unconscious, despite knowing full well that he's lost and can't continue.
• Dirty Coward: A rather Downplayed Trope, but it still fits given his Hot-Blooded characterization. Usually when a match isn't going his way he resorts to tactics that, while not illegal or dirty per se, makes it sound like his whole personality is more of a bravado than anything else.
  • The biggest example of this comes in his title match with Volg: on the last round Volg slips on the ring but gets counted as a down, which means he's now at a point disadvantage. What does Sendo do? Instead of giving him the benefit of the doubt or another chance at it (yelling at the judges or referee for a mistake like this is very in-character for him) he turtles the match until time runs out so he wins by decision. After the fight he tells Volg that he could give him priority on a rematch, but it was too little too late since it was Volg's last chance in Japan. Again, not an illegal tactic per se, but coming from someone who trash talks a lot and thinks the only good fights are slugfests, it makes him seem like he's more bark than bite.
• Everyone Has Standards: He's a proud Blood Knight and a veteran of constant street fights, but ever since discovering boxing he's given up on brawling and takes offense to the idea he would stoop to it. He still loves to fight, but only in the ring.
• Foil:
  • To Ippo. The Hot-Blooded Sendou is who you would usually expect to be the protagonist of a Shonen like this; his general gung-ho and hot headed attitude contrasts completely with Ippo who is very meek and is an extreme doormat. However both are incredibly powerful boxers with an incredible talent to deliver extremely hard punches and can take a lot of hits. Both were inspired by boxers who ended up showing off their talents towards them which eventually became their prime motivation for taking up boxing and wanting to become stronger. One being Sendo's coach after he beat up a gang of thugs the other being Takamura who roughed up Umezawa and his friends after picking on Ippo. They both also have similar backstories in dealing with bullies to where it lead both of them to finding a place in the ring.
  • He could also be this to Takamura. Both of them had similar backstories as they were both delinquents who loved brawling with random strangers as well as proving their talents to be great boxers once they met their respective coaches. They both are also fond of fighting their opponents with brute strength and throwing extremely powerful punches, but whereas Takamura actually knows how to use boxing techniques but prefers his brawling style Sendo instead stays true to his nature by only using his instincts and his strength while learning only minimal skills proving that Takamura has way more experience of the two. They both are also very Hot-Blooded and have a knack for being impulsive and tempermental but have a Hidden Heart of Gold when it comes to their friends and family at times. They both also have a sudden urge to become the best and overall strongest in their own respective weight classes but whereas Takamura plans on conquering every part of boxing Sendo is fine in where he's at and only wanting to be the strongest featherweight.
  • To Sawamura, with whom he shares an Odd Friendship. They both had rough childhoods and grew up brawling on the streets, resulting in them becoming incredibly gifted boxers with a Blood Knight streak. But where Sendo loves boxing as an arena to test and prove his strength, Sawamura uses it as an excuse to openly hurt people. They crossed fists in their youth as delinquents, but as an adult Sendo refuses to sully boxing or risk his career with senseless street fighting, while Sawamura still regularly gets in back alley brawls.
• Friend to All Children: Downplayed. He's got a group of young fans who always pester him by asking him to buy them things. Although he's annoyed by the kids, he always does his best to win for them, since they're always cheering him on during his fights. After his first fight with Ippo, he gives them enough money to buy a game console they wanted.
• Friendly Rivalry: Hes easily Ippo's biggest rival, though Sendo would outright deny them being friends. Despite how often he visits Tokyo and Kamogawa Gym.
• Gag Penis: Hilariously used in his introduction.
• The Gift: Like a lot of the main boxers who have held a title, Sendo has abilities that put him above the average boxer. In Sendo's case, he is extremely talented natural fighter which comes from all the years he's fought on the streets. His ability to read his opponents, fighting instincts, natural power, and bloodlust makes his opponents feel like they're in the ring with a wild animal that they can't predict.
• Gone Horribly Right: While having a friendly spar with Takamura, he tries to bait him into using his full strength so he can compare the power of a world class middleweight and a Japanese featherweight. It works, and Sendo gets the briefest demonstration of his life.
• Graceful Loser: After his second defeat by Ippo, he shows very good sportsmanship and compliments Ippo's strength, since he was looking for someone who can beat him or equal his strength.
• Hero of Another Story: Sendo has the blueprints needed to be the main character of his own series. He just so happens to be a rival instead.
• Hot-Blooded: Sendo's greatest asset is his ferociousness and raw tenacity as if it were that of a wild tiger.
• The Idiot from Osaka
• Intergenerational Friendship: He is usually seen with his Tag Along Kids.
• Intimidation Demonstration: Sendo is incredibly intimidating in the ring, to the point where it works even on determinators. It's something that he actively uses to his advantage, for example to push out-boxers into the corner.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He can be loud-mouthed, and particularly when it comes to fighting is utterly ruthless, but he is nevertheless a righteous person who likes to help others.
• Killing Intent: Sendo can create a large ammount of "Saki" or battle-lust due to being a Blood Knight but aside from psyching him up it can also be use to for really effective feints as his desire to fight is so palpable, that he can put opponent's on gaurd just by moving his hands slightly. This is especially a nightmare for outboxers and fighters that rely on timing or counter's because it can cause them to misjudge the timing or a punch and end up with Sendo's fist in their face.
• Kind Hearted Cat Lover: Apparently that's how he got his animal motif. He always ends up with a large following of cats in whichever town he goes.
• Large Ham: "MAAAAAKUNOOOOOOOUCHIIIIIIIIII!!!!"
• Made of Iron: Sendo is extremely powerful, as well as extremely tough and durable. He took two Dempsey Rolls and was able to withstand broken ribs and still continue fighting. He also tanked a full on blow to the head and went berserk. In general, he ends up being a punching bag to people more skilled than him (such as Volg, Nargo and Gonzales) in a similar vein to Ippo - and like Ippo, he just won't go down.
• Mighty Glacier: He's not particularly slow, but has ungodly power and an iron chin. He relies entirely on his instincts and intimidation to beat more skilled and faster people.
• Mighty Roar: Lets out a fierce one after Ippo punches him so hard his face begins to bleed. He also releases a loud and ferocious one after encountering a bunch of delinquents who compared him to a raging tiger.
• Odd Friendship:
  • With Sawamura, of all people, stemming from their first meeting as delinquents where they fought to a stalemate.
  • Also with Ippo - Though their personalities are practically opposites, they connect through similar fighting styles, and eventually become somewhat close friends.
• One-Hit Kill: Is very much capable of giving these. Even more so than Ippo, in fact, as while Ippo focuses on combo attacks whereas Sendo puts 100% power into his Smash.
• Parental Abandonment: His mother died few after his birth (implied to have fallen victim to Death by Childbirth) and his father died when he was in primary school.
• Raised by Grandparents: Specifically, his paternal grandmother.
• Reconstruction: Sendo shows what happens when you're a Stock Shōnen Hero in a competitve sport like boxing and take it to its logical conclusion. While everyone else has goals and motivations besides fighting, fighting seems to be his sole motivation. His backstory showed that he channeled his inner bloodlust into hunting down delinquents and protecting the weak. Eventually, complacency set in, which was when he was introduced to the sport of boxing. Compared to everyone else, Sendo is easily the most violent boxer and is constantly craving for the strongest fighters in the world. Combine his intensity to fight with some of the strongest striking power in the world and you get one of the most dangerous boxers in the series. A man who could easily carry his own series if given the opportunity.
• Red Baron: Naniwa Tiger, Rocky of Naniwa.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red to Ippo's Blue whenever they're together.
• Signature Move: His Smash punch. It is a three quarter uppercut that gains a large amount of momentum as well as Sendo's physical strength he unleashes an enormous blow that's capable of knocking out any opponent.
• Testosterone Poisoning
• Tiger Versus Dragon: Sendo is the tiger to Ippo's dragon.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Relies on natural strength and his fighting instincts, but lacks technical skill. Though he may be unskilled he does not skip out on training and barely takes any time off in order to improve his already impressive power and finding new ways to increase his intimidating appearance to psych oh his opponents as well as overpowering them. He also figures out a way to shift his stance in order to deliver tremendous body blows which shows that he has moderate skill but prefers brute forcing his way through the opponent and staying true to his fighting style.
• Unstoppable Rage: Seriously. You do not want to make Sendo angry in the ring. Shigeta and Ippo can assure you.
• We Help the Helpless: His motivation for becoming a delinquent.

Eiji Date

Voiced by: Masaki Aizawa (JP), Tony Oliver (EN), Alejandro Illescas (Latin-American Spanish)

A retired Featherweight boxer and now trainer, Date was the two time Japanese Featherweight Champion and even fought on the world stage. He has been the only fighter to defeat Ippo. He lost to Ricardo Martinez twice, once in the past which is how he got his scar and the second time in an epic fight that showed his great determination.

He's a smart, technically skilled boxer with great experience. Despite the contrast to that, his boxing style is very aggressive. He is good friends with Takamura. After his second loss against Martinez, he passes on the baton to Ippo.

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• The Ace: He's been the Japanese champion twice, as well as the OPBF champion. And he's challenged the World twice, which is very rare for Japanese boxers.
• Achey Scars. The one on his nose bridge given to him by Ricardo Martinez.
• Bittersweet Ending: How his second match with Ricardo Martinez and ultimately his comeback to boxing ends up. Ricardo still trounces on Date and while Date got a brief Heroic Second Wind near the end, it was nothing more than a speedbump to Ricardo eventually winning. That said, he got to go out on his own terms, fueled by his family rather than being burdened by it, and is able to pass the torch to Ippo and eventually Sendo in trying to take down Ricardo.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: On the receiving end from the champion Ricardo Martinez
• Dented Iron: A running point of his plotline is that his body cannot handle the suffering of his boxing career and so his time is running out.
• Determinator: Date's will is unshakable, as seen in the way he keeps powering through his fight with Martinez despite the fact he's being wrecked.
• Game-Breaking Injury: Martinez makes note Date's Heartbreak Shot would probably have knocked him out if Martinez hadn't shattered his fist beforehand.
• He's Back! / My Greatest Second Chance: Pretty much his entire narrative runs around his return to the world level after failing the first time around.
• Jack of All Stats: Date is above average physically but not particularly outstanding. He makes of for this by being extremely skilled and tough. At his peak, he borders on Master of All.
• Parental Marriage Veto: His wife Aiko was The Ojou and the eldest daughter, so her family was quite worried since they weren't sure if he could provide for her. He sort of wins them over after he retires from boxing after his disastrous fight with Marti­nez and becomes a well-respected Salary Man.
• Perma-Stubble: A five'o'clock shadow that seems always present.
• Retired Badass: After his retirement, he remains a force to be reckoned with.
• Signature Move: Heartbreak Shot, a corkscrew punch (i.e a punch that relies on the spinning torque of the arm) that supposedly stops the heart of his opponents.
• Split Personality: Downplayed but there are two distinct ways Date fights. The first version Ippo fought was a Date who had lost his confidence and had become cynical about taking on the world a second time. He fights very conservatively and while it was effective, it's ultimately the second version that takes him to the world. His fire and will to challenge the world reignited this Date and the style he uses is almost entirely offence-oriented and focuses on overwhelming his opponent with combinations.
• Weak, but Skilled: Compared to other boxers on the world stage, he isn't physically very impressive. He's above average in all aspects but many boxers are either stronger or faster than he is. He makes up for this with skill and experience.
• The Worf Effect: Date Eiji is established making a absolute fool of Ippo with his boxing, but this only serves to show just how superior Ricardo Martinez is to everyone else, as Martinez absolutely trounced Eiji beforehand. We later get to fully see that even Eiji at his absolute best cannot put anything more than a Curb Stomp Cushion to Martinez.
• Worthy Opponent: To Ricardo Martinez. He has been the only one who has put up somewhat of a challenge against him.
  • He also considers Keiichi Take one of the only boxers to make him lose his nerve, thanks to Take's unpredictable and analytical style. Unfortunately, Take's long absence from boxing meant that their rivalry never took off.
• Younger Than They Look: Is only 34 years old, but looks somewhere in his late 40's. Takamura, Jerkass as he is, calls him old man.

Ryo Mashiba

Voiced by: Tanaka Masahiko (JP), Javier Rivero (Latin-American Spanish)

In front of the grave of his parents, then-highschool student Ryo Mashiba made two promises. First, he wouldn't rely on or believe in anyone else. Second, that he'd protect his little sister Kumi at all costs. Due to his tough life, Mashiba is unsociable and cynical, rarely seems to care about anyone other than his sister and has no concern for his opponents.

A highly intimidating character, Mashiba is former Japanese Junior Lightweight champion and current OPBF Lightweight champion. He's a vicious outboxer who's most notable for his use of the Flicker Jab. He has exceptional reach and is quite skilled, and not to mention he will do anything it takes to win, even cheating if necessary.

