01x20 - A Lesson Never Forgotten

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He's angry! That man's obviously upset!

Those full swings are filled with rage!

The challenger grabbed the ropes to avoid a down!

And that's where the third round ends!

Takamura-kun, gargle!

No, you need to breathe first!

Will you all shut up!

Don't worry about me!

You telling me you have a plan?

Yeah!

It's the fourth round!

The challenger storms ahead!

Takamura, if you're the same type of boxer as Hawk,

I'll make this our last round.

Eagle will be going for broke this round.

Any wild long-range swings will just lead to counters.

The only way to survive this...

Get in close and infight!

Keep the hits small and to the point!

Shut up!

Don't worry about me!

No huge swings!

You'll fall into the same trap!

There's his counter! The champion remains calm and composed!

He's coming!

Eagle's using him like a punching bag!

So he's...

What the hell was that swing?!

You're not a baseball pitcher!

What is he doing? What kind of plan is that?

Why are you swinging at him like that?

You're fighting for the belt! Do it right!

He's displaying all of his bad habits.

Date-san!

If I were his second, I'd be worried to death.

Those wild swings are risky.

However, I really think there's something more to those huge swings.

Me too. I don't think this is how
Takamura-san will end this fight.

Ah! Takamura lost his balance!

I finally gotcha now!

He didn't lose his balance.

He's leaning against him on purpose.

Get back here.

The challenger gets in his first big body blow!

Was that the reason why he was swinging like crazy?

Look at those quick combination punches! What happened to his giant swings?

I can't withstand him this close up.

I have to get out of here!

Ah! The champion's at the corner!

He ran all the way to a dead end!

Did he plan for this all along?

You think you get to hit me?

Now I'm going to spank your a*s!

He has both hands up!

The champion is dumbfounded! There are no means of escape!

The way he used full-swings to get close, and now this.

I've never seen anything like it before.

He can't run left or right! What will the champion do?!

Whoa! The challenger comes with both gloves!

He's going up the middle? That's mighty brave of him.

He had him right at the corner, but he'll escape unharmed!

No, he's still one step ahead.

A powerful liver blow from very close range!

The champion can't escape! He's stuck in the corner!

Now I know for sure.

He doesn't rely entirely on his raw talent and power to throw hits.

That blow could only come from a lower body sculpted by huge amounts of training.

This man is stronger than any opponent I know.

Get him, Takamura!

Knock him out!

Takamura! Takamura! Takamura!

Oh! He got one!

I have to get out of here!

The challenger keeps hitting!

He definitely has the momentum!

Jesus!

A thundering right!

The champion staggers!

Is this the finishing blow?!

But there's the bell and the end of the fourth round!

So close!

He almost had him!

Dammit! He was this close!

You made it out alive.

You did good! You're kicking butt!

I never expected that kind of strategy!

I wasn't... even thinking about strategy.

But you were a real chess master out there!

Actually...

I just remembered some things.

I don't know what you remembered, but at least it settled you down.

Now take that composure to the match.

Quit worrying!

I'm not worried about anything. Now get that belt!

Got it!

I was a few seconds away from losing. I got lucky.

It was not luck! You have the skills!

No, I narrowly escaped with my life.

Eagle...

I escaped with my life.

But... I'm okay with that.

Since I got a second chance... I'll make damn good use of it.

It's the fifth round, and both fighters approach the center!

But the champion is weak in his approach!

He's still feeling the damage from that last bout!

He's charging straight ahead!

Is he ending everything here?!

There's an easy way to tear that guard apart!

Like this!

A huge uppercut! That split the tight guard in two!

Followed by a straight, right up the middle!

Eagle!

He's down! The Golden Eagle's down!

One!

Two!

Three!

Get up, Eagle!

Get up now!

Four!

Don't get up! Don't get up! Don't get up!

Five!

The champion's not moving!

Hell, yeah!

You got the sweep!

Six!

Sheesh, pipe down.

That punch did get him good, but...

Seven!

Well.

What did you expect?

He's gotten up! The fight's not over!

You're strong. You're very good, Mamoru Takamura!

But, this is what I've been looking for.

All I've known is glory.

But it came with an incredible pressure to keep winning.

I focused on cautiously winning every fight,
until winning became the only thing.

I never came across a true rival.

I never had a chance to test my strength to the very limits!

I've been waiting patiently for that rival.

And now I've found you!

I've been waiting for you, Mamoru Takamura!

Those eyes.

As long as he has that glint in his eyes, he's not giving up on any fight!

They piss me off!

They're just as supremely aggravating as a certain guy whenever I take him on!

Those are magnificently textbook one-two punches.

And they are the most frightening.

Those are the one-two punches that won him both the pro and Olympic titles.

His highly polished textbook punches are Eagle's greatest weapons!

Goddammit, they're so hard to dodge!

He's basically repeating what he practiced endlessly in the ring!

They're exactly alike!

And it pisses me off to no end!

Now I understand how all your opponents felt.

Those eyes won't quit...

They're infuriatingly persistent!

Yeah, Ippo.

They're just like yours!

Whoa! They hit in sync!

This is bad! He got his eye!

We've got an accident!

There's a huge cut on the challenger's eyelid!

This was a huge chance for him, so that cut's gotta hurt in more ways than one!

Takamura-kun!

So close, yet so far.

He's bleeding a lot!

If he can't see through his left eye...

He's in real trouble!

Keep your pants on! All this does is level the playing field!

He's egging on the champion!

