Ippo's Responsibility is Round 1151 of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo manga series.
Details[]
- Characters Introduced: Ryūji Nagumo
- Title Page Character(s): Ippo Makunouchi
Summary[]
Takamura asks if Ippo can deliver and if he can carry the kind of burden to live up to expectations. Takamura notes how the Kamogawa gym has him, and that he will take the gym to heights that they have never seen before. Ippo answers that he is not sure, but since he decided his next loss would be his last, he would give it everything he has. Later, while doing roadwork, Ippo thinks about the line Takamura made and when Takamura told him to deliver. Ippo wonders if he means the people who cheers for him is who he is supposed to deliver. He knows he has to quit boxing if he starts feeling strange, since he wants to be able to keep his parents' fishing boat business running, but he wants to keep going just a little bit more because he loves boxing. At the Kamogawa gym, Ippo is tasked to spar against the junior featherweight world ranker, Ryūji Nagumo, who is ranked tenth. The gym members note how it is more of a tense spar because it is against a world ranker, and that Ippo is also ranked tenth. Kamogawa believes that since Ippo is returning to the ring while aiming higher than before, this spar will be a touchstone to see if he is ready for the challenge. Fujii watches what is going on in the gym through an open window. The spar between Ippo and Nagumo begins. Ippo gets hit by Nagumo's quick jabs despite Ippo seeing the punches and knowing he can dodge them, wondering if he got his timing wrong. Ippo tries punching Nagumo, but he is too fast for Ippo to land one. Ippo tries to dodge and slide in to press to Nagumo's chest, however, after Ippo starts weaving to do the Dempsey Roll, Ippo suddenly falls down.