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• Ax-Crazy: Comes off as this he loves pounding someone to a pulp and he is depicted as creepy by Ippo and his fellow gym mates. He creeps them out so much that Kimura states he wouldn't want to fight a crazy person like him.
• Berserk Button: DO. NOT. TOUCH. HIS. SISTER!
• Big Brother Instinct: As scary as he looks and acts, he cares a lot about Kumi. His determination to win his matches stems from him wanting to provide for both of them so Kumi doesn’t have to work to support them. Since they lost both of their parents in a traffic accident, he had been doing everything he could to take care of his sister. He once followed his sister and Ippo's dates, much to Ippo's horror and general hilarity. He also will beat up anyone who dares to hurt her.
• Blood Knight: He even states to his sister Kumi that he gets an adrenaline rush out of fighting and loves it. He threatens most people on occasion to see if they want to take a go at him, mostly directed towards at Ippo because he still holds a grudge for their last fight.
• Break the Haughty: Following his traumatising bout with Kimura. Mashiba massively underestimates the journeyman boxer, only to be met with the most harrowing match of his life. He even acknowledges that his victory was arbitrary, Kimura passing out before he could finish Mashiba off, and Mashiba is a much more contemplative and mature boxer from that point on.
• Character Development: Mashiba's biggest weakness had always been his foul temperament, flying into a reckless rage when pushed too far and never being able to trust anyone or vice versa. As he progresses towards the world stage, however, he begins to make noticeable growth. Granted he's still a massive Jerkass to most people, but he starts to show respect towards his coach, maintains his composure and wins clean in the face of dirty boxers or biased referees, and begins to garner genuine support from the fans, particularly his co-workers.
  • This comes to a head in Chapter 1367, where he finds that he can no longer perform fouls as he has come to accept the support that others have been giving him and decides that he'll go to the world as an honest boxer.
• Combat Pragmatist: Him stepping on Miyata's foot was genuinely accidental, but it didn't stop him from using it to his advantage. He's savvy enough to believe that, even if he explained the circumstances, no one would believe it anyway.
• The Comically Serious: He maintains his stoic face even when he sees something ridiculous.
• Creepily Long Arms: Normally, they appear just a bit longer than normal, but sometimes, they can look like they hang down almost to his knees.
• Determinator: In his fight against Ippo, his left arm, which is his main weapon due to his flicker jabs, sustained severe damage to the point he couldn't move, plus he had broken at least a few ribs from all the body blows he took. He not only refused to go down, he managed to use his left arm again despite all the pain. The anime draws even more attention to this because of the dreadful crunching noises heard when he moves the arm.
  • Miyata himself says this: "It's not his (Mashiba) techniques, It's that insatiable thirst for victory that makes Mashiba so frightening."
• The Dreaded: In an odd version of the trope, this mainly occures AFTER he is first defeated by Ippo. After that he is usually seen in a creepy light, characters imagining him with terrifying features and making inhuman noises. Kimura especially seemed horrified at the thought of facing him in the ring. Ippo sees him as this when it comes to dating Kumi, even sprinting away from a monkey at a zoo that looked like Mashiba.
• Face of a Thug: Downplayed. He genuinely is violent and brutal, but cares about his sister, and genuinely wants to live an honest life, as well as only being intentionally aggressive in the ring.
• Heel–Face Turn: He started out as an antagonist for Ippo who scares the latter and robs him of the oppportunity of facing Miyata. He goes on to be a protagonist for his own arc.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: A recent development with Mashiba having added a devastating uppercut to his moveset, leading to a nasty mixup combo. Heck, he outright baits people into believing he'll throw his Chopping Right only for them to be seeing stars when he delivers sweet chin music.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: You hurt Kumi, you go to HELL. Just ask Sawamura, who attacked and barely scratched the former's little sis and got pounded to a pulp for it.
• Logical Weakness: His Creepily Long Arms and his height give him a large advantage by way of a long reach, but they are also a huge weakness. If an In-Fighter like Ippo is able to get up close, he can struggle to defend himself. Also, his hitman stance gives him fantastic offensive options, but requires him to drop his guard on his left side. These two things combined means that it is absolutely critical that he keep his opponents at long distance where he can pelt them with his flicker jab. Mashiba eventually averts this in his push to become a world-ranked boxer, adding some in-fighting & defensive dodging to his repitoire to combat boxers rushing in, as well as a brutal uppercut to deck anyone to tries to avoid his Chopping Right.
• Monster Brother, Cutie Sister: The Monster Brother to Kumi's Cutie Sister. In fact, they're the trope image for that page!
• Mundane Utility: In a rather amusing scene, he uses his flicker jab to grab the phone from his sister from across the room.
• My Sister Is Off-Limits: He is very overprotective of his sister and he especially doesn’t like that Ippo and Kumi are interested in each other. When Ippo showed up for his championship celebration party, Ryou became quite angry when Ippo referred to his sister as “Kumi-chan”.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: His surname is phoentically identical to 魔死覇, which means Demonic Death Tyrant. Even his name itself manages to scare Ippo, although this is used for comedy.
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: He's so dead serious, anti-social and untalkative, that, combined with his thuggish appearance, he manages to be intimidating even when he isn't actively trying to be.
• Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Downplayed. While Mashiba can be a Jerkass due to his refusal to trust others, and his highly aggressive and at times downright sadistic boxing style is a solid reason for his antagonistic image, he's nowhere near as evil as people make him out to be. He cares deeply about his sister, and is trying to lead an honest life, and rarely showing any intentional aggression outside the ring.
• Odd Friendship: With Itagaki. They even went clothes shopping and eating together.
• Parental Abandonment: His parents died when he was in highschool.
  • Promotion to Parent: Raised himself and his sister.
• Perpetual Frowner
• Red Baron: Grim Reaper.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Mashiba is a Blood Knight. Kumi is a Yamato Nadeshiko.
• Signature Move: Flicker Jab, Chopping Right
  • He then added an uppercut to his moveset, which goes great with the aforementioned Chopping Right.
• Slasher Smile: And how.◊
• Smarter Than You Look: He manages to effortlessly solve some factorization math problems that Miyata couldn’t solve by his own.
• Sociopathic Hero: He's a bit crazy and downright terrifying when fighting or in person, but he's still a guy who is trying to support his sister and take care of her.
• Stalker without a Crush: Due to him being an overprotective brother, he followed Kumi on one of her dates and gave Ippo a Death Glare when he was comforting Kumi in a haunted house attraction.
• Unstoppable Rage: As Miyata starts to gain the upper hand on him in their fight he goes on a warpath to demolish him.
• You Are Not Alone: Throughout Mashiba’s whole life, no one trusted him due to his Face of a Thug, and apathetic attitude. During his fight with Iga, upset that he keeps getting fouled and can do nothing since he’ll get his license revoked due to previous offenses and already has a bad reputation for fouling before. He resigns to the fact that it’s always been like this and accepts his discrimination. His co-workers start cheering on him from the side lines and his coach starts yelling this trope to him.
• Younger Than They Look: He's only two years older than Ippo, meaning he was at most 18 or 19 when introduced and currently around 27, though you're probably unlikely to guess either of those numbers by looking at him.

Ryuuhei Sawamura

Voiced by: Shin-ichiro Miki (JP)

A dark, remorseless boxer from Nagoya. Albeit quiet and cold, he is extremely violent and cruel when he fights, going as far as blatantly cheating even when he's at the advantage. He is a lonely individual and his only friends are his old teacher and Takeshi Sendo, though he treats neither with any respect or kindness. Despite his outwardly cold and stoic personality, he can lapse into fits of madness when he's at his worst. One of the most notable traits of his is that he doesn't box for success, but rather to torture and destroy his opponent. He will often prolong matches to continue beating his opponent instead of simply ending it. He experiences defeat at the hand of a very angry Ippo for his bad attitude towards boxing. Despite the hopes of his old teacher, his personality doesn't get better, though he does learn the value of hard work and develops an actual will for success. He later fights Mashiba for the Japanese Junior Lightweight title. Despite being brutally knocked out of the ring by Mashiba, he wins the title as Mashiba is disqualified. Due to the damage he suffered from the fight, he has a traffic accident, which forces him to retire from boxing. After that, his sociopathic tendencies seem to have calmed down, even showing a sense of sarcastic humour. Sawamura has a great eye for boxing, possibly equal to that of Takamura.

He has quite possibly the darkest past of all characters in the story. He stabbed his abusive father as a kid and his mother abandoned him when she first noticed his sociopathic tendencies. He was alone for pretty much his entire life, which is the reason why he shut himself off from other human contact to such a degree. This is made worse by the fact that he was extremely hated in his town and was constantly attacked by others. He already met Sendo in the past. Both renowed street fighters that never lost, Sendo fought him until Sawamuras old teacher intervened. The teacher later begs Sendo to become Sawamuras friend, as it is the loneliness that makes him so bad. Because of this, Sendo and Sawamura share a somewhat odd 'friendship'.

As bad as his personality is, he is an absolute genius as a boxer. His natural instincts are great and he's a gifted counter puncher. In fact, his sense for counters is mentioned to be even higher than that of Miyata. His athletic abilities are fairly average, but his high skill, analytical ability and talent more than makes up for it. It's easily possible that he could have won against Ippo, had he been serious about defeating him.

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• Abusive Parents: Abusive father, and his mother abandoned him.
• Ambition Is Evil: Not in the traditional sense; he gains ambition while he's still evil.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Is a master at timing his opponent's punches and countering them before they have a chance to hit him. When he was watching the Miyata vs Randy Boy Jr. fight alongside Ippo and Sendo, he gave insightful commentary to them on the spot.
• Ax-Crazy: Not on the level of Bryan Hawk, but still.
• Badass Biker: Is most often seen out of the ring driving his motorcycle.
• Battle Aura: The speed and power of his jab, appropriately dubbed "the bullet", intimidates Ippo enough to give him the impression that Ryuhei is pointing a revolver at him whenever he raises his fist.
• Blood Knight: A absolute maniac driven by his lust in battle. Unlike other examples in the story, he can't keep it in the ring, and regularly gets in street fights (perhaps more accurately called assaults) outside of boxing.
• Combat Pragmatist: Sawamura is very willing to use dirty tactics (elbows, most noticeably) to get a leg up.
• Combat Sadomasochist: He seriously only fights to torture others, not to win.
• Counter-Attack: His counters are on par with, and possibly a bit better than Miyata's. The difference is, Sawamura counters his opponent, just before they even throw their punch, whereas Miyata puts himself in danger for the sake of knocking out his opponent, this means Sawamura's counters have a far lower risk to them.
• Dark and Troubled Past: His childhood is very tragic.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Delinquents
• Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: Sawamura's Fatal Flaw, he's an incredibly gifted counter puncher who's almost impossible to get close to with his bullet-like jabs. All of these would make him unstoppable in the ring, however Sawamura has two losses in his record prior to facing Ippo. Both of these loses were due to disqualification caused from his sadistic nature in causing fouls in the ring.
• Driven to Villainy: Because everyone in Owari knew of how he stabbed his father as a child, no one ever associated with him and his sociopathic tendencies turned into violence as a result of isolation.
• Evil Tastes Good: He likens beating his opponents to eating meat, and the better the pain he inflicts, the more exquisite the "feast."
• Freudian Excuse: Living under an abusive father that he had to kill makes one quite unstable.
• Friendless Background
• From Nobody to Nightmare
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Gets terrible burns after a motorcycle accident, however, rather than accentuate his evilness, the scars actually serve as a visual note that this post-recovery Sawamura is wiser and more mellow.
• Heel–Face Turn: He seems to have dropped the whole psychopathic aspect of his character after the motorcycle accident which forced him to retire.
• Japanese Delinquent: After he stabbed his stepfather and before he discovered boxing, he roamed the streets picking fights. He met Sendo during a war between their high schools.
• Loners Are Freaks
• Morality Pet: Kawabe-sensei tries to be this, but more often than not, it doesn't work.
• Mr. Exposition: During Miyata's match with RBJ, being a counter specialist, himself.
• Odd Friendship: With Sendo.
• Parental Abandonment: His mother abandoned him after becoming terrified by him.
• Real Men Eat Meat: Oh boy does he love meat.
• Red Baron: Owari Dragon
• Retired Monster: After his loss to Ippo he mellows out somewhat, and after his motorcycle accident retires from boxing altogether. He remains somewhat off-putting and creepy, but seems to lose his vicious streak.
• Self-Made Orphan: Stabbed his stepfather.
• Signature Move: Bullet (an insanely powerful jab) and Flash (a devastating counter-right).
• Worthy Opponent: Views Ippo as this after losing their fight. He dedicates himself to training harder and even admits that Ippo is stronger than him. His desire for the belt is partially driven by his desire to understand how Ippo could have beaten him and what is the difference being a champion makes.
  Sawamura: I had beaten on so many guys it had gotten old.....but he was different! That was the first time I had fought someone beyond just brawling. How can someone like that fight so well? How could he have beaten me? What did he see after he won?
• Would Hit a Girl: Just ask Kumi. Thankfully Ippo was there to deflect his punch enough so that it only grazed her.

Akira Shigeta

Voiced by: Hiroyuki Yoshino (JP), Enzo Fortuny (Latin-American Spanish)

Akira is a Japanese Featherweight boxer as well as the East and All Japan Rookie king of his generation. He challenged Sendo for the JBC Featherweight Championship and, after getting a little carried away with the mind games against his opponent, was severely pummelled.

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• Bullying a Dragon: His constant taunting of Sendo during their match didn't end well for him.
• Confusion Fu: His southpaw style already makes him a difficult opponent for Ippo and Sendo, but he adds another layer by virtue of actually being right-handed, making his jabs much more powerful than the opponent anticipates.
• Deer in the Headlights: After losing to Sendo, he develops a condition called "Punch Eye" that causes him to freeze up when he sees a fist close to his face. Kamogawa states that any boxer afflicted with this ends up retiring.
• Didn't See That Coming: He and his coach assumed Sendo was a purely brute strength focused boxer (which, up until the last part of their match, he was) and as a result were completely caught off guard when Sendo started making use of his dashing strength.
• Game-Breaking Injury: See Deer in the Headlights. The physical injuries he suffered from Sendo were not crippling. The mental ones on the other hand...
• Hoist by His Own Petard: His taunting of Sendo backfired horribly when Sendo began using his legs to outspeed him. By that point Sendo was so pissed the ref had to stop him from beating Shigeta to death.
• Jerkass: Repeatedly taunts Sendo during their match, and acts pretty damn cocky to boot.
• Practical Taunt: Taunts Sendo during the match to make him lose his focus. It works....until it starts working too well.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Taunting aside, he had Sendo's style completely figured out and more or less forced him to start making use of his leg strength to pull out a victory.

Dr. Kazuki Sanada

Voiced by: Kōichi Yamadera (JP)

A former JBC Japanese Junior Featherweight champion before relinquishing his title to move up into the Featherweights in order to fight Makunouchi Ippo for his JBC title. He retired due to preferring to continue his dream as a doctor instead of a boxer in the professional ring.

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• Badass Bookworm: He was a medicine student before taking up boxing.
• Chick Magnet: He is very popular with the nurses at the hospital where he works. The only ones not attracted to him are Tomiko (who is already in a happy relationship with Aoki) and Kumi (who is in love with Ippo).
• Deadly Doctor: He uses his medical knowledge to his advantage in boxing. As Sanada himself put it:
  Sanada: "I am skilled to fix a human body with these hands... As much I am skilled to rip it apart."
• Hospital Hottie: He is a doctor working at a hospital and is a Chick Magnet as well.
• Genius Bruiser: An excellent doctor and a fearsome fighter. His medical knowledge lets him know where and how to inflict maximum damage on Ippo to shut down his breathing.
• Graceful Loser
• Signature Move: Hien, Tsubame Gaeshi(Returning Swallow)
• Worthy Opponent: He strives to find one. He initially targeted Sendo, but switched to Ippo when the latter defeated Sendo.

Iwao Shimabukuro

Iwao is a Japanese Featherweight boxer who challenged Ippo for the belt. Like Ippo, he is a fisherman, possesses incredible strength, and has monstrous stamina. Iwao has the distinction of being the first opponent to discover the Dempsey Roll's weakness. While Iwao ultimately lost the fight, later opponents would use the knowledge gained from the fight to produce a much more solid counter to the Dempsey Roll with much less risk to the defender.

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• Determinator
• Eyes Always Shut
• Mighty Glacier
• Pintsized Powerhouse: He's even shorter than Ippo is, who's already short even by Japanese standards! However he makes up for it by being built like a power lifter.

Naomichi Yamada

^{Click here to see him during the title defense match}

Voiced by: Daisuke Sakaguchi (JP), Tony Oliver (EN), Ernesto Lezama (Latin-American Spanish)

Also known by his ring name, "Hammer Nao", Naomichi is a Japanese Featherweight boxer who was affiliated with the Kamogawa Boxing Gym, before moving to the Hachinohe Boxing Club.

