The Man Who Knows Ricardo Martinez is Round 1014 of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo manga series.
Details[]
- Characters Introduced: Alfredo González
- Title Page Character(s): Ippo Makunouchi, Wanpo
Summary[]
Ippo watches videos Alfredo's matches and is amazed of how he uses his lefts, which reminds him of someone else. While Ippo does roadwork with Itagaki, he asks him about Imai. Itagaki claims he watched two or three of his matches where he got hit a lot and seems more aggressive and reckless compared to his amateur boxing days where he was more known for his defence and being able to beat his opponents before he got hit. Itagaki notes how Imai is going for more dual exchanges and coming out on top, explaining how in his latest match, Imai and his opponent kept trading rights. When Itagaki thinks that if it was him, he would throw feints and make him miss a right then hit him, he notices Ippo smiling. Ippo claims that it is good he is keeping a close watch, as Imai is a tough opponent and there is no need to be embarrassed because he is studying on him. Itagaki asks about how his studying on Alfredo is going. Ippo answers how he watches Alfredo's videos every morning and night, which Itagaki thinks that it would be bad for him to do it before bed since his opponent might appear in his dreams. Ippo thinks that it is good when that happens since he can run many simulations on them and not take any real damage, as well as being able to continue fighting no matter how many times he goes down, however, Itagaki doesn't want to see Imai in his dreams. Itagaki asks what he sees when he dreams of fighting Alfredo. Ippo claims that he always sees himself losing by knockout or decision. Ippo adds that the ways he uses his left jabs and uppercuts is very similar to Ricardo. Elsewhere, Alfredo calls Ricardo and asks for a second rematch if he can beat Ippo, however, Ricardo doesn't recall who Ippo is. Alfredo explains that he heard that Ricardo sparred against him before his match with Date, but Ricardo can't recall every boxer he sparred with. Alfredo claims that he will just get ranked first and request the title match then. Bill tells Ricardo that Alfredo is a good boxer who has always looked up to him and has gotten stronger learning from him. Bill reminds Ricardo that the boxer Alfredo was talking about was the Japanese champion with the Peek-a-Boo Style. Ricardo remembers him as the boy with the Dempsey Roll, wishing that he had remembered before and warned Alfredo to be careful.