The razor-sharp finishing blow!
I got it!
He bent his elbow,
and changed the course of the punch!
The champion's right knocks Miyata's head all the way back!
And a left!
Right!
A rush from both sides!
The challenger takes blow after blow!
He can't stay up!
The challenger takes the second down!
The champion shows his true power!
Damn it!
How dare he come after my counter.
Nothing can be more mortifying than this!
It felt like he took me and my pride, all together!
I can't lose like this!
This is the second down for the challenger.
The damage is serious!
His face is covered with blood.
Can he continue to fight?
Damn it!
How dare he come after my counter, my pride!
Get up, Miyata!
Don't let it end yet!
We didn't come here to see you like this!
Miyata-kun!
I-Ichiro!
Miyata's counters were far faster than expected.
That's why we took the hit during the first round, while we were dangling the bait.
But it won't work anymore!
We let you learn it on purpose!
There's nothing you can do even if you get up!
I can't lose just yet!
He's up!
I'll go on, Ref.
Get outta my way!
Your counters are sealed even if you can get up!
There's no reason to fear a boxer with no finishing blows!
You're like a bird that lost its wings!
His damage is serious.
The challenger cannot stand firm.
One more down will automatically bring this match to an end.
There are twenty seconds left! Can the challenger last that long?!
Arnie's right!
Miyata desperately blocks it!
Get away, Miyata!
Buy some time with clinches!
I won't let you use clinches.
I'll push you back with rushes!
Wow! The challenger fights back!
You've got a good spirit.
A rush from both sides!
He easily pushes the challenger back to the ropes!
Don't stand against the ropes!
Go around and buy some time!
Get away!
He's not getting away!
He fights back squarely!
What?! Why are you hitting back?!
Get away from him!
He's hit!
He cringes in pain! His knees are bent!
But he's still not going down!
He fights back! And more!
Ten seconds left!
Please! Get away!
Don't go down!
The champion's fierce storm!
Miyata still fights back!
But he stutters! He can't overcome his damage!
The champion's right!
I can counter this!
The challenger's counter fails! His face is knocked back!
Five seconds left!
He fights back!
Three seconds left!
Two seconds!
One second!
He's down!
It's his third down!
Mi...
Miyata-kun lost...
Slip!
The referee calls a slippage!
It was not a down!
The entire hall held their breath for a moment while waiting for that call.
The gong has rung, so it's the end of round two.
My heart stopped beating!
His soul is leaking out over here!
That was too close.
Why was he so frantic?
I don't know if it's reckless or forceful.
I don't remember Miyata ever putting out such a down-to-earth fight.
It must be from anger.
Anger?
Miyata does not do well when he takes hits.
This match could have ended after his second down,
but his pride was smashed when Arnie went after his counter.
It was his anger that kept him up.
That's right.
I have my finishing blow, a counter.
Without relying on power, I will KO anyone with it.
Miyata-kun's counter is his pride.
But what now?
It's tough fighting without a finishing blow, now that his counter has been taken away.
The next round will be a critical one.
Whether he goes offensive or defensive,
how much stamina and damage can he recover before the next round?
Unfortunately, he won't recover.
Miyata lost an unbelievable amount of weight.
He got hit so much after putting up such an assertive fight.
His fuel tank must be empty.
I don't want to admit, but he will...
We won.
I didn't expect him to fight back after that, though.
It must be what they call the Yamato Spirit.
But he doesn't know how empty he is due to his weight loss.
It was a foolish act, not thinking ahead.
Miyata is now a mere moving sandbag!
Stop it, Mr. Sakaguchi.
I have never seen such a brave boxer.
Without a doubt, he's the best challenger ever.
Arnie...
I respect his spirit, and I'll take him down with all I've got.
You just shut up and watch,
or this will be the end of you using me to make money.
This doesn't look good.
I fought back vehemently, but I can't evade all the punches I can see.
I hate this wimpy body.
Don't talk. Be quiet and focus on recovering your stamina.
But what now?
Regrettably, his anti-counter measure is almost perfect.