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• Bald Head of Toughness: As Hammer Nao after he Took A Levelin Badass. And nothing screams bald and tough like willingly getting punched in the face while wrecking his opponent's body.
• Butt-Monkey: Being Ippo's junior at the gym, he gets bullied a lot. Subverted when he moves out of Kamogawa Gym and returns as Ippo's second title defense.
• Bully Magnet: Just like Ippo, Yamada was a regular target for bullies and wanted to become strong so that he could defend himself.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: His initial introduction as a shy and bullied boy doesn't change the fact that he was the only recruit who completed the running training of Kamogawa Gym. It's made more apparent when he becomes Ippo's second title defense.
• Disappeared Dad: We only see his mom, but no word on his father.
• Embarrassing Nickname: "Geromichi" by the main crew (minus Ippo); it's a play on his given name, Naomichi. "Gero" comes from the Japanese word for puking, which he does often.
• Gonk: His face and hairstyle are noted to be plain at best, and ugly at worst.
• Hero-Worshipper: He joined the Kamogawa Gym because he was inspired by Ippo. He was moved when he learned that Ippo got bullied as well and that it stopped when he started boxing. His admiration of Ippo still exists even when Yamada takes on the identity “Hammer Nao”.
• Hidden Depths: Ippo and his friends are genuinely surprised when Yamada sings well at a karaoke club.
• Important Haircut: Geromichi shaves himself bald in New Challenger and in the manga before beginning his career as Hammer Nao.
• Perpetual Frowner: His mouth is shaped in a way where it looks like he constantly has a nervous frown. It becomes a fearsome scowl when he transforms his image into "Hammer Nao".
• Put on a Bus: He and his mom move away when he’s in high school. The Bus Came Back as Hammer Nao.
• Signature Move: Solar Plexus Blow
• Stone Wall: He wins his matches mostly by wearing his opponents down with repeated body shots while he takes a beating to his head. He ultimately couldn't handle Ippo's punches for too long, however.
• Took a Level in Badass: After going pro, he actually became a formidable boxer and so far has only lost one match (to Ippo).
• Vomit Discretion Shot: He throws up so often that he's nicknamed "Geromichi", which comes from the Japanese word for puking.

Kenta Kobashi

Voiced by: Taiki Matsuno (JP), Edward Villa (EN), José Gilberto Vilchis (Latin-American Spanish)

A Japanese out-boxer and former JBC Junior Featherweight champion who makes up for his offensive weakness with an incredibly defensive style of boxing. He later became a trainer affiliated with the Ōtaki Boxing Gym.

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• Alliterative Name: Kenta Kobashi
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: He’s not very confident in his boxing style, especially when he sees how powerful of a boxer Ippo is.
• I Just Want to Be Badass: He's a weak defensive fighter who obsessively wishes he had the knockout power of guys like Ippo. He's overjoyed when, for the first time in his life, he actually lands an effective haymaker in his fight against Ippo. Unfortunately for him, he gets overconfident and changes from his routine style to go punch for punch with a brawler like Ippo, which promptly leads to him getting knocked out.
• Stalker without a Crush: Before his match with Ippo, Kobashi spied on his rival at Kamogawa Gym and wrote down his observations on Ippo’s boxing.
• Weak, but Skilled: Lacking offensive power, his boxing style is based on winning by judge's decision. His normal stance leads with jabbing lefts to score points, and he makes extensive (some might say excessive) use of clinches to neutralize his opponents offense and tire them out, and rarely if ever throws a non-jab punch. When Ippo and the gang watch a video of Kobashi in action, they're bored stiff waiting for a knockout blow that never comes.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Nearly knocking Ippo out causes Kenta to fantasize about winning not through decision but through properly outfighting an opponent. It ultimately costs him his fight against Ippo, but his desire to win a fight by knockout is finally realized when he fights Hiyami for the Jr. Featherweight title - a boxer he'd previously stated he knew he'd never be able to beat - and manages to give him a beating severe enough Hiyami's forced to retire.

Ryuichi Hayami

Voiced by: Kouji Tsujitani (JP), Nathan Smythe (EN), Jorge Palafox (Latin-American Spanish)

A Japanese Junior Featherweight (formerly Featherweight) out-boxer affiliated with Otowa Boxing Gym. His flamboyance and overconfidence are matched by his punch speed and footwork. Hayami's strongest weapon is a barrage of high-speed punches called the Shotgun, a technique he had since high school.

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• Chick Magnet: His fans mostly consist of girls all who attend his matches.
• Determinator: Deconstructed. Upon his return as a boxer, he won't give up fighting, even though the damage that has built up has rendered him literally incapable of taking even a slightest hit. This has led to a ten loss streak and his own gym's seconds giving up on coaching him.
• Fatal Flaw: Pride. He thought that his shotgun would be his most useful weapon against any boxer and that he didn’t need to plan for the unthinkable. When Ippo is able to withstand his move, Hayami is left stunned and is desperately tying to knock Ippo down.
• Glass Cannon: He has a weak chin, and this turned out to be his downfall during his match against Kenta Kobashi. It got worse after his return to boxing as even the lightest hit can send him down.
• Graceful Loser: He takes his first defeat rather well. Aoki and Kimura note that with the way Hayami and his fans act, it‘s as if he won the match instead of losing it.
• He's Back!: Makes a return as a boxer in chapter 1218. A boxer than can't even place in the rankings anymore.
• I Could A Been A Contender: His reason to return to boxing and continuing to fight despite a ten loss streak. He feels as though he has to "repay the fan's cheers" from his early career.
• Idol Singer Becomes one after he has to retire because of the injuries dealt to him by Kobashi.
• Oh, Crap!: He’s taken aback when his famous move doesn’t affect Ippo.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: His signature move, the Shotgun.
• Signature Move: Shotgun.

Takuma Saeki

Voiced by: Kiyoyuki Yanada (JP), René García (Latin-American Spanish)

A famous thrill-seeking Japanese Featherweight out-boxer with the ring name "Speed Star" for his unmatched speed and prowess. He is affiliated with the Kawai gym.

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• Bunny-Ears Lawyer
• Better to Die than Be Killed: Decides he'd rather take the chance of losing by fighting at middle range than resort to the in-fighting tactics his coach recommends for surviving the round. Even Itagaki is surprised.
• Boisterous Bruiser
• Determinator: Forces himself to see through Itagaki's feint through sheer force of will rather than turn to in-fighting. Also pushes himself off the mat after his first down in their fight despite his legs being all but dead. Too bad it wasn't enough to fight a man with all your powers combined.
• Fun Personified
• Lightning Bruiser: Maybe one of the best examples in this manga. Even Date has problems with his speed.
• Slipknot Ponytail. Keeps his long hair tied up when he fights, it goes loose when he loses to Ippo and Itagaki.
• The Worf Effect: Gets easily defeated by Sendo in his first defense to demonstrate the latter's prowess as the champion.

Kyousuke Imai

Voiced by: Yūichi Nakamura (JP)

The long-time rival of Itagaki Manabu, Imai was the one boxer who managed to thwart Itagaki in his high-school days. They fought a total of three times in the amateur ring; each time Imai was victorious. His build, KO pattern, and even hairstyle are remarkably similar to those of Itagaki's senpai, Makunouchi Ippo. Imai is ordinarily cool and composed, bearing a poker face even in the heat of battle. Eventually, Itagaki defeats Imai in a heated battle. It seems the only people who can rouse him out of this perpetual calm are Ippo, Itagaki, and Itagaki's sister Nanako — with whom Imai is very much smitten. Imai defeated Itagaki for the vacant Japanese featherweight title.

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• The Comically Serious
• Love Makes You Crazy: Has a huge crush on Manabu's sister Nanako, though it's not really returned since Nanako only has eyes for Ippo.
• The Rival: To Itagaki.
• The Stoic
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Has this dynamic with Itagaki.

Keigo Okita

Voiced by: Hiroaki Hirata (JP), Miguel Ángel Leal (Latin-American Spanish)

The fifth-ranked Japanese Featherweight boxer in the JBC who won the East Japan Rookie King title the year before Ippo debuted. He views Eiji Date with admiration to the point of mimicking his fighting style.

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• The Stoic: He puts up a stoic front at most times.
  • Not So Stoic: Except where his idol Date is concerned, then his emotions come out in and out of the ring.
• Generation Xerox: Copies his boxing technique from Date.
• Hero-Worshipper: Of Date. He joined the same gym, even knowing it would deny him the chance of a official fight. He copied the Signature Move as well, to try and imitate him as much as possible.
• Signature Move: Corkscrew Blow.
• The Worf Effect: He was defeated by Shimabukuro to show Ippo how strong the latter was for his upcoming title defense.

Yusuke Oda

^{Click here to see him after retirement}

Voiced by: Nobutoshi Canna (JP), Enzo Fortuny (Latin-American Spanish)

A notoriously lazy Japanese Featherweight boxer for the Nishikawa Boxing gym who was Ippo's first official opponent. He later became a trainer at his gym, helping out his former coach with new boxers.

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• Brilliant, but Lazy: According to Reiko and her father, Yusuke has talent as a boxer. Unfortunately, because he’s so used to one-hit KO-ing his opponents, he doesn’t think he needs to build up his stamina and do extensive training to build up his endurance. He gets serious about his training again when his relationship with his girlfriend is put on the line.
• Big Eater: Once he stopped with the weight control, he really let go.
• Fatal Flaw: His pride and his laziness. He thinks very highly of himself because of his ability to knock out his opponents in one hit. Because of his pride, he skips out on training just to laze about and hang out with his girlfriend. As a result, both his pride and his laziness have greatly impacted his career as a boxer and his relationship with Reiko.
• Game-Breaking Injury: Being KO'd Ippo had some serious complications, so he had to retire.
• High-School Sweethearts: He and Reiko have dated since they were in high school.
• Last-Second Chance: He fights Ippo to not lose the support of his gym and the love of his girlfriend Reiko, who is the daughter of the owner. He loses, but manages to stay in and recovers Reiko's love and respect.

Takuzo Karasawa

A Japanese Featherweight boxer and the opponent for Ippo's sixth defence who later also fights Itagaki in the first round of Class A tournament. Karasawa's fighting style is that of a typical orthodox outboxer, relying on his speedy footwork to score points.

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• Always Second Best: He prides himself on his speed, and yet among the Japanese featherweights Saeki and Itagaki are both faster than him. He managed to mitigate Itagaki's superior speed somewhat using his skill and experience during their match, though even that wasn't enough.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Ippo defeats him on the second round without using the Dempsey Roll.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Endures hellish trainings such as getting his stomach stomped on to prepare himself against Ippo's strength and still almost got gutted by a single body blow. His defeat against both Ippo and later Itagaki made him realize that there are simply too many people with unfair advantages in the boxing world which led him to retire.
• Training from Hell: To prepare his body for Ippo's body blows he had his coach trample on his stomach repeatedly.

Hisato Kojima

The opponent for Ippo's eight domestic championship title defense. Dropped two weight classes for the chance to challenge Ippo, and has a tremendous deal of confidence in the power of his punches. Is constantly trying to anger Ippo, first by calling every opponent he's fought before trash, and then by telling him his coach is a hack. Also claims to know an, as of yet undisclosed, "weakness" in Ippo's boxing, that he claims makes it impossible for him to lose their match.

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• Ascended Fanboy: Quite possibly the biggest fan of Ippo Makunochi in the manga's universe (also, probably the ONLY fan of Aoki in the manga universe). You wouldn't have guessed Kojima was a fanboy based on his interactions with Ippo, but he had his reasons.
• Body Horror: His skin and bones look during the weigh-in before the fight can be considered this. Only Takamura has ever looked worse after a struggle of weight management.
• Die or Fly: Attempted to invoke this. His insults towards Ippo were meant to sharpen his own focus as much as to harden Ippo's approach. Kojima knew his plan to counter Ippo's strongest strike was a life or death gamble, so he made sure that when he entered that ring, he had nowhere to run from Ippo except straight ahead at him to give it everything he had. To be fair, he did land that punch...problem was, that was all he managed.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has a pair of scars running between the knuckles of his right hand. According to Ippo, they don't look like boxing wounds.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Shown to be a lighthearted guy who deeply cares about his kouhai, loves his wife and unborn child, and respects Ippo Makunochi from the bottom of his heart. Every time he crosses paths with Ippo, though, all he ever says are cutting and condescending things.
• Irony:
  • Kojima spends every second of his interactions with Ippo prior to their match trash-talking him and his teammates, even mocking Coach Kamogawa (which ends up being the breaking point for Ippo), all so he can fight his idol at the peak of his skill with everything he's got in what he plans to be his final match, one he can look back on with pride for the rest of his years. Come the fateful match, and Ippo, truly enraged by Kojima's actions, pushes right through his supposedly perfect anti-Dempsey Roll strategy and hits him with a single punch to the head so hard that it flips him over in midair twice, knocks him out instantly...and leaves him completely unable to remember the entirety of the fight he had been looking forward to so much.
  • This gets worse later on when Ippo contemplates some of the strongest punches he's ever had to endure in his entire career. Kojima was the only person in the series that could've knocked Ippo out in a single KO strike, which should rank him up there— but whether because Ippo was completely and utterly blinded in rage and thus couldn't remember it well, or because he was so spiteful of the bout ever occurring and potentially saw it as an Old Shame, Ippo doesn't even remotely acknowledge Kojima whatsoever in this, meaning Kojima ended up being one of Ippo's bad memories he'd rather not bring up again.
• Tempting Fate: you may have your reasons... but are you SURE you know what you're getting into by pushing all the berserk buttons of the hardest punching featherweight in all of Asia?
  • Fate tempted as of chapter 939 when Ippo one shot flips him onto the floor, twice. Word of advice... Don't push Ippo's buttons.
• Worthy Opponent: What he says when they're together aside, he considers Ippo to be this: expecting their bout to be the hardest fought he's ever had... the kind of fight he'll "have battle scars when he walks away from." Of course, he still plans on winning. And he could've had a chance if he didn't push every single possible Berserk Button possible for Ippo.

Keichi Take

Japanese Featherweight boxer. Notable for his lengthy boxing career, yet he has never been a champion. Right before his title match against then-champion Eiji Date, his son fell ill which resulted in Take halting his boxing career. This incident caused his son to be bullied because the father was a "coward" for not facing Date. Take returned to the ring to prove to his son that he's no coward... by facing Ippo in the latter's seventh domestic championship title defense.

Take's fighting style is unorthodox. He fights by getting into his opponents' heads and by using techniques that limit their abilities. Take is able to figure out an opponent's weakness quickly and exploit it to the fullest. Date fears Take, which is saying something considering how broken (read: insanely powerful) Date is. Take's appearance is that of an older man, yet he's 31 years old. His appearance—notably his half-opened eyes—is the result of a long career of taking hits to the face.

