Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
The series will end with the third Sendou fight.
Basically a fight with Sendou marked the end of the first major arcs of the series (Rookie Kings and Japanese Championship), so going by Rule of Three the last fight of the series will be Ippo fighting Sendou in his first World Championship defence. Miyata and Volg will both be fought before Martinez. Specifically Miyata will be fought for the OPBF championship, before going to the world stage, then Volg will be fought as part of Ippo's rise to 1st seed (Volg will be world 4th or 5th rank or something). The series will end either just at the end of the Sendou fight as Ippo throws up his victory pose and his record is shown, or it will be really cruel and end at the opening bell or first punch.- Ippo will likely never face Volg outside of a sparring match again, now that he's the IBF Junior Lightweight Champion.
Sendou will be killed by Ricardo Martinez.
In keeping with his inspiration, Sendou will at some point fight Ricardo Martinez and go the full twelve rounds against him, only to lose by decision and die from his injuries. This will add up to give Ippo another reason to defeat Martinez, and also perhaps let us get a deeper look at Ricardo's psyche.- Sheesh, imagine if the first onscreen Casualty in the Ring was paying homage to one of the greatest boxing animes of all time. Mind you, the only times people actually died in this series is outright never in the ring; Even when Kamogawa straight up attempted to cleave his fist deep into Anderson's spleen, or when Takamura punched Hawk so hard into the mat, they all miraculously survived. I think that Sendo does deserve a similar death to Joe, not that I hate Sendo or think he's an awful person. It's just that there couldn't be an even better send-off to someone who was designed with Joe's likeness in mind; Perhaps, during his final moments, Sendo sees a vision of Joe Yabuki before he finally bites the dust on his stool?
- Although, this wouldn't make Ippo return to the ring. If anything, Ippo wouldn't dare step into the ring again after witnessing someone who he knew was an absolute beast in the ring get the absolute life literally clobbered out of him, further cementing Ippo's decision to stay retired in fear that something similar might happen to him.
Itagaki will leave the Kamogawa Gym, either temporarily or as a full on Face Heel Turn.
Itagaki can say as much as he wants about waiting for Ippo to vacate the Japanese Featherweight Title, but in truth, he wants to fight Ippo in a real match just as much as anyone else, and the only thing standing in his way is the fact that they're both from the same gym. The frustration of being so close to catching up to Ippo but never quite getting there is going to wear down his loyalty, possibly enough for him to quit the gym/join a new one, out of logistical necessity to make the match happen, or an underlying frustration about never excelling as much as he would want in the Kamogawa environment. Related to this would be the idea that... Sawamura's new job as a trainer will come back in a future arc
And who better a student than a frustrated Itagaki? The third-to-final fight will be Sendo vs. Ippo III, the penultimate fight will be Miyata vs. Martinez and the final fight will be Ippo vs. Miyata for the undisputed Featherweight title
Ippo and Sendo's fights have a beautiful simplicity to them -not very many fancy techniques, and in the end, it's whoever had the stronger punch and stamina. It would finally settle the question of who the ultimate infighter/brawler is between the two, and it would make for a neat leadup into the final fight of the series, with Sendo gracefully admitting that even though he's one of the baddest brawlers in the business, only Ippo could outfight him.In the meantime, as Ippo's recovering, Miyata challenges Martinez, and gets his chance to demonstrate that his father's brand of boxing can not only succeed in the world but can actually TAKE it, achieving fame in finally unseating the champion.
The last fight will bookend the series - Ippo and Miyata finally settling their rivalry that began in the basement of the Kamogawa Gym, neatly tying up the story. Alternately...