All the speed I had is all lost too.
Proceeding carefully will only delay when I'll be knocked out.
I just need to keep swinging, even if it's only a kamikaze attack.
I'll use all the stamina I have left to keep swinging!
We'll see if I get lucky and connect any punches.
Are you going to go out there mindlessly, trying to get a lucky punch?
I'm sure you know full well what state you are in right now.
People call you clever, but you are actually more stubborn than anyone else.
I know you'll pick a kamikaze attack over the judges' scores.
There's something I realized recently.
It's something I finally realized after being involved in boxing for decades.
I could not admit it when I was still a boxer myself,
but there is no such thing as a lucky punch in boxing!
There was a time when I thought I lost to a lucky punch.
But it was not so.
Careless punches made by boxers who have given up will never connect.
Even if one did connect, you can't knock out a man with dead punches.
I finally realized that after I became a trainer.
Some do it for glory. Some do it for money.
People endure the tough training for their own reasons.
They punch sandbags thousands and millions of times.
They put all of their determination into both of their fists.
Even if a lucky punch connects,
it's the result of thousands and millions of training blows.
And those blows are alive!
Not giving up until the last possible moment...
It's those kind of blows that'll bring miracles!
Now I remember...
I've seen so many of them.
I'll do it, then.
No, there's a reason I must do it.
Seconds, out.
Thanks, Dad.
Now, check out...
if my blows are alive or not!
Round three!
The challenger survived quite a pinch in the second round.
But without a doubt, he's still on the verge of death.
Will the champion finish it in this round?
Whose torso will the OPBF champion belt end up on?
Now...
What?
They're not moving. They're staring at each other in the center of the ring.
This is a quiet start to the round.
I know the champion won't let him take a break.
His carefulness is a sign that he has a lot of experience.
Seeing that he's taking this seriously, Miyata ending the match with a KO will be difficult.
Miyata-kun...
your counter has been taken away, and you're still carrying damage...
What will you do now?
Who will make the first move?
Incoming.
One-two!
Sharp and fast!
The champion was caught by surprise!
He cut the air.
Seems like he's still got damaging punches.
He goes in even further!
The challenger starts a fight!
Did he recover from the damage he took earlier?
Go! Knock him down!
I'm not in shock.
I was expecting this.
It takes a brave man like Miyata to make that move.
A banzai attack—fighting to the last minute, then getting crushed...
A right! And a left!
He caught the champion!
Wh...
What's up with his eyes?
He's not thinking about a suicide attack.
He's intending to win this!
But of course! He'll take the lead if I don't fight back!
The champion fights back, as if responding to the challenger's spirit!
They exchange blows!
It's a storm of close-range punches!
Who will take who down in this battle of power?!
The champion?!
Or the challenger?!
Damn! I could see that punch coming,
but I still couldn't evade it!
My reflexes are way down.
Put my nerves to work.
Focus. Focus!
Clean hits!
Three lighting-fast blows!
What's taking you so long?!
He's already groggy!
Hurry up and finish him off!
This is the end of my money-making?
But you're still my pawn.
I'll continue sucking up the management fees until you take on the world championship.
Did the challenger get his rhythm back?
He has the champion against the ropes!
Has he recovered from all that damage?!
He's still carrying damage.
He's just overcoming it with super-strong determination.
But the flow of the game will change if I make him remember the damage he took earlier.
On his body!
His guard is tight!
But I know he'll fight back!
I'll give him a big one then!
There!
Cross my right arm!
Wow! He pulled back the counterblow!
No! He can take on my counter!
You panicked.
A body hit! It's a hard one!
Cross my right arm!
Wow! He pulled back the counterblow!
No! He can take on my counter!
You panicked.
A body hit! It's a hard one!
Ichiro!
The challenger lost his momentum!
And the champion takes it to the finish!
He turned the game around with just one punch!
He was still carrying that much damage?
You did very well.
But you can't come back from both the emotional and physical damage.
I now just need to annihilate your spirit and knock you unconscious.
I just need that one blow!
This is the end, Miyata.