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• Animal Motifs: The spider
• Confusion Fu: Against Ippo, he uses tactics to disrupt his normal way of boxing.
• Eyes Always Shut: Averted, they're half-open.
• The Strategist
• Worthy Opponent: To Date if they had actually fought. Date is scared of this man.

Shinobu Iga

Japanese Junior Lightweight boxer. Personally trained by Baron 'Maron' Kurita. Notable for having high skill despite being a rookie. Defeated Aoki to win the Class A Prize Tournament. Later defeats the Japanese Junior Lightweight Champion and takes the title.

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• The Ace: Noted to have surprising ability for a rookie, and pretty much bulldozed his way through the Class A competition. He then goes on to win the Junior Lightweight Title.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Dealt one to Imae and Aoki.
  • Is on the receiving end of one in his match with Mashiba. He tries to bring Mashiba down with a combination of techniques that gave him trouble in the past (Ippo's peek-a-boo in-fighting, Kimura's Dragon Fish Blow, and Sawamura's dirty fighting) to either knock him out or get him disqualified. Mashiba has none of it though and effortlessly dismantles him.
• Emotion Suppression: He seems to do this in order to take punishment and keep on going.
• Puppet King: In a sense. He follows Kurita's orders without argument or even emotion, and won the Class A Tourney to become a Japanese ranker with ease. Reinforced when he wins the title, with Kurita loudly claiming the credit for the strategy Iga used to win in the post-match interview while Iga stays silent as usual. 
• The Rival: Marked as one by Aoki after the Class A Tournament.
• The Stoic: His face constantly has a deadpan look plastered onto it.
• With My Hands Tied: He could have beaten Aoki at any time, but held back on Kurita's orders to prolong the suffering.

Foreign Boxers

Jason Ozuma

Voiced by: Masahiro Kobayashi (JP), José Luis Orozco (Latin-American Spanish)

One of Ippo's earliest opponents, he is an American soldier stationed in the Okinawa base. He looks huge and scary, but is a great guy at heart. Retired after his fight with Ippo due to spinal injuries.

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• Beware the Nice Ones: Jason is a really nice guy despite his scary appearance. However, when his sparring partner Ohta takes a cheap shot at him and mocks him for not “being strong enough”, Jason gets serious and knocks him out with one right hook, hospitalizing him.
• Face of a Thug
• Eagle Land: Averted. He is American, but is black, has an African surname, and his personality is a great departure of either of the trope's types.
• Gentle Giant: He may be tall and extremly muscular, but he's just an overall nice person.
• Nice Guy: Ozma is a very nice guy despite his demeanor of being a big, tough, scary, boxer he shows to be one if the most humble people in the show even being as nice as Ippo.
• Scary Black Man: Subverted. He looks like one, but is an absolute sweetheart, to the point of getting terribly upset when he sees that his coach's wife has hurt her hands trying to patch the old sandbags that Jason's punches were tearing apart (as their gym was poor and couldn't afford to replace equipment).

Alexander Volg Zangief

Voiced by: Fujiko Takimoto and Toshiyuki Morikawa (JP, as a child and as an adult), Dave Wittenberg (EN), Hedrian Sánchez and José Gilberto Vilchis (Latin-American Spanish, as a child and as an adult

Volg is a Russian boxer and was Amateur World Champion, born and raised by a single mother near to Leningrad/St. Petersburg. Subverting pretty much every common cliche associated with Russians, Volg is an extremely kind-hearted and soft-spoken person who initially got into pro boxing in order to pay for the medical assistance of his ill mother, after his trainer discovered his amazing talent.

Volg quickly becomes friends with Ippo, but after a (controversial) loss by decision against Sendo, he is forced to leave boxing and return to Russia. Much later, his mother dies of her illness and his life is filled with an emptiness he decides to fill with boxing once again. And so he makes a comeback and decides to do so in America.

Volg is an extremely talented boxer with superb skill. While he excels at outboxing and taking points, he is forced to adopt a more aggressive infighting style in Japan, in order to attract attention as a foreigner. It is heavily implied that he could be much better than he already is, if he fought in his natural style, which we have yet to see.

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• The Ace: Out of all of Ippo's rival, Volg is the most naturally gifted. His boxing talent, sense, strength, speed, and reflexes are all refined to perfection. Kamogawa even mentions that his coaching rival Dankichi would get his most boring project as there was little needed to teach Volg. In fact he becomes the second character in the whole cast to win a world champion.
• Animal Motifs: The wolf.
• The Berserker: When letting loose his animal like instincts he becomes very ferocious and starts to fight more aggressively like a caged animal.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: His entire life was akin to being a Cosmic Plaything so much that even Ippo lampshades the unfairness. He loses his beloved mother, constantly has to deal with racism in the ring, had to fight outside his natural fighting style against Ippo and Sendou leading to losses, is the victim of blatant cheating in his world title match but endures through all of it without ever whining. Now? He's the goddamn junior lightweight world champion.
• Even the Guys Want Him: The male journalists admit they could almost fall for him in a recent chapter.
• Evil Redhead: Averted, he's a genuinely Nice Guy but has a very ruthless boxing style.
• The Dutiful Son
• Husky Russkie: Subverted again. See Evil Redhead.
• Inconsistent Spelling: It's either Volg or Vorg, depending on the translation.
• Jack of All Stats: Flirting with Lightning Bruiser. His main forte is high skill rather than sheer physical ability.
• Lightning Bruiser: He is incredibly fast and hits extremely hard.
• Lzherusskie
• Missing Mom: Mrs. Volg was ill. Guess what happened.
• No Sense of Direction: Justified Trope, as his Japanese is very rusty and he can't read the kanji on the subway signs.
• Red Baron: White Fang.
• Shown Their Work: While Volg competes as an aggressive in-fighter to please the Japanese crowds, his natural style is out-boxing. According to Kamogawa, if Volg had played to his strengths he would have easily beaten Ippo. This is rooted in reality as Volg was born, raised and trained in the Soviet Union (which was dissolving around the time of the manga's story). Boxers from the USSR had developed a unique and infamous style of highly mobile and technical out-boxing which made them difficult opponents for the heavy brawlers who were often favored in other countries.
• Shrinking Violet: Mild case.
• Signature Move: White Fang
  • Also adopts the Hien as well, using it to help even the playing field during his title match in America.
    • And soon, the Tsubame Gaeshi.
• Super Mode: When he decides to let loose his animal instincts thus making him go into an animalistic like rage.
• Worf Had the Flu: His losses to Ippo and Sendo are easily explained - He was forced to adopt an in-fighting style due to circumstances when he is naturally better at out-boxing. As Kamogawa mentions, with his original style he might have even beaten not only them but Date Eiji.
• Worthy Opponent
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Vorg had a lot of trouble breaking Mike Elliot's guard, so he purposely trained Mike to keep guarding body shots to set up a White Fang to the head. When that didn't work, Vorg stuck with the plan and kept aiming at the body. After doing this for a bit, Vorg finally went for the Tsubame Gaeshi. But when even that failed, Vorg followed up with a White Fang, finally hitting home!

Arnie Gregory

Voiced by: Takaya Kuroda

Arnie is a Featherweight boxer from Australia and was the reigning OPBF champion before losing the title to Ichirou Miyata. His manager was Mr. Sakaguchi, whom he fired halfway through his match with Miyata because Arine thought of boxing as more than a means to make money. Arnie is an infighter with powerful hooks; his trademark technique, Bloody Cross, is designed to deal with counter punchers.

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• Awesome Aussie: A powerful Australian boxer and the former OPBF champion before losing to Miyata. He acts cooly and professionally at all times.
• Graceful Loser: Gracefully adresses Miyata as "champ" after losing to him, gives him a hat and even warns him about Gregory's own former coach, Mr. Sakaguchi, who is now out for revenge on Miyata, for both the sligths Miyata threw to him before the match and for leading him to lose his job as Gregory's coach.
• Honor Before Reason: He could have won his match against Miyata at the fourth round, simply by keeping distance from him and letting the almost exhausted Miyata go on the offense wasting what little energy he had at that point. However, Gregory chose to charge in and attack Miyata anyway, partially due to believing he would be able to use his Bloody Cross to defeat Miyata's Cross Counter attempts, but also out of respect for him putting up a fight, believing he couldn't call himself the champion if he backed down. This was exactly what Miyata needed as he just had enough energy to use a single Jolt Counter, which couldn't be stopped by the Bloody Cross.
• Red Baron: The Crocodile.
• Signature Move: Bloody Cross, a technique that neutralizes regular counter punches. It involves throwing a left punch and predicting a counter, and when a counter is attempted the user bends the arm outwards, so that the elbow pushes the opponent's counter punch making it miss, then this is quickly followed by either an uppercut or a body blow from the user's right. However, it doesn't work on the Jolt Counter, as during the Jolt the user puts his body's entire weight into it, which prevents a Bloody Cross from knocking it off.

Ponchai Chuwatana

Ponchai is a Thai boxer who was tapped for Ippo's comeback match after his loss to Date. He's quite tough and his body has incredible stamina, to the point that Ippo's best shots weren't having much effect on him. His purpose in the story is largely to give Ippo a reason to develop and use a special technique to overcome the legendary durability of Thai boxers, and so Ponchai is the first person in the series to eat Ippo's signature Dempsey Roll.

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• The Comically Serious
• Sacrificial Lion

Warlee/Wally/Woli

Wally is a 17 year old Indonesian man who lives on a remote island... Together with wild monkeys. He is discovered by Miguel Zale, former trainer of Bryan Hawk. Wally is a true boxing genius, and very talented. Very, very talented. His natural instincts are comparable to those of Takamura of all people. And it shows, since Wally became Indonesian Featherweight Champion after only three fights. To compare, Ippo wasn't even finished with the Japanese Rookie Tournament by then. Despite his innate talent, he has a cheerful, fun-loving and naive personality. His trainer Miguel makes it clear the he's his "last son" and that he plans to pour all of his knowledge into him and unlike with Hawk, won't rely solely on his natural abilities. Due to his one-in-a-billion talent, almost every character who has seen him predicts a great future for him.

He fights Ippo as his fourth match. It quickly seems as if Ippo is no match for him, despite Wally's inexperience. However, Ippo manages to eventually beat him due to built up damage on Wally's ribs. Neither Wally nor his trainer see the loss as something dramatic, merely a great experience for Wally, which is the only thing he lacks yet. Kamogawa makes it clear that he won't make Ippo fight Wally again, because he knows it was only his inexperience that let Ippo win the fight, and believes that Ippo won't stand a chance against a more experienced Wally.

As a prodigy of prodigies, Wally can be said to have the most potential of all Featherweight boxers. His innate fighting instincts allow him to naturally use high-level techniques without having properly trained them. For example, he throws Sendo's Smash and Mashiba's Flicker Jab simply because it was an appropriate move in the situation. His agility is top-notch as well, comparable to that of Miyata and Itagaki. He can use both outboxing and infighting and is especially dangerous in the corner, where he can easily set up counters.

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• The Ace: Easily has more natural ability than anyone else. More than Sawamura, Takamura, or Hawk. Wally can pull off punches that need weeks of practice to master, using them effectively just on pure instinct.
• All Your Powers Combined: Uses flicker jabs, the smash, and Bryan Hawk's swayback dodge. And it isn't mere copying like Itagaki does, either. He has never met any of those boxers, he is simply so talented that he instinctively uses said techniques simply because they were appropriate moves in the given situation.
• Animal Motifs: The monkey.
• Confusion Fu: Wally is so talented and unpredictable that it's impossible to come up with a solid strategy to use against him. Even the super champion Ricardo Martinez is unable to think up of a proper counter for Wally, as Wally constantly brings out a new trick every time Ricardo thinks he has him pegged.
• Fragile Speedster: His absurd agility is by far his strongest attribute.
• Friend to All Living Things: Wally is shown to have befriended a lot of animals back home, especially monkeys.
• The Gift: There are many talented boxers in the series but Wally makes the word "genius" look like an understatement. He was able to become Indonesian national champion after only five matches, while barely understanding the basics of boxing, or even knowing its rules. His instincts are so great that he will use people's sunday punches or trademark moves on the fly, without ever having seen them, simply because they seemed like a good choice in that moment. On top of that, he has superhuman athleticism and can do many things that seem impossible to others.
• Go for the Eye: He eventually adopts this strategy through the teachings of Miguel Zale, as it is the most effective way to make use of his speed and accuracy. This gave him an impressive KO streak, but they were all TKO's: He opened cuts above peoples eyes, forcing a doctor stop. Even Ricardo Martinez has to stay completely defensive for about five rounds simply to figure out how he can attack without falling victim to this.
• Inconsistent Spelling: His name has been alternately spelled "Wally" or "Woli" or "Warlee." During his initial fight with Ippo, his boxing trunks read "Wally", but the dialogue was translated as "Woli." The official translation of the PS3 fighting game was Wally. During the match with Ricardo Martinez, his corner crew wore shirts with "Warlee" written on them.
• Innocent Prodigy: He is extremely ignorant of boxing (and the industrialized world in general) when first introduced. When he reappears years later, he hasn't lost much of his carefree attitude and still plays around all the time (even during sparring matches).
• Keet: He's almost never not moving around in dizzying speeds, even when he isn't in the ring.
• Nature Hero: The reason he's taken up boxing is to use it to try and spread awareness on the importance of nature.
• The Nose Knows: When Miguel muttered that no Japanese boxer will ever be as much of a "samurai" as much as Kamogawa was, Wally claims that Ippo and Kamogawa has the same scent. Naturally, this hints to the fact that Kamogawa's true successor is Ippo, not Takamura.
• Underestimating Badassery: A minor/downplayed example: He was originally meant to be mere practice for Ricardo's upcoming fight with Sendo Takeshi, as they were looking for a similarly wild and instinctive type of opponent. They barely knew anything about Wally, and thus did not realize they had just accepted the challenge of a monstrously talented genius.
• Skilled, but Naive: He is made of this trope.
• Technician Versus Performer: His fight with Ricardo Martinez has his wildly unorthodox and unpredictable style face-off against Ricardo's purely textbook boxing.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Bananas, in tandem of his ape motifs.
• Wild Child: He's used to running around in nature, and this manifests as being constantly in motion both in and out of the ring.

Ricardo Martinez

Voiced by: Masashi Sugawara

The living legend, Ricardo Martinez is the undefeated, seemingly invincible WBA Featherweight World Champion. He's a Mexican who enjoys such popularity that there's a higher chance Mexicans know him than their own president. Stoic and quiet, Martinez is rarely surprised by anything. He gave Date Eiji his first loss in a brutal T.K.O. In a sparring match against Ippo, Martinez knocks him unconscious in the first round with jabs alone and also easily counters the dempsey roll.

He has a revenge match against Date Eiji which he also wins without visible injuries. However, Date is the boxer Martinez respects the most, for his unbreakable spirit and willpower.

His boxing style is pretty much perfect. In his natural style, he combines intelligence and skill with instincts and violent power. His athletic abilities and reflexes are top-notch and he rarely if ever falls for someones trap. He has over 60 wins, almost all by K.O., and not a single loss or draw in his career. Word of God states that he is the second best boxer in the story, only behind good old Takamura.