The challenger hasn't lost his swagger!

The blood's going into his left eye.

That'll mess up his depth perception.

Miyata-kun?

Don't make that face, or Date-san will know.

But...

Relax. If he really had a detached retina, he wouldn't have gotten this far.

Yeah, you're right.

But he's still in real trouble.

Focus on the fight!

Pay attention to every move.

O-Okay.

What? Why aren't you coming?

What are you doing?! Go, Eagle!

You trying to recover from that down?

Not on my watch!

You're not resting on account of my bleeding!

Yes! He dodged it!

It's not over! His right'll get his eye!

sh*t!

I can't make out his right hand!

He's coming for your cut!

Protect that left eye, Takamura!

Oh! But the champion goes for a body blow!

A body blow?!

What the...

He aims north! Then south!

Why isn't he going for my eye?

The champion leans in for a close-combat fight!

What?

The challenger is grimacing from all the body blows!

His torso's open because he's desperately covering his face!

That champion's so composed it's scary!

No. That was not a composed decision.

He could have stepped back and done one-two punches.

This infighting is a blessing in disguise for Takamura, who's lost his field of vision.

And above everything else... why isn't he going for the cut?!

The challenger wraps his arms around him!

Is he doing a rare clinch?

You doing this on purpose?

You think you can ignore my cut and win?

H... He said something to him!

Huh? Takamura-san did?

Oh! He pushes him back!

You think I'm a chump?!

You take advantage of a handicap!

If you don't, I'll k*ll you!

Whoa, a giant swing!

A right body blow! He's not going for the face!

So... his conscience won't allow it?!

You little punk!

The champion's not going for that eye!

He's aiming for a clean fight!

What an honorable man!

Now there's a champion I can respect!

What a man. Not many people can do that.

That's the end of the fifth round!

The champion put up a fierce fight after a down!

But we should really be worried about the challenger's wound!

How will it affect the rest of the fight?

Don't worry, I stopped the bleeding.

This stinks.

Why is he infighting?

Why isn't he going for my cut?

Cool your head! You should be thankful he's not!

Thankful?

I should be "thankful"?!

You should go after his wounded eye!

Quit playing around and extending the match!

Just open that wound up and get a doctor stoppage!

Continuing this slugfest is too risky!

Risky? That I know.

But it means something to me!

Round six!

There's no trace of blood on the challenger!

They've stopped the bleeding!

Good luck, you two!

Takamura, you better match his noble spirit!

"Match his noble spirit"?

You want me to thank him for taking his sweet time?!

The champion rushes in, taking the fight up close!

You think you can ignore my cut and win?!

You really piss me off!

The challenger makes a huge swing!

Watch out!

Whoa! They bumped heads!

The champion looks to be hurt!

Next time, I'll take off points!

Didn't mean to do that.

The referee gives him a stern warning!

But that was a purely accidental headbutt!

Oh, he's bleeding!

It's now the champion who's bleeding from his eyelid!

We have another accident on our hands!

Oh my God!

Oh? We're bleeding, are we?

That's too bad.

Half of my vision's being covered by a red curtain.

But now we're perfectly even.

Time to fight head to head!

He's back in the blind spot?!

The champion's favoring that wound
so much his punches are coming late!

God, Takamura!

He goes to Eagle's blind spot...

...and hits him only in that cut!

Don't think we're on equal footing just because we're both injured!

I'll make that cut twice as large as mine!

Then I'll put you down covered in blood!

Dammit, I can't see!

A series of left hits! And they keep going for that cut!

The champion's golden locks are turning crimson!

No...

H-He's a monster! Takamura's turned into a monster!

You're fighting dirty! You call yourself a man?!

Try being a real sportsman like the champion!

I've lost all respect for you!

He's being booed by the home crowd.

I don't blame them. His is the exact opposite of the sportsmanlike conduct of the champion.

I'm gonna be hearing that from you, too?

People usually cheer when a fighter takes advantage of his opponent's weakness.

Y... Yes, you're right.

The way Eagle didn't go for the wound gave these fans the wrong idea.

You always take advantage of a disadvantage. That's what a true professional does.

That got him!

The challenger follows up with a right!

I didn't come here to duke it out with you!

You weren't even on my radar to begin with!

I'm only here for...

the belt!

The champion's going down!

No! He's clinching!

He hangs on and avoids a down!

Let go, dammit!

Come on, break it up!

And that ends the sixth round!

The champion literally holds on!

That asswipe!

How can he be so lucky!

Stop talking! Let me see that cut!

He came in gunning for my wound.

Of course he would.

He's only focused on winning.

He's a purebred boxer who does his job.

I'm taking him down in the next round!

Don't move! I can't stop the bleeding!

But I'm not going to lose!

I'll use my full strength to bring down that man!

And here's the seventh round!

You don't see their foreheads bleeding! The bleeding has stopped!

They must answer for their amazing support,

so they both rush to the middle!

We've certainly stopped the bleeding,

but we'll see more bloodshed the second those cuts are hit.

If we see more blood, they might call for a doctor stoppage.

This will be a brief battle!

Now you're going for my cut?

Damn him...

His eyes have changed.

The champion speeds things up!

Is he looking to end it?!

He's aiming for everywhere, not just my cut!

He's going all out to win this.

But not tonight!

I'm the one...

who's gonna win!

The challenger's responding in kind!

They're really slugging it out in the center!

It's a test of wills, and neither is letting up!

What a fantastic fight!

The entire Yokohama Arena is on its feet!