The Ideal is Round 1143 of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo manga series.
Details[]
- Real Life People Mentioned: Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard, Muhammad Ali
- Title Page Character(s): Shinobu Iga, Baron Kurita, Ippo Makunouchi, Masaru Aoki, Tatsuya Kimura, Manabu Itagaki
Summary[]
In the ring, Baron talks about how he wants to train Iga into the image of his ideal boxer during the victory interview. Kimura bets that he and Aoki could probably take Iga on in a two-on-one. Aoki tells him that he will be counting on him. Outside near the Kōrakuen Hall, Takamura meets Lord sleeping outside of a horse race track and learns that he likes to gamble. Takamura discusses with him on what he should do about his gym mates. When Lord suggests to abandon them and be free, Takamura notes that he has a point, but he sees them try even though they end up sucking more. He adds that he is not worried about them, but feels they are standing at a crossroad and feels sorry for them. Takamura leaves after giving Lord an empty can of beer. Lord feels like it is a bitter wind tonight. The next day, while doing roadwork with Itagaki, Ippo thinks about what Takamura said about goals. as at some point, he lost sight of any goal. He wonders if he really dreamt about taking the world title or if he had any reason to, knowing that he only did it because Kamogawa told him to. Ippo knew that being the JBC champion was enough and already has done better than he expected. Itagaki notices that Ippo keeps going around the line near a tree, wondering what it means to him.