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• The Ace: The best featherweight in the world. Ricardo is so good that featherweights would rather try their luck in other boxing federations rather than try and take his belt. Stylewise, he's a natural slugging in-fighter boxer who has become so good at the technical aspects of the game that Martinez can cruise on his jab against pretty much every man he comes up against.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: At least as dangerous as his perfected skills are his boxing intelligence. The man himself puts it best: "I can see it all, I can predict it all, so I never take a punch."
• Boring, but Practical: Ricardo Martinez exemplifies this. He has no gimmicks, no sunday punches, and no particularly superhuman athleticism. He's a completely basic textbook boxer who has simply refined his fundamentals to such an insane degree that nobody can compete. He even identifies with the trope in his head, saying he lacks any special abilities and therefore his only choice is to stick to the basics.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Hands these out to everyone he encounters. He destroys Ippo in a spar with only his jabs and utterly crushes Date, including no-selling his final gambit. When his WBC rival challenged him for the belt, he was knocked out within a single round. Even the monstrously talented Wally is beaten by him within only 5 rounds, with the "achievement" of making Ricardo at least bleed being the first and only time he's ever been even slightly challenged since getting the belt.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Averted. It's telling that Takamura himself, who's boxing commentary borders Word of God levels of finality, speculates that the World Featherweight Title won't be going anywhere while Martinez is around.
• Difficult, but Awesome: It is stated that while orthodox boxing is the theoretically "optimal" way to fight, not everyone can adhere to it because it's just too difficult. Between nerves, exhaustion and many other factors, it becomes near-impossible to stick to the theory 100% of the time. Only Ricardo Martinez has practiced so much that he can pull off textbook boxing at 100% efficiency in every moment of a fight. Not even the wildly unorthodox Wally managed to rattle him.
• Final Boss: Of the entire Featherweight division. Decades after he's introduced, he still remains the man to beat.
• Graceful Loser: Not quite a "loss" in the usual sense for the series, but when Sendo gives Ricardo his first ever down during a sparring match, Ricardo takes it entirely in stride (in stark contrast to his trainer, who tries to play it off as an accident) and heartily laughs at Sendo prioritizing taking down Gonzales over getting a shot at a title match with him.
• Grin of Audacity: Ricardo is probably the most stoic and expressionless character in the manga, so it's all the more impactful when during the climax of his fight with War Lee, he smiles from the sheer excitement of being challenged to such a degree.
• Hidden Depths: For most of the manga's run, Ricardo was portrayed as nothing more than an Implacable Man, calmly destroying his opponents with a mood that borders on boredom. In truth however, he resents the fact that he can't excite a crowd, that everyone just views him as the "invincible guy" rather than a human being who puts his everything into boxing. Furthermore, it is revealed he has the exact same motivation as Ippo for boxing, to find out "what it means to be strong" and to challenge himself - except he's become so powerful that he can't.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: His analytical style of boxing is him being bored, his coach points out Ricardo needed the violence and passion in his fists to become champion in the first place and it's rare someone can challenge him in a title defense to go back to his old style. Date being tough enough to spark Ricardo's fire almost gets him beaten to death.
• Implacable Man: Bordering on The Juggernaut, and as close to this trope as one can get in a series about completely human boxers. His defense, stamina, and durability are all so unbelievably high that he can slug on Date literally nonstop for 7 rounds straight and still seem to be completely unaffected by the few punches Date actually manages to land on him late in the fight.
• Lightning Bruiser: It's presented in the series that Ippo's Dempsey Roll can be defeated by either pushing into him to stop his windups, or by pulling back and countering the hooks. Only Martinez is fast and strong enough with his left that he jabs Ippo's face through ALL of the roll's rotations, effectively knocking poor Ippo out while he's standing.
• Living Legend: Ricardo is so well-known in his home country, that even people who don't know the names of their president know his name.
• Lonely at the Top: He's been unable to put himself to the test in a match for his entire championship, leaving him torn up and upset that he's stuck waiting for a Worthy Opponent.
• Magnificent Moustaches of Mexico: He has a finely trimmed pencil moustache that makes him look very mature and dignified, especially when put togethr with his neatly combed hair.
• Meaningful Echo: During his match with Wally, we get a very brief flashback to a very young Ricardo asking Bill, his future coach, a very familiar question: "How does it feel, to be strong?" Even said word for word like Ippo.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: His career is reminiscent of Ricardo Lopez, an undefeated Mexican strawweight world champion. Lopez defended his title twenty-one times and retired undefeated, with a single draw. At present, Ricardo Martinez has also defended his world title exactly twenty-one times and has yet to lose a match, though he has had about a dozen more bouts and a much higher KO ratio than Lopez, and no draws as of yet.
• No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: After winning over 60 matches with no losses, Martinez is beginning to think that his matches are boring. He desperately wants to bring excitement back to his matches.
• No-Sell: When Date finally lands his signature punch, the Heartbreak Shot, it's ineffective due to Date having already broken his hand earlier in the match. To be honest though, knowing Martinez, it probably wouldn't have brought him down anyway.
• Not So Stoic: Ricardo was genuinely concerned that he might make an unfortunate accident out of Date after breaking his jaw.
  • On a less serious note, hearing Sendo say that the only reason Ricardo is undefeated is because he hasn't fought HIM yet is enough to have him burst out laughing.
  • He actually cracks a menacing smile after just barely dodging War Lee's final smash, because for the first time in an eternity, someone actually managed to truly challenge him.
• Obsolete Mentor: His trainer, Bill Stewart, admits that he's become this. Ricardo's otherwordly insight, instincts and boxing intelligence is so great that Stewart can't actually give him tactical or strategic advice, as Ricardo will always know better.
• Punch-Clock Villain: If it wasn't for the fact that he's the world champion in Ippo's division, there's really no way you could present him as an antagonist. Martinez is humble, easygoing and never raises his voice at anyone, he just also happens to be quite possibly the greatest Featherweight to ever live.
• The Quiet One: Ricardo is a man of few words, as he prefers letting his actions do the talking for him.
• Red Baron: His ring appears to be "Huitzlipochtli", an aztec deity. However, he is also called the "Omega", because he represents the "end" of boxing, both in the sense that he's the Final Boss and the fact that he's refined textbook orthodox boxing to its absolute limits.
• The Stoic: He is almost always seen with a stoic expression. The fact that he's like this even in the ring is a sign that he's grown bored with his matches.
• Strong and Skilled: Ricardo represents the absolute apex of orthodox boxing skill. However, he also has impressive physical attributes, such as incredible punching power that seems to be only slightly below Ippo/Sendo and the stamina to go a full ten rounds without any apparent exhaustion. Furthermore, it seems that early in his career he was a more violent, instinctive fighter.
• Talented, but Trained: Ricardo has ludicrious boxing intelligence and instincts, on top of physical attributes that are well above average in every area. However, anyone who observes him understands that his true strength actually comes from the relentless practice he has done to hone his skill to the absolute limits.
• Technician Versus Performer: Being the ultimate technician in boxing, it is theorized in public that the only one who could possibly rival him would be the wildly unorthodox Wally as the ultimate performer.
• The Unfought: Though he was set up ages ago as the best boxer in the world in Ippo's weight class, making him a natural end goal for Ippo, Ippo retires long before getting the chance to fight him due to brain damage.
• World's Best Warrior: Of the Featherweight division, certainly, as well as being ranked the #1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world officially, with even Takamura, a multi-class unified world champ, coming in second behind him. (Word of God, on the other hand, places him second and Takamura first).
• Worthy Opponent: Although he's decimated Eiji Date twice, he's the only opponent Martinez has considered at least momentarily challenging... Until War Lee challenges him and at least manages to make him bleed. Ricardo even admits it's the first fight (at least since becoming champion) that actually managed to excite him.

Bryan Hawk

Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka (JP)

Easily the most detestable boxer in the story, Bryan Hawk was WBC Junior Middleweight Champion until his defeat at the hands of Takamura. He loves to provoke and humiliate his opponents, has a contemptuous attitude towards boxing and is extremely arrogant, as well as too lazy to properly train. Despite that, he's even worse in the ring. Hawk is the epitome of the word 'wild', being almost uncontrollable even by his trainer and extremely violent in the ring, easily approaching Ax-Crazy levels. He is beaten by Takamura in a match of epic proportions.

Hawk grew up in the slums of New York, where he survived by beating his threats with bare hands, whether they were armed or not. His trainer Miguel stumbles upon him while he's beating an already unconcious man. Shocked by the insanity in Hawks eyes, but also noticing the potential he had, Miguel invited him to a place where he could fight all he wanted and be payed for it. And a license to kill...

Like Takamura, he has unbelievable natural talent and power. He is so strong that despite rarely training, he seems invincible in the ring. Because of his violently insane personality, he is extremely dangerous and has no consideration for his opponent. Hawk is perhaps the most unorthodox boxer in the series, throwing odd punches and swaying backwards to dodge. His trainer calls his style not boxing, but simply violence. But it's the lack of skillfull boxing that makes him so dangerous, as he becomes a highly unpredictable opponent.

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• The Alcoholic: Implied to have happened to him after his loss to Takamura, as David Eagle walks in on him drinking and then he desperately fumbles for another bottle when Eagle brings up Takamura, still traumatized from his brutal beatdown.
• Ambiguously Brown: Not clear if he is brown or just tanned.
• Ax-Crazy: Extreme emphasis on crazy. His time as a street urchin shows him having a great time beating a guy into a pulp. He gets even more sadistic when he's boxing as he just loves brutally beating up his opponent.
• Berserk Mode: When his eyes turn red he releases all of his savagery and pure violence primarily focused on killing his opponent.
• Blood Knight: He enjoys beating people. It's almost less about fighting but more like he just does it to fufill his bloodlustful desires. But when Takamura comes around he actually spares his psycho mode to actually have a good fight with his rival.
• Boisterous Bruiser: A wild, loud-mouthed, maniac that is more boisterous than Takamura.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Brilliant in boxing, not in terms of intelligence, of course.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: A villainous example. His natural talent for violence makes him a great boxer even though he is lazy and sociopathic.
• Depraved Bisexual: Not stated directly, but considering he gets sexual pleasure from violence, even on other men...
• Determinator: Averted. He never had to fight from equal footing or worse before Takamura (except in the streets where he ran for his life when that happens), and the ego shattering leads to his Villainous Breakdown.
• Dismotivation: Hawk and training? No way.
• Eagleland: Type 2.
• Evil Counterpart: To Takamura. They were both thugs found by their coaches beating a person (or multiple people in Takamura's case) halfway to death on the streets before being taken in, they both have an aggressive style of boxing, and they're both Jerkasses. However, Hawk lacks Takamura's few Jerk with a Heart of Gold tendencies that occasionally soften him up, he doesn't care much for boxing as a sport and simply likes beating people up, and he hates training. Also, Hawk actually has success with women.
  • It should also be noted that both of them have the respective words for hawk in their native languages as parts of their name, as Bryan bears the surname of Hawk while the "Taka" in Takamura is the same Kanji that they use for "Hawk" in Japanese, furthering the similarities and differences between the two.
• Evil Laugh: He has a demented one for when he thinks he's going to crush his opponent.
• Freudian Excuse: Bryan grew up in the rough side of New York City and his bloodthirsty, violent personality came as a survival mechanism to the rampant urban crime.
  • On a more subtle level, Bryan's internal thoughts about hating to lose came from his implied former gang abandoning him for presumably losing a fight as well as abandonment issues and an Inferiority Superiority Complex made more explicit in the anime.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: His style is less "boxing" and more "punching like you're still on the street."
• Gratuitous English: "GOOO TOOO HEEEEEELLLL!!"
  • Technically, he's American. But Akio Ōtsuka's English is... not very good.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Initially played straight as he admittedly rarely goes into a fight with any significant training and still is a World Champion. Then Averted when the hard working Takamura ends up defeating him.
• Hate Sink: Whereas some of the more antagonistic boxers had some redeeming qualities (Mashiba clearly loving his sister, Sawamura being the way he is because of an abusive father and Ralph Anderson changing his ways), he has none. He's openly racist towards the japanese, got into boxing just so he could beat the shit out of people and views women as nothing but sex objects. Y'know how Takamura is often viewed as a Heel in the ring? People were CHEERING for him to beat Hawk up.
• Heel Realization: Not a redeeming one but he realizes that if he loses to Takamura it's back to be the psycho no one wants to hang out with. Knowing that if he gets away with his asshole antics it's only because of his belt forces him to still fight despite being scared.
• Hot-Blooded: Even more so than Takamura himself. Yeah he's even more wild than the guy who riles up over every little thing. Rather than it being passion it's mostly an emotion that prompts him to kill. Played straight when his craziness causes his body to burn.
• Humiliation Conga: Which leads to a Villainous Breakdown
• Indy Ploy: His entire boxing "style" relies on having no rhyme or reason; he just throws whatever random flurry of punches he needs to depending on the situation.
• Insane Equals Violent: He is a jerkass by choice but he doesn't have control of his violent outbursts, needing sex or beating someone to death to cool his body down. He drove away everyone in his neighborhood because of how out-of-control he was.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: Needs sex or he will just downright kill someone with his fists.
• Jerkass: Openly racist against the Japanese and enjoys mocking and irritating everybody around him. That, and of course, he's a violent thug who only started boxing so he could beat people halfway to death. He makes Takamura who normally counts as a Jerkass as the more morally decent one in their fight.
• A Lady on Each Arm: He loves this trope.
• Large Ham: His speech about strenghtening up the japanese gene's pool.
• Lightning Bruiser: Fast and strong enough to beat armed criminals in the streets with his bare hands.
• Maniac Tongue: Does this a lot.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: His style resembles British "Prince" Naseem Hamed, who was known for his extravagant entrances and gaudy antics, as well as his erratic "swaying" in the ring, where he would lean his torso away from punches with his guard down. His reputation also matches Nicaraguan welterweight champ Ricardo Mayorga, an unruly boxer with a checkered past who was notorious for his excessive drinking and smoking despite being a professional athlete, and infamous for relentlessly riling and trash-talking his opponents. Both boxers are noted to have neglected or disliked intensive training regimens, preferring to spend their time between matches enjoying the spoils of their wins and fame.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: As Fuji shows his boxing tapes Bryan Hawk is shown to hand out the utmost brutal beatings ever shown. Also when attacks a guy and ruthlessly beats him into a pulp.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He's blatantly racist against Japanese and makes it a point to humiliate them.
• Primal Stance: His stance is shown to be of a hunched over wild animal stalking his prey.
• Psycho for Hire: Extreme emphasis on psycho. He just uses boxing as "a license to kill."
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: MAJOR example here.
• Satisfied Street Rat: He was a guy living off the streets who beat up anyone he could to get money. Now he's a world champion boxer who can get as many women as he wants and enjoys being paid to beat people up in front of an audience.
• Sadist: Hawk gets a sadistic sense of pleasure when he berates and beats people up. This crazy bastard basically almost killed a man by pounding him to a pulp when wearing his signature bright red eyes and psychotic smile. He looks like he would've beaten his dead body after he was done killing him.
• Sex Is Violence: Hawk needs sex to compensate for a lack of violence. He also seems to become sexually aroused by violence.
• Signature Move: Pure Violence/ Infinity Punch (a series of techniques that allow Bryan to throw punches with considerable power at weird angles, and at the same time avoid the opponent's attacks completely).
• Slasher Smile: Wears one almost all the time and especially when going psycho mode que Red Eyes, Take Warning.
• Smug Snake: A bit. Until Takamura he always was ale to back it up.
• Street Urchin: His backstory.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Subverted in that his lack of formal boxing training gave him a different, rather than lack of, skill set which made him unpredictable. Bites him in the ass when Takamura pushes him back and he has no training to fall back to, meaning he is scared shitless the same way he would be if he is on the losing hand of a street fight.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Saying you'll impregnate the women of Japan so they can have a generation of champions is a little above usual Trash Talk.
• Villainous Breakdown: Takamura broke his spirit, big time. We get to see how "well" he is when David Eagle meets him long after Hawk's loss to Takamura; the mere mention of Takamura's name is enough to send him into a minor panic and having been reduced to a nervous wreck with alcoholic problems.