The penultimate fight is Ippo vs. Miyata, and the final fight is Ippo vs. Martinez
The Sendo fight continues as usual, but Ippo and Miyata meet and settle their rivalry in a battle for the #1 seed, culminating in Miyata finally accepting that he's more than proven the worth of his father's boxing to the world, and gracefully accepts defeat. Ippo's question will finally get its answer in the fight with Martinez, discovering what it really means to be strong as he takes every single experience from his career and throws it at the seemingly-unstoppable Martinez. His experiences allow him to succeed where Date couldn't, and Martinez finally gets the challenge he's been looking for all his life. The series ends with the hardest fought KO victory Ippo has ever had, and Ippo finally becomes the fighter and champion everyone believes he is. Ippo will become a "Monster"
Well kind of, Takamura told Ippo that the world is only meant for monsters; like himself, Sendo, and Mashiba. Takamura is normally spot on about these things, so Ippo will eventually learn to tap in the side of him that was brought out during the Kojima fight.A future opponent of Takamura will be an Expy of Chad from ''Bleach''
And a Lawyer-Friendly Cameo version of Ichigo and the gang will be watching and commentating from their home watching Chad on TV. A cheeky if good natured Shout-Out to the finale of that manga. Ippo's retirement due to health concerns mirrors Morikawa's own issues.
Morikawa is not the healthiest guy and many times, in the last several years, the manga has suffered delays because of this — Morikawa having the manga pretty much end in a rather anti-climatic form is because he wants to end the manga in his terms rather than have it end due to Died During Production.- It would also go a ways to prevent anyone from reviving the IP after his passing, at the cost of his legacy. After all if AEF happened, people would still think highly of the series, even ignoring any disastrous revival but as things are going now, it's setting both the IP's status and his legacy set in stone.
Why are they using a bad version of the Dempsey Roll, when they already had the complete and perfected version since the second Sendou fight?
This bugs me about the series, they keep telling us that the Dempsey Roll is a double edge sword, but during the Sendou II fight, they found a way around that flaw and managed to perfect it.
First a liver blow to open the oponent, then a gazelle punch to knock out his defenses and stun him, then the Dempsey as A FINISHER!
They even said that with that combo it's a complete technique, first to use the liver and gazelle to open up and stun the oponnent and then the Dempsey is the third blow. So: opener-liver blow, middle- gazelle punch, finisher- dempsey.
But right after that Ippo stops using the Dempsey as the finisher in the combo and instead uses it as the opening move.
I never understood why he would do such a stupid move!
They also forgot about the liver blow and the Gazelle punch and basically abandoned Ippo's already perfected combo, for an imperfect one.
Why did they do such a stupid move?
Everyone knows that the Dempsey's weakness is at the beginning if it's properly countered, so why did they abandon the first two punches that prevented counters?
- Ippo pointed out in the lead-up to the Sawamura fight that the Gazelle Punch-Liver Blow-Dempsey Roll combo only really worked on infighters like Sendo, which is why it was necessary for the Dempsey to evolve to fight hybrid and outboxers. Granted, Ippo's focus on the Dempsey roll is acknowledged, and it's a major source of angst for him.
Ippo will return to boxing in some fashion and it'll cause major strife with Kumi
It's clear that he's inseparable from boxing and his retirement is doing some not so nice things to him. Kumi's insistence on him staying away at all (even as a second or trainer) isn't helping. So sooner or later he'll be drawn back into things and it will cause a fight that may very well end their relationship.
Takamura's days are numbered in some fashion.
Few people in good health would put themselves through a grueling weight control program so often to get championship belts like they're going out of style. This suggests either his living days or at least his boxing days are numbered. This plays into his tendencies of being a jerk, he's doing that so no one will miss him. Ippo will defeat Martinez...
...With body blows. Lots and lots of body blows. After returning to the ring, Ippo will finally be taught a much, much safer version of the Tekken, and keeping in line with how players in Victorious Boxers 2: Victorious Road was able to defeat Martinez (through lots and lots of body uppercuts), Ippo will eventually unleash a variant of the Dempsey Roll that includes (if not outright specializes in) body blows, and combined with the Tekken, Ippo will eventually rip through Martinez's abs and leave him out on the mat, clutching his stomach in agony.