Ippo Makunouchi
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Ippo Makunouchi is the main protagonist from the anime and manga series Fighting Spirit (Japanese Title - はじめの一歩, Hajime no Ippo). He lives with his mother, Hiroko Makunouchi, and helps with the family business, renting fishing boats. He is well known for his peek-a-boo style of boxing and hard punches, which both appear to be modelled after Mike Tyson.
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[edit] Character Information
- Name: Ippo Makunouchi (幕之内 一歩, Makunouchi Ippo)
- Date of Birth: 11/23/1973[1]
- Blood Type: O[1]
- Weight Division: Featherweight
- Record: 20-1-0, 20 KO's
- Boxing Gym: Kamogawa Boxing Gym (鴨川 ボクシングジム, Kamogawa Bokushingu Jimu)
- First Appearance: Volume 1 - Round 1 | Episode 1
- English Voice Actor: Steve Cannon[2]
- Spanish Voice Actor: Gabriel Ramos[2]
- Japanese Voice Actor: Kohei Kiyasu[2]
- Philippine Voice Actor: Fourth Brillante Lee[2]
- French Voice Actor: Alexandre N'Guyen[2]
[edit] Background
Ippo was bullied throughout most of his school life. In fact, he still endures it to an extent at his gym (though he doesn't mind as much since they are his friends). Takamura, Aoki, and Kimura often make him get drinks for them and make jokes in reference to Ippo's large penis in order to embarrass him in front of girls; on the other hand, they help him with training and are always by his side when he seriously needs them, like during his matches.
[edit] Speciality Punches
- Liver Blow
- A body blow thrown with the left fist. Coach Kamogawa had Ippo develop a very close-range 10cm (3.9 in) version of the liver blow for Ippo's Championship match against Date.
- Gazelle Punch
- A punch developed by Floyd Patterson. By crouching to duck down low, the legs act as springs to add extra force to a hook and give it an upward direction much like an uppercut. Though it can be a close-range punch, it can also be used to close a gap by using the step in to duck down. The more distance it covers the bigger the motion it creates. Coach Kamogawa taught Ippo this punch for his fight with Vorg.
- Dempsey Roll
- A technique developed by Jack Dempsey. A combination of offensive and defensive moves blended together to create a fluid motion that could continue indefinitely. Not realizing what it was, Ippo developed it himself while Coach Kamogawa was in the hospital in preparation for his comeback fight against Ponchai Chuwatana.
[edit] Notable Fights
- Ippo Makunouchi vs Ichiro Miyata
- This was a four round sparring match.
- Ippo Makunouchi vs Eiji Date
- Japanese Featherweight Championship match (10 rounder). Date won by KO, 2 minutes and 32 seconds into the 5th round. This was Date's 10th defense of the title and Ippo's first and only loss.
- Ippo Makunouchi vs Takeshi Sendo II
- Japanese Featherweight Championship match (10 rounder). Ippo won by KO, 1 minute and 32 seconds in the 7th round, making him the new Japanese Featherweight Champion.
- Makunouchi Ippo vs Karasawa Takuzo
- This was Ippo's 6th defense of the title (10 rounder). Ippo won by KO, 2 Minutes and 15 Seconds in the 2nd round. This was the first match that Ippo did not rely on the Dempsey Roll to finish the match; he stuck to the basics through the whole match. Before this match, Ippo would receive numerous challenges from other boxers who felt that they could exploit the weaknesses of the Dempsey Roll. After this match, most of those boxers withdrew their challenge because they now knew that Ippo could win without his trump card.
[edit] References
Morikawa Jōji, Fighting Spirit, published by Kodansha, 1990.