David Eagle

The complete opposite of Bryan Hawk in both personality and boxing style, David Eagle is the WBC Middleweight Champion. Eagle is an honorable and friendly man, always looking for a greater challenge. He used to be olympic gold medalist until he went into boxing. Because of his shining attitude, Ippo says he looks like a classic super hero. He is defeated by Takamura.

Eagle is a highly orthodox fighter, best at the very basics of boxing. His technique and concentration are top-notch and his best weapon is a simple one-two. He's also rather intelligent in the ring and uses mind games against his opponent.

Another trait is his great fighting spirit, which Takamura compares to that of Ippo, even mentioning he's just like him.

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• The Ace: His technical ability is so high that it makes Takamura look like a Bryan Hawk-esque brute for the first half of the fight, he's got immense willpower and he can take incredibly strong hits repeatedly and stay on his feet. He appears to be a cut above even the average world champion, with implications that he could have beaten Bryan Hawk and a solid 2-0 record against Richard Bison.
• All-American Face: Although he's not a wrestler, his character invokes this trope due to his unbreakable sense of honor and willpower, as well as his surname invoking the USA's national bird, the Bald Eagle.
• Animal Motifs: The Eagle, as made obvious by his surname. The Noble Bird of Prey motifs echo in his characterization as a noble, principled champion with a majestic fighting style. The eagle's associations with American culture (and in fact he seems to be represented by the traditional American eagle) also suits his nature as a genuine American hero.
• Cavalier Competitor: He's more interested in a straight, honorable fight where injuries aren't exploited than actually winning. While this greatly pleases the audience, Takamura takes it as an insult and several of the onlooking boxers feel it's unsportsmanlike in that he doesn't deliberately do all he can to defeat his opponent.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Eagle is the flipside mirror to everything Hawk represented: while Hawk was a boisterous, unstable, violent man who coasted on his genetics, Eagle is a humble, composed, noble champion who relies on his good boxing sense. Accordingly, while Hawk's fight with Takamura was more a battle of strength, Eagle and Takamura have more of a chess duel of sorts.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Takamura sure did.
• Determinator: "Just like Ippo."
• Eagleland: Type 1. David Eagle is humble, kind-hearted, and dignified, not to mention a fair and honorable fighter.
  • He was so much this that he was immensely ashamed of a dirty referee assisting a boxer in an illegal way, claiming that it was disgracing their country. And that boxer was his friend.
• Foil: He is the complete opposite of Bryan Hawk in almost every imaginable way, as he's honorable and kind-hearted, as opposed to the violent, crazed bigot that Hawk is, as well as relying on his peerless skill and strategy, unlike Hawk, who relies on his natural strength and wailing on his opponent until he wins.
  • It should be noted that, opposed to Bryan's vile racism towards Japanese people, the worst thing that David does is accidentally mistake Ippo for being much younger than he actually is as he gives him his autograph, but only out of simple ignorance rather than any malice, as Genji remarks that David must've confused Ippo's age due to having seen a lot of foreigners do the same thing with other Japanese people, and he was also being just as incredibly polite to Ippo as he was to the kids asking for his autograph.
• Graceful Loser: He even catches himself in the middle of making excuses to himself, before dismissing those thoughts and admitting that Takamura is just better than him.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: David has bright blond hair and is a kind-hearted, sociable, dignified, and honorable saint of a human being.
• Hero Antagonist: Eagle is characterized as an extremely noble and kind champion, with righteous motivations of his own. He just happens to be standing in Takamura's way, but it can be very easy for the audience (both in-universe and out of universe) to root for him just the same (or even more) as Takamura. Noticeably, during his fight with Takamura, several members of the Japanese crowd seem to root for him at varied points.
• Honor Before Reason: He is unwilling to exploit Takamura's bleeding wound, which is something anyone would have done in that situation. The reason he didn't? He cared more about having a fight that would require him to give 100% than he did about simply winning, and a doctor stop wouldn't give him that.
• Knight in Shining Armor: So much so that despite being American, the audience likened his appearance and nobility to a samurai.
• Light Is Good: He has light blond hair, light blue eyes, and wears light yellow trunks and boots in the anime, and is one of the most noble and honorable boxers in the series.
• Lonely at the Top: He accepted Takamura's challenge, flew to Japan, and fought on enemy turf because he had never faced an opponent against whom he had to fight with everything he had, and he hoped Takamura would be the rival he'd always hoped for. His inner monologue even implies that the reason he lost their neck-and-neck fight was because he was satisfied to finally have a worthy opponent, and cared more about this than the outcome of the match, whereas Takamura never lost sight of his goal of taking Eagle's championship belt.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: His noble (though Date and Miyata would say foolhardy) decision to not exploit Takamura's cut is essentially what costs him the match in the end.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Eagle is reminiscent of boxer Oscar De La Hoya. Both being golden-medal Olympic athletes noted for their handsome looks and charisma of a "good boy" image and a highly efficient, technical style. For comparison's sake, De La Hoya's nickname was "Golden Boy", while Eagle's is "Golden Eagle".
• Noble Bird of Prey: Invoked through his surname and his unrivaled sense of honor and dignity.
• Red Baron: Golden Eagle.
• Signature Move: Played with. Like Takamura, Eagle is an overall solid boxer who doesn't have a Sunday Punch but makes up for it by being really damn good everywhere else. But one of his more notable punches, fairly unique to him, is a One-Two combo so quick it's damn near instantanous and even gives Takamura pause, and he can even throw it while running on empty.
• The Strategist: He's an extremely technical boxer who can defeat most of his opponents without ever having to divert from his slowly advancing pressure. However, he is capable of much more than just strategic fighting if he's pushed to it.
• Technician vs. Performer: The shtick of his match with Takamura, with the cold strategist Eagle providing a Technician to the hot-blooded, unstable Takamura's Performer.
• Victorious Loser: All he wanted was a Worthy Opponent, and he got that with Takamura. In the end he walks away with his head high, having fulfilled his goal and earned the admiration of everyone (including his opponent) as "a true champion".
• Weak, but Skilled: Compared to Takamura, who's a genetic freak, David Eagle relies much more on a solid tactical brain.
• Worthy Opponent: Even Takamura, who usually only treats his opponent like an obstacle, grudgingly admitted to it.

Randy Boy Jr.

The son of Randy Boy, the boxer who fought Miyata's dad and inflicted him a Game-Breaking Injury that destroyed his career. Ironically, the brain damage that Randy Sr. sustained in the same fight actually killed him some time later. More than a decade has passed, and now Randy Jr. is a boxer in his own right. He became OPBF interim champion during Miyatas absence and naturally has a 'unison' match against him for the belt. Despite the fact that Miyata's father is indirectly responsible for his father's death, he makes it clear that he doesn't have a grudge against Miyata.

His fighting style resembles that of his father, which he claims to be a coincidence since he rarely ever saw his father. His most distinguishing feature is the fact that he's a genius switch-hitter, able to change between normal stance and southpaw very fluidly. This creates a 'static' that disrupts the opponents rhythm, especially that of counter punchers. Because of this, he's the worst possible match-up for Miyata. He has gained the ring-name "Asura" for his ability to 'go' and 'see' everywhere in the ring.

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• Death Glare: His eyes normally have half-lidded, lazy looks. Once he gets serious however they turn almost bloodshot.
• Generation Xerox: He looks just like his father and even has the same boxing style as him.
• Graceful Loser: He accepts his loss to Miyata and doesn't pay Mr. Sakaguchi's abuse afterwards any mind.
• Heroic Ambidexterity: Aside from his status as an antagonist, this is the crux of Randy Jr.'s style.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: Somewhat subverted, as he is equally skilled fighting both southpaw and orthodox.
• Instant 180-Degree Turn: Downplayed. Being a switch hitter all he has to do is change his feet positioning and pivot foot into a different stance rather than trying to chase opponents down with one stance
• Like Father, Like Son: His father used the same switch-hit style.
• Not So Stoic: He seems to be a pretty level-headed guy, with a very calm, professional bearing towards his opponents before and even during a bout. But once Miyata gains the upper hand, Randy grows furious and goes all out.
• You Killed My Father: Averted, he doesn't blame Miyata-san for the death of Randy Boy.
• Red Baron: Asura.

Malcolm Gedo

The reigning Philippines Featherweight national champion, a crooked fighter who offers to fix his fights in exchange for prize money. Prior to becoming a boxer, Malcolm stole money on the streets, and it led to him getting shot and scarred on the shoulder. He's known as "The Magician" for the tricks he uses inside the ring, such as the use of his long arms to block his opponent's vision while using good his footwork to get away from his opponent. Another trick he uses is throwing off his opponent's depth perception by loosening the strings on his left glove so that it flings off his unclenched fist, making his reach seem even longer. After losing the fight with Ippo, Malcolm later confessed that his loss to Randy Boy, Jr. led him to give up his world aspirations and box only for the money rather than competition.

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• Bribing Your Way to Victory: Explicitly offers this option to his opponents. He's so brilliant as a technical fighter that he can throw a match and make it look like a legitimate fight.
• Confusion Fu: His defining feature as a boxer. He loves to play 'magic tricks' on his opponents to throw them off their game.
• Genius Bruiser: When the chips fall down and his gimmicks stop working, his knowledge in boxing is as good as one would expect from a national champion.
• My Greatest Failure: He uses it as Freudian Excuse for his actions.
• Only in It for the Money: He is from a very poor area of the Philippines and values winning money over winning matches, even though he's a very good fighter.
• Skeleton Motif: His sunken-in eyes, bald head and sinister grin give his face and head the appearance of a skull.
• Street Urchin: His backstory.
• Throwing the Fight: Paying him enough money will cause him to do this trope so spectacularly subtly that nobody can even figure out if it was a fake.
• The Trickster: He's nicknamed "The Magician" for using many visual tricks.

Ralph Anderson

Voiced by: Jurota Kosugi

Ralph is an American Army sergeant and boxer from the Kamogawa flashback arc. His skill as a world-class boxer was undermined by his view towards the Japanese people. He's pretty much Bryan Hawk in this regard. Ralph's second is Miguel Zale, which is notable because he's not the bad guy readers might have expected considering he's the same second who trained Bryan. Ralph's first challenge came during his match against Nekota, where he resorted to using a Rabbit Punch, an illegal move. It's this move that ended Nekota's prizefighting career, and caused Kamogawa to challenge Ralph. In their eventual match, Ralph fell victim to the Tekken, but it's unknown whether he died from his injuries. The punch fractured his ribs, so it's possible some vital organs were punctured. In the end, Ralph changed his ways, and viewed the Japanese people in a more positive light thanks to Nekota.

---

• Character Development: He at first looked down on the Japanese, not even bothering to train properly. But after his fight with Nekota, he starts working his body hard and gains some respect for the Japanese.
• Combat Pragmatist: Uses a Rabbit Punch to end his match against Nekota.
• Eagle Land: Type 2.
• Jerkass: He enjoyed lording over the poor Japanese who have to rely on Americans to eat.
• Insufferable Genius
• Mighty Glacier
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He initially looks down on all Japanese. Subverted later, after he grows to respect Kamogawa.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating

Mike Elliot

American boxer who won a silver medal in the Olympics. Mike is the current junior lightweight world champion. Contrary to what readers may have believed, his intentions for his match against Vorg Zangief are completely noble. He simply wants a clean boxing match where the winner is determined by a battle of wits, and he would get his wish through Vorg. He is friends with David Eagle.

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• Cavalier Competitor: He loves matches that play out like puzzles (or chess, as the manga shows).
• Eagle Land: Type 1.
• The Strategist: He prefers to outthink his opponents rather than overpower them.
• Worthy Opponent: He accepted Vorg's challenge because he sees him as this.

Jimmy Sisfa/Scratch J

Voiced by: Ohkura Masaaki (JP)

Jimmy is the former Thai Featherweight champion. He fell victim to Ichirou Miyata's Jolt Counter, which Miyata needed to use because Jimmy wouldn't have went down otherwise. After Jimmy lost the match, he turned into a somewhat destructive boxer. In all subsequent matches, he used a more aggressive style to the point where he ended up with scars all over his face, and slurred speech; he also talked like Miyata had knocked a few screws loose. This earned him the nickname "Scratch J." Jimmy retired from boxing after his match with Ippo.

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• The Berserker: How he got his scars.
• Captain Ersatz: Of real-life former boxer Khaosai Galaxy.
• Dash Attack: His Miyata-inspired "Jolt Blow", which is essentially a vicious, charging right haymaker whipped from an overhead position into a right straight. He switches it out for a twisting "Tornado Jolt".
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has vicious scars all over his face.
• Megaton Punch: The aforementioned "Jolt Blow" also has this effect due to Jimmy essentially putting all of his weight into his right hand. Also the "Tornado Jolt", which instead uses the torque of his whole body instead of wildly charging at his opponent.
• Spin Attack: Jimmy's replacement Sunday Punch "Tornado Jolt", which makes him stationary but uses the torque of his whole body to put all his weight into the punch.
• Super-Toughness: His experience as a kickboxer gave him a higher resistance to punches. It took a full-body counter to take him down.

Alfredo Gonzales

"The man ranked second in the world", Alfredo Gonzales is a Mexican boxer at the world level. Like Eiji Date, his only two losses have been against Ricardo Martinez. Despite having suffered those losses, defeating Martinez still remains his goal and inspiration. He is the first truly international world stage opponent that Ippo faces. He appears quiet and calm, but hides a ferocious and bloodthirsty personality. His boxing style is very similar to Ricardo Martinez, in that he is a well-rounded, orthodox boxer with a high level of skill and technique, yet possessing a wilder side that focuses on brawling. Him relinquishing his orthodox style and letting go of his ferocious inner self is dubbed "Metztli Mode".