No way! He's fighting back?!
What... was that?
Why is he fighting back in such a state?
It's not a matter of his spirit.
There's something completely different that's keeping him up.
But what?
I still have that promise...
Miyata-kun...
I will realize it this time...
That promise I haven't been able to keep!
I won't allow myself to leave this ring as a liar!
Miyata-kun!
Go, Miyata!
Miyata-kun!
Don't give up! The champion's scared now!
Mi-Ya-Ta! Mi-Ya-Ta!
No need to worry. I'll still come out as the victor.
I just need to put his wandering spirit to rest.
I will finish him with this one blow!
The champion goes in!
It's a big stride! A big left swing!
Stop!
Now the gong!
The gong was hit right when their arms were about to cross!
That ends the third round!
Taking so much time!
You had so many chances to take him down!
I know what happened.
You got scared by his spirit, didn't you?!
What a shame!
Think how humiliating it is to me as a matchmaker!
Your value will keep going down if you can't finish boxers like that!
Talking business again?
Of course. You are a pro.
Your job is to draw spectators.
Don't worry.
I'll take him down in the next round.
Yeah! That's what I wanted to hear!
Yeah, yeah!
Worry about your own future before you start partying.
You were good at being my manager.
I was exploiting that as well,
but I have no intention of coming back to the second who doesn't care how his boxer feels.
Wh-What do you mean?
Mr. Sakaguchi, you're fired.
This is end of our deal.
Do you think you can do that?
You're still bound by the contract.
I must thank you for one thing.
Even though you take boxing as nothing more than business,
you matched me with the best opponent at the very end.
The very end? Are you kidding me?
We'll continue our give-and-tak—
Get lost!
I will beat Ichiro Miyata,
and I will go for the world on my own!
G-Give me water.
Don't drink too much.
It feels so good.
I don't know how much good it does to this out-of-fuel body,
but now I've got...
got enough for one punch.
That's enough.
One all-out counter is all it'll take.
Seconds, out.
Ichiro.
Go and get him.
He looked determined.
He's intending to make this the last round.
So he knows he's at his limit.
Round four!
Box!
You must be watching this somewhere.
I haven't forgotten the promise between you and I.
I will keep it.
Wow!
The challenger's waving him over!
He's inviting the champion to come and get him!
How will the champion respond?!
Not bad.
I don't dare refuse this.
I will take him head-on!
He goes in square!
Left! Right!
A lot of near-misses!
I can guarantee my victory if I keep a safe distance from him,
but I'm not a champion if I keep distance between myself and a half-dead boxer.
I don't want to just defend this OPBF belt,
I want to beat him and go for the world title!
These are fierce punches.
But this is great,
going along with me when he's fully aware of my damage.
Miyata doesn't allow any punches! He fights back with rushes!
They don't hurt me!
Your punches are already dead!
Wow! The challenger's been hit!
He steps back to the ropes!
Damn it! He can't fight with that damage!
Don't push your luck! Clinch him!
Miyata's going for one big blow.
A counter?
But there's the Bloody Cross!
He's getting pushed with power.
There's only one punch that can change this flow.
A counter!
He has no time left.
Even if he knows it's risky, he has to make that blow!
Either way, the next one...
will be the last blow.
The champion punches over Miyata's guard!
Looks like it's now just a matter of time!
You have no chance in close range either.
It's time to end this!
A hard blow to the liver!
The blow takes away the challenger's spirit!
I'm done for...
And he chops down the wide-open jaw with a right!
Is this the finishing blow?!
No, not yet.
I haven't used...
the energy I have saved in my body, just enough for one punch.
I haven't used that yet!
This is the end!
Now!
He's taking on the punch!
A counter!
The very last bit of energy I have left!
My best shot!
Go!
It's been blocked!
The Bloody Cross is coming!
Damn! He can't evade that!
It's hopeless now!
It ends the moment I brush off your arm.
Goodbye, Ichiro Miyata!
He pushed me back!
It's not just with his arm!
He put all of his weight into it!
H—
He's down!