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• Attack! Attack! Attack!: In his "Metztli Mode" he basically goes nuts and focuses entirely on offense - which is also why it's dangerous and a "bad habit", yet a great source of strength. When Ippo used the Dempsey Roll, Alf recklessly charges in, and actually manages to dismantle it!
• Blood Knight: He becomes this once he's in his "Metztli Mode".
• Deadly Upgrade: His "Metztli Mode" is actually not as much of a Super Mode as one would expect, as it can easily backfire. His trainer knows this and merely refers to it as "bad habits".
• Hero Killer: Granted Ippo doesn't die from his match, however Alfredo is the one that killed Ippo's boxing career afterward and with the all the accumulated damage that Ippo received in his previous matches this is the one where it goes downhill for Ippo.
• Jack of All Stats: Possibly even a Lightning Bruiser. However, it is mentioned that he is somewhat fragile.
• Misplaced Retribution: Because Ricardo Martinez refuses to fight Alfredo a third time, despite the WBA acknowledging that the winner of the Gonzales-Ippo match earn a shot at the world title, Alfredo seems to blame Ippo for this "deception" and is now refusing to ever fight any Japanese boxers. This complicates matters for active Japanese boxers, the notable one being Takeshi Sendo.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: His bit as a more intense, serious Mexican boxer who tries to tame his wild brawling instincts with a precise, technical style (not always succeeding) is reminiscent of Mexican legend "Dinamita" Juan Manuel Marquez.
• Red Baron: Known as "Metztli", an aztec deity.
• Street Urchin: Grew up in Mexican slums.
• Tame His Anger: Due to the double-edge nature of Metztli, his coach would love for Alf to control his anger, or at least use it in a more "balanced" way. Near the end of the match, he does, which also leads to him handing Ippo his second defeat.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Heavily implied that he thinks this way of Ricardo Martinez. He could not allow Ippo to win and take his rank; because it would give him a shot at Martinez, and he was afraid Ippo might actually win.
• This Is Unforgivable!: For whatever reason, he really doesn't think highly of Ippo, and is downright insulted that he would dare to aim for Ricardo. He sees the fight as basically "teaching Ippo a lesson". One that ended up killing Ippo's career.
  • As it is revealed in chapter 1272, it goes deeper than this. Despite winning against Ippo for the right to challenge Ricardo Martinez, Ricardo has refused the challenge from Alfredo, claiming he has nothing to gain from an opponent he has defeated twice before. Because Ricardo refuses to budge on this, Alfredo claims that he has been deceived, and refuses to ever fight a Japanese boxer again.

Richard Bison

The WBA Middleweight Champion before losing the title to Takamura, Bison hails from Detroit, Michigan. He initially learned boxing for self-defense purposes and, finding that he was a natural, decided to pursue a career in the sport. He lost to David Eagle twice, once in an amateur match and again in the Olympic Qualifiers, resulting in his burning desire to rise in the ranks and take him on again. But before he gets the chance, Eagle is defeated by Takamura and retires afterwards, leaving Bison quite unsatisfied.

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• Animal Motifs: The bison, particularly when he charges in for the kill.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Quickly adapts his tactics and punches to account for Takamura doing the same.
• It's Personal: Has some strong resentment towards Takamura for taking away his chance to get revenge on Eagle. Gets even worse when Takamura starts copying his moves during the fight. He even (mentally) refers to Takamura as "thief".
• Lightning Bruiser: His signature flicker jabs are both lightning fast and incredibly strong. He himself is also very quick on his feet.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Very clearly based off (in appearance, fighting style and nickname) Thomas Hearns, a.k.a "The Motor City Cobra" (while Bison is the "Motor City Bison").
• Red Baron: Known as "Motor City" Bison.
• Signature Move: Uses "Old School Hitman Style": focusing on flicker jabs at middle range to keep his opponent at bay.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Felt this towards David Eagle, and is not happy that Takamura beat him to the punch (literally).

Antonio Guevara

Antonio Guevara is the new Phillipine's national featherweight champion, who won his title after defeating the incumbent champion Malcolm Gedo at the age of 19. He later became Ippo's comeback opponent after the latter's defeat against Alfredo Gonzalez, and became the third person to defeat Ippo. As a fighter, Guevara is a natural southpaw boxer and the first genuine one Ippo fought. He's also a boxing prodigy in his own right and while he's still quite inexperienced on the world stage, nevertheless possesses an unyielding willpower and courage.

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• Determinator: He rivals Ippo in this regard. No matter how outclassed he was, he just can't stop getting up again and again.
• Dark Horse Victory: Not many people expected this fresh-faced guy to beat Ippo, whether in or out-of-universe.
• Foil: To Ippo, appropraitely for his final opponent. Ippo is humble and meek outside of the ring, Guevara is laid back and confident. Ippo is a fierce, right handed in-boxer who specializes in taking absurd amounts of punishment and fearlessly using strenous techniques, Guevara is a technical, left-handed out-boxer who specializes in dodging and blocking.

Keith Dragon

Keith Dragon is an American boxer, and is the current Super Middleweight WBC champion. Keith is an avid mahjong player; so much so, that he agreed to having a title match in Japan solely for the purpose of challenging Japan's best mahjong players. Even though it appears that Keith is more interested in mahjong than boxing, he is the undefeated super middleweight champion. Keith appears to be under the impression that he found success because he "charmed the goddess of good fortune," implying that having all the skill in the world won't guarantee favourable results.

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• The Ace: Dragon is just ridiculouslly skilled at seemingly everything he puts his mind to. Aside from boxing, he picked up mahjong late in his life and is now good enough to basically have no equal in Japan. Part of it seems to be down to his nearly-supernatural luck.
• Animal Motifs: Actually one outside of Takamura's usual wheelhouse by being his first opponent to be themed after a mythical creature. Between being called "Manhattan's Demon King" and having the surname "Dragon", as well as being the biggest boxing star Takamura has faced, he seems to represent the regal majesty, fearsome aspects of a dragon.
• Born Lucky: He lampshades that he is this, although it maybe more complicated that that.
• Cavalier Competitor: In a surface-level, he appears to be incredibly easy-going and casual about the incredibly huge boxing matches he's in (which infuriates the Kamogawa Gym in the beginning), though it's more of a Subverted Trope as it's shown this is moreso for show and his focus for the fight is impeccable behind the scenes.
• Cosmic Plaything: What his luck actually is. It's not just good luck all the time. rather it seems to swing between either extreme luck or misfortune.
• Foil: As the other Takamura opponents, he is a parallel to Takamura. In this case the contrast is how easy-going and plain lucky he is compared to the more intense and unlucky Takamura. Nevertheless, both are world-class boxers.
• The Gambler: Gambling and luck is his main motif, as a major fan (and brilliant player) of mahjong with a high degree of luck.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: Fights (and generally lives his life) right-handed but Ippo discovers he's actually a natural southpaw using the Orthodox Stance to his advantage.
• Knee Fold Fall of Defeat: That a guy who's well-known for his luck to the point of being thought as beloved by God making what seems like a praying pose after Takamura defeated him? Certainly a coincidence.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Dragon's luck manifests itself in wildly improbable ways that sound a lot like divine intervention. Narrative and characters often discuss if it's just happy coincidences or if "The Goddess of Fortune" is with him, more noticeably with Ippo trying to call on religious rituals to help Takamura.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Moreso "obfuscating laziness". Miyata makes note (after a single glance at him working the bag) that the cavalier, flippant personality of a Born Lucky guy hides a incredibly hard-working, skilled and focused boxer.
• Otaku: Although he only plays the game as a hobby, Keith became a monster at mahjong shortly after learning the game from salarymen. The names of his Sunday punches are the names of high-level mahjong plays. And the reason why he accepted a title match away from home? So that he could challenge Japan's pro mahjong players.
• Playing Card Motifs: Mahjong tiles motifs, but the principle is the same. His entire character is built around Mahjong gambling tiles, from his Red Baron to his attack moves ("Heaven's Cannon" and "Ground Cannon" are both name of Mahjong hands).
• Red Baron: In the mahjong world, Keith is nicknamed "Manhattan's Demon King."
• Signature Move: Keith has two: "Heaven's Cannon" and "Ground Cannon." Both names are mahjong terms.
• The Worf Effect: A downplayed version. Keith is strong enough to force Takamura to fight seriously just like Hawk, Eagle, and Bison before him and the story implies that his supernatural luck might have caused Takamura to suffer a leg injury before the match. However, Takamura defeats him in the fourth round even with his injury and with less effort than the other world champions who lost within eight or seven rounds. The reason is that since Takamura is at a higher weight class than when he fought the other world champions, his strength and stamina drastically increased due to being closer to his original weight, which allowed him to beat Keith in half the time it took the other champions to be defeated.

Marcus Rosario

A Puerto Rican fighter who's known for being absolutely evil, and who's also Mashiba's upcoming opponent. So far, the only thing known about him is that he once won the WBA Lightweight Championship title from Juan Garcia, and that he's pretty much "World Class Evil".

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• Ax-Crazy: To put into perspective of how much he embodies this trope, he shot at a dog with a revolver because it was barking too loudly, and also shot at his manager for being loud as well.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Marcus explicitly states that one of his hobbies is crushing people's lives, like what he intends to do with Mashiba.
• Combat Pragmatist: He's a well known dirty boxer who elbows, headbutts, and knees people in the ring, but he does it subtly. There were times when he lost because of these fouls.
• Dartboard of Hate: Rosario takes it to the next level by firing at Mashiba's picture with a revolver.
• Delinquent Hair: Rosario has naturally spiky hair, but sometimes he styles them into tightly packed curls.
• It's All About Me: Complains that being unable to do whatever he wants makes the whole world "wrong", and whenever he's unhappy, everyone around him should be unhappy. A good few examples of this behavior are at the press conference, and when he's taking his anger out on a vending machine while doing roadwork.
• Jerkass: Does some of the most despicable things out of pure pettiness.
• Kick the Dog: Shot at a dog and his manager for being loud. Thankfully, neither were hit.
• Sadist: One of his hobbies is crushing people's lives, like what he wants to do to Mashiba.
• A Sinister Clue: One of Rosario's most well known images since he debuted was holding a revolver in his left hand to shoot at a dog, and then at his manager (thankfully, he hit neither of them). He's also known to be a lefty in fighting, too.
• Stab the Picture: More like punch the picture of Mashiba. And open fire on it too.
• White Hair, Black Heart: Marcus has white hair, and you can see just how Ax-Crazy he is.

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Other characters

Hiroko Makunouchi

Voiced by: Yorie Terauchi (JP), Gloria Obregón (Latin-American Spanish)

Hiroko is Ippo's widowed mother. She is a very kind and strong willed woman who cares for her son a great deal. She started running the fishing business after her husband, Kazuo, died after saving his friend Sakuma. Though she refuses to attend any of Ippo's matches because she doesn't want to watch him get hurt, she supports his boxing wholeheartedly because she knows how much joy it has brought to his life and how it has helped him with his self-esteem. Since Kazuo's death, Ippo and Hiroko have been more or less alone in the world; so the strength of their family bond is no surprise.

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• Good Parent: She is supportive and devoted to Ippo.
• Nice Girl: She is a very kind woman.
• Open-Minded Parent: Though she refuses to attend any of Ippo's matches because she doesn't want to watch him get hurt, she supports his boxing wholeheartedly because she knows how much joy it has brought to his life and how it has helped him with his self-esteem.
• The Pollyanna: Adult version, as she's almost unfailingly cheerful despite how hard her life has been.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Repeat: kind and strong willed lady.

Kazuo Makunouchi

Voiced by: Masaki Terasoma (JP)

Ippo's deceased father. Not much is known about his past other than he was a fisherman who loved to get into fights, and that he had a powerful punch. He died when Ippo was much younger, saving his friend Sakuma in a storm. Ippo's mother said that Kazuo was more suited to be a boxer than Ippo was. In a flashback in volume 56, Kazuo said Ippo was weak and he was going to "train" him. It is unknown what training he was planning to put Ippo through. It is through his strategy that Ippo beat Miyata (When Kazuo was to fight a stronger opponent, he would picture his opponent as a fish and all the tension would go away). He also won his match against Iwao Shimabukuro with the same strategy

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• Boisterous Bruiser: He loved to get into fights.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: To not get nervous, whenever he got into fights he pictured his opponent as. . . a fish. Yeah, really. Ippo does the same against Miyata and Shimabukuro.
• Death by Origin Story: Kazuo's death indirectly lead to Ippo gaining the impressive strength that would help his boxing career.
• Disappeared Dad: He died when Ippo was much younger.
• Generation Xerox: Looked like an Older and Wiser Ippo.
• Heroic Sacrifice: How he died, saving a friend during a storm

Masahiko Umezawa

Voiced by: Mitsuaki Madono (JP), Andrés Gutiérrez Coto, Sergio Gutiérrez Coto (Episodes 9, 20, 22, 50, and 56 to 59) (Latin-American Spanish)

Umezawa first appears as a bully in Ippo's school who is constantly tormenting and eploiting him. However, as Ippo begins to get into boxing and grow more as a fighter, Umezawa notices the changes in him and discovers a newfound admiration for the guy he used to push around. He started to watch all of Ippo's fights and invite other delinquents to do so, as they were all boxing fans. After graduation, Umezawa decides to help Ippo by working at the Makunoichis' Fishing Shop so he could focus on his training. Currently he is easily Ippo's 1# fan and one of his best friends.

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• Author Avatar: An aspiring Manga-ka with a connection to Ippo, and a love of Boxing. Sounds like an alternate, younger version of the author.
• Berserk Button: He has an immense respect for Boxers, considering them the peak of masculine strength, and absolutely loathes anyone who would lower themselves to cheat at the sport. When he watches Ippo box for the first time, Ippo is up against a cheater who repeatedly headbutts him to overcome the gap in skill and strength between them, and upon seeing this, Umezawa starts screaming at Ippo to take his opponent down.
• Bully Turned Buddy: Masahiko Umezawa began the series as Ippo's bully and tormentor at school. After Ippo begins to take boxing lessons, Umezawa undergoes a Heel Realization and begins to respect Ippo's perseverance and quickly becomes Ippo's number 1 fan.
• Character Development: Easily one of the best cases in the series. He goes from bullying Ippo to becoming his biggest fan, and eventually one of his best friends. He even tries to stop Taihei from abusing Ippo's training and attempts to take the fall for Ippo by fighting him instead, though he fails.
• Delinquents
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Stops slicking his hair back into a pompadour after graduation.
• Jerkass: He got better.
• Heel–Face Turn and Heel Realization: At first he treats Ippo badly for no real reason, then is curious about his newfond strength, and then begins seeing him as a real friend. At some point he even apologizes to Ippo in tears for his abusive behavior.
• Hidden Depths: He dreams of becoming a successful mangaka and is actually a pretty good artist. He becomes one after graduation but has yet to find success, and Ippo becomes his assistant alongside a Teen Genius artist that Ippo found by accident.
• Unskilled, but Strong: He's a big guy with the fighting skill of a street punk. Deconstructed since, not only does Takamura easily evade his, and his posse's, horribly telegraphed strikes, he got his ass handed to him by a teenager off screen, despite being in his 20s at the time.
• The Worf Effect: To show how effective the Training from Hell Ippo gave Taihei and that Ippo wasn't wrong about the potential Taihei had, he gets his ass kicked by the 15-16 year old off screen despite being a fairly tough guy in his mid twenties. That said, he was still ready for more, but then Ippo showed up and everything got much worse.

Kumi Mashiba

Voiced by: Sanae Kobayashi (JP), Yuka Hirata (JP, New Challenger), Stephanie Sheh (EN), Maggie Vera and María Fernanda Morales (Latin-American Spanish)

Kumi is Ryo Mashiba's sweet-natured, but hard-working and willful younger sister, and as such understands him better than anyone else. She will do almost anything to support her brother and make him happy, including going to his matches even though she doesn't like to see him get hurt. Ippo becomes infatuated with her early on, but didn't have a chance to tell her until more than a year later, when they met in an hospital as patient and nurse some months after the Ippo/Mashiba ring. They become friends and Kumi comes to like Ippo back, but their relationship tends to suffer from their friends' and relatives' constant interference, and also was somewhat strained after Ippo thought she was smitten with Dr. Sanada, until Kumi herself clarified the mistake after their match but didn't get a chance to say that Ippo was the one she really loved. Kumi tends to be modest and shy, but she will stand up for her brother and friends at a moment's notice.

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• Armor-Piercing Question: After Ippo loses to Gonzalez, Kumi asks Ippo if it's worth going through so much physical punishment for a sport he merely considers a hobby. Ippo acknowledges the risks of continuing to box and promises to retire after he loses a third time.
• Berserk Button: Her brother's constant meddling into her relationship with Ippo irritates her to no end. Also after Ippo retires, any boxing-related topic immediately invokes her anger, specially if it involves the possibility of Ippo returning to the ring.
• Cannot Spit It Out: She's just as bad as Ippo when it comes to this.
• Curtains Match the Windows: She has brown hair and brown eyes.
• Cute Bruiser: Shows a little of this when Ryo demanded to know who she was talking to on the phone.
• Deadpan Snarker: She has her moments.
• Dude Magnet: Kumi attracts the attention of many boys. However, her overprotective brother scares most of them off, resulting in her not having a boyfriend throughout her school years.
• Fan of Underdog: Being one of Ippo's greatest supporters, of course.
• The Fake Cutie: Has recently started showing shades of this, but only Ippo's new Kouhais are able to notice her less agreeable personality traits.
• Hospital Hottie: She's very pretty and is a nurse.
• Monster Brother, Cutie Sister: The Cutie Sister to Ryo's Monster Brother.
• Morality Chain: If she wasn't around, Mashiba would be even more of a jerk.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With Ryo. She's a sweet, cute and shy nurse while her brother is a fearsome and vicious boxer.

Tomiko

Voiced by: Shoko Tsuda (JP), Helen Storm (EN), Mildred Barrera (Latin-American Spanish)

Aoki's girlfriend and Kumi's friend/co-worker.

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• Butterface: After accidentally groping her, Takamura comments that she has nice breasts.
• Genki Girl
• Gonk: Downplayed, she's not exactly a beauty but she isn't cartoonish-looking either. She does have a nice body, too.
• Shipper on Deck: Just like Aoki, she ships Kumi with Ippo.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Inverted. She is the ugly one while Aoki is the better looking of the two.

Aiko Date

Voiced by: Sakiko Tamagawa (JP), Patricia Acevedo (Latin-American Spanish)

Eiji Date's wife.

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• Happily Married: She and Date are rather happy in their shared life.
• The Ojou: She's from a rather rich family. In fact, while her family liked Date as a person, they feared that he would be Unable to Support a Wife, specially one with a delicate health like her.
• Plucky Girl: Despite her physical weakness, she's a rather kind and strong-willed later.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Dealed to her husband when she notices that he's frustrated and depressed after spending years as a Salary Man to provide for her and their son Yuushi, despite being a born fighter.

Minoru Fujii

Voiced by: Kenichi Ono (JP), Gerardo Reyero (Latin-American Spanish)

A reporter for a boxing magazine that has been following Ippo's career since his second spar with Miyata. Occasionally he drops by with information concerning opposing fighters in upcoming matches for the Kamogawa gym members.

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• Intrepid Reporter: He can go through quite the lengths to get the info he needs.
• Mr. Exposition: If there's someone in the local boxing corner with good contacts and handy info, it's him.
• Perma-Stubble: Never seems to shave.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Never shows up in anything else but suits.
• Smoking Is Cool: He's often seen smoking.

Mari Iimura

Voiced by: Emi Shinohara (JP), Erica Edwards (Latin-American Spanish)

A 23-year-old sportswriter who works alongside Fujii at Boxing Fan Monthly. Iimura's calm indifference and sharp wit serve often to put off those who would judge her only for beauty, but she is an avid boxing fan and, though less experienced than some, an outstanding journalist. Has an interest in Ippo, but as with most of the love in the series, her love is unrequited.

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• Love Quadrangle: With Ippo, Kumi, and Nanako

Dr. Tomoko Yamaguchi

Voiced by: Yuko Kobayashi (JP), Gabriela Willert (Latin-American Spanish)

An attractive physical therapist specializing in bones who was hired by Ippo's mother to work on his busted fist after his fight with Mashiba early on. She's been his primary physician ever since, and she stops by every now and then to check on him as well as his friends.

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• Buxom Beauty Standard: Her buxom figure has all of Ippo's friend head over heels for her.
• Cool Big Sis: She takes this role towards Ippo, as his treating doctor
• Gender Reveal: When Ippo is sent to a doctor said to have been a renowned judoka in their youth, he's expecting a surly man's man, not an adorable woman.
• Hospital Hottie: Dr. Yamaguchi is a friendly and cheerful young doctor who has her own clinic, and how she often wears very short miniskirts and possesses ample assets do the rest. (Oh, and Yamaguchi's so Married to the Job that she completely fails to notice her effect on Ippo's sempais).
• Ms. Fanservice: A friendly, beautiful, voluptuous personal therapist who doesn't mind stiffies and incidental "contact" during her checkups? Pretty much every athlete's dream.
• Nice Gal: A very sociable and friendly physician who enthusiastically supports Ippo.
• The Medic: Her skill as a physician are nothing to sneeze at.
• Pervert Revenge Mode: She frequently throws Takamura out of the window of her office when he starts getting too pervy, at one point calling the cops on him as well.

Miyata Sr.

Voiced by: Unshō Ishizuka (JP), Paco Mauri (Latin-American Spanish)

Miyata Sr. is the trainer of his son, Ichiro Miyata. He was a former OPBF champion who was headed for the World stage before having his jaw broken by Randy Boy Sr, ending his career. Broken, as both a fighter and a man, Miyata Sr. began drinking heavily, causing his wife to leave him. However, he finds hope in his son, who has picked up his boxing style without having been formally trained and becomes his trainer.

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• Alcoholic Parent: Was this before training his son.
• Stage Dad: Subverted, Miyata took up boxing because he chose to.
• Signature Move: Jolt Counter

Ginpachi Nekota

Voiced by: Ichirō Nagai (JP), Ernesto Casillas (Latin-American Spanish)

Nekota Ginpachi is a long time friend and eternal rival of Kamogawa Genji. In the past he was a natural boxer with wild instincts that even Kamogawa and Dankichi said were better than theirs (although they'd never admit it to Nekota). With fast reflexes and superb agility, Nekota was as powerful as Kamogawa and Dankichi. However, after a match with Kamogawa, Nekota found himself suffering from Punch Drunk Syndrome. Knowing this, he still took on American soldier Ralph Anderson, who was a Welterweight world ranker before WWII. He was beating Anderson before getting hit by a rabbit punch, causing a Game-Breaking Injury which allowed Anderson to win. Now, Nekota is a freelance boxing trainer on par or better than Kamogawa. He frequently shows up to big fights in the Japanese boxing scene as well as to support the Kamogawa gang in their biggest of fights.

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• The Ace: In his youth. Kamogawa and Dankichi begrudgingly admit that, in his prime, Nekota had more natural talent, stronger instincts and greater potential than either of them.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Comes with the territory, being punch drunk and more than a bit senile. But even in the prime of his youth, Nekota was pretty out there.
• I Was Quite a Looker: The other old coaches at least somewhat resemble their younger selves, but compared to his withered old form now, the boyishly handsome young man in the flashback appearance is almost completely unrecognizable as Nekota.
• Team Dad: Shares it with Coach Kamogawa. He's much more supportive than eternal "Well Done, Son" Guy Kamogawa, though.
• Tragic Dream: A Game-Breaking Injury left him with brain damage.
• Two Guys and a Girl: In the backstory, with Kamogawa and Yuki.
• Verbal Tic: Usually ends his sentences with "-dani" or "-daniyo".

Yuki

A beautiful young woman who adored sunflowers. Yuki met Kamogawa and Nekota at a boxing match in the 1950s. Smitten, they offered to put her up at Kamogawa's house to protect her from American soldiers. It was soon revealed, however, that Yuki was a victim of radiation poisoning from the American bombing of Hiroshima, and that she had come to Tokyo in hopes of living out her last days in happiness. When Nekota left Tokyo to live in the mountains, Yuki went with him; Kamogawa asked her to take care of his now-impaired best friend. Although—or perhaps because—Yuki had fallen in love with Kamogawa, she spent the rest of her life in the mountains with Nekota as per his request, dying peacefully some time later.

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• Bodyguard Crush: On Kamogawa.
• Death by Origin Story: From radiation poisoning from the American bombing of Hiroshima no less.
• Flower Motifs: Sunflowers.
• Sunny Sunflower Disposition

Mister Sakaguchi

Voiced by: Minoru Inaba (JP)

A Filipino boxing manager in the OPBF. Mr. Sakaguchi is infamous for his impure motives and abandoning boxers who fail him. He has had a personal vendetta against Miyata Ichirō since he defeated his client Arnie Gregory to become the OPBF champion and is willing to do anything to end his career.

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• Expy: Of Don King, and how
• Jerkass
• Large Ham

Dankichi Hama

Voiced by: Seizō Katō (JP)

A boxing trainer and former prize-fighter. He is a friend and former rival of Genji Kamogawa and Ginpachi Nekota. He is Alexander Volg Zangief's trainer and a former trainer for Kazuki Sanada. Dankichi harbours deep feelings of rivalry towards Kamogawa, and strives to one day train a boxer that can defeat Ippo Makunouchi or Mamoru Takamura.

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• Glass Cannon: He was a brilliant fighter with the use of the Hien, a jab which is quickly changed into a hook or an uppercut. His problem: a glass jaw.
• Insufferable Genius: Was this when he was active, acting rather haughtily because he is more skilled than Kamogawa or Ginpachi, and he was. Scratch the "was" part. He is still this, being a more famous and skilled trainer than Kamogawa, and his arrogance hasn't watered down even after years.
• The Rival: To Kamogawa.
• Stern Teacher: To Sanada, and later to Volg.

Reiko Mikami

Voiced by: Akemi Okamura (JP), Mayra Arellano (Latin-American Spanish)

Reiko Mikami is the daughter of Nishikawa Boxing Gym's trainer Mikami and is in a relationship with Yusuke Oda.

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• Morality Pet: Yusuke only got serious with boxing when Reiko called him out on his laziness and threatened to end their relationship.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. There are technically three Reiko's in the series; the other one is a nurse who works with Kumi that Kimura once had eyes for, and the third is Kimura's pet fish that he named after the aforementioned Reiko.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Only agreed to stay in a relationship with Oda if he let go of his selfish and lazy nature.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Threatens Yusuke with dumping him for becoming lazy and greedy. When he gets better, she stays by him despite his loss.
• Yamato Nadeshiko

Miguel Zale

Voiced by: Iizuka Shouzou (JP)

Miguel is a renowned American boxing trainer with experience dating back as far as World War II. Any boxers he trains soon become champions. What separates Miguel from other trainers is that he develops...unique styles within his boxers. It's this uniqueness that allows the likes of Bryan Hawk and Wally to become champions without much effort or experience. Miguel has a history with Kamogawa, but neither men recognized each other until Wally and Ippo met at the weigh-in.

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• A Father to His Men: To Wally.
• Delinquent Hair: It's kind of unusual for an old man to be sporting a mohawk.
• Everyone Has Standards: He shows hints that he actually didn't like Ralph either, disagreeing with his racist opinions internally, and when Ralph is up against Ginpachi, and Kamogawa after that, he was cheering for them internally. He also didn't seem to be that attached to Hawk as he is to Wally either.
• Foil:
  • To Kamogawa. Miguel has a great analytical eye for matches and is able to come up with effective tactics for his boxer because of it, but was content with relying on Hawk's natural talents and likewise basically gave up on trying to teach Wally an orthodox boxing style. Kamogawa on the other hand carefully trains his boxers to perfection for every fight, but more often than not appears completely helpless during a match.
  • Also to his superior back then, Ralph. Ralph is a skilled boxer on his own and is racist against Japanese people. Miguel is more skilled in training other people than being a boxer himself, and holds respect for Japanese people.
• Heel–Face Turn: While never outright villainous himself, he was content with letting Bryan Hawk do whatever he wanted in and outside the ring, including potentially killing his opponents. You'd never guess this from the way he re-appears a few years later with a new boxer (Wally) under his wing, becoming just a cheery old man who intends to put everything he has into his final boxer.
• Not What I Signed on For: He used to serve in the US military as Ralph Anderson's trainer. His patriotism compelled him to do his duty, but he was personally shocked and disgusted by Anderson's racism and underhanded boxing style.
• Token Good Teammate: Was this in Kamogwa's flashback arc. He detested Ralph, not only his racist view but also his dirty way using the Rabbit Punch, but the others says "It's all for America." and shares Ralph's racist view.

The Regular

Not much is known about The Regular, whose real name is currently unknown. He is homeless, and he's fan of boxing, and was possibly a boxer himself. The Regular likes to gamble and drink, the former of which may be the reason for his homelessness. He's a huge fan of Kimura because Kimura is an average fighter with the potential to shine bright in the ring, if only for a fleeting moment. Takamura has taken a liking to The Regular, and will often buy food for him.

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• The Alcoholic: Loves alcohol, and beer in particular.
• Fan Boy: The Regular is a huge fan of Kimura.
• The Gambling Addict: When Takamura bought The Regular a ticket to watch one of Kimura's fights, he scalped the ticket to bet on horse racing.