Chapter 461

The Path of the Boxer
Chapter Info
Next	Chapter 462
Chapter	461
Previous	Chapter 460
Volume	51
Japanese Title	ボクサーの道
Romanized Title	Bokusā no Michi
Pages	20
Arc	Dragon Slayer Arc
Episode	Round 7 (Season 3) (p.17-19)
Issue	Weekly Shōnen Magazine #51, 1999 (cover date): December 1, 1999
Release (JP)	November 17, 1999

The Path of the Boxer is Round 461 of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo manga series.

Details

• Characters Introduced: Hiroshi Kizakura, Isamu Akamatsu, Team Aoki
• Title Page Character(s): Tatsuya Kimura, Ippo Makunouchi, Manabu Itagaki, Mamoru Takamura

Summary

A week after Aoki's match, Kimura, Ippo, Itagaki, and Takamura debates on if Aoki would retire or not. Takamura thinks that since Aoki has a job and a girlfriend, Aoki should retire before he destroyed his health. Kimura tells them that he thought about retiring after his title match. Ippo adds that he thought about it too, when his mother collapsed from overwork, when he thought there was no way he could keep boxing. Takamura points out as well that he thought of retiring after defeating the bear, since he knew there was no longer anything alive stronger than himself. He didn't know if there was any meaning to keep fighting. Itagaki starts to get depressed over it, but Takamura claims they don't have time to worry about others since they are small fry. Takamura adds that there is a "path" leading to the belt, and, on a worldwide scale, the path was always a huge traffic jam. Anyone who stopped in his tracks will be left behind. He doesn't plan on stopping since he has a goal to conquer six weight classes. Yagi arrives to tell Ippo he has a visitor to see him, Kenta Kobashi. Ippo and Itagaki are surprised to see the junior featherweight champion, but Kobashi reveals that he is a "former" champion. He adds that he wasn't able to defend his title once, and only became champion with a stroke of luck. He tells Ippo that he retired, since he delivered his formal notice of resignation. Itagaki thinks Kobashi could made a comeback, but Kobashi has no regrets over it. He explains to Ippo that he was lucky to have met him. He mentions that his match with Ippo helped him. If it wasn't for that, he wouldn't have been able to fight his hardest. Ippo wonders what Kobashi planned to do, but Kobashi mentions he picked up trainee mitts a month previous. Even though it was difficult, Kobashi thinks it is really worth doing. Kobashi mentions that Sendō is going to have a comeback match soon, and that the East Japan Rookie King Tournament is coming up. Itagaki thinks that the year Kobashi took part had a lot of great rookies. Kobashi agreed, pointing out the many who wore the belt like Sendō, Mashiba, Miyata, and Ippo. Ippo adds Kobashi name as ell. Itagaki is glad he wasn't part of that generation since it was so talented. Kobashi points out that the victor of it was Ippo, and everyone else that wasn't previous mentioned have already retired. He tells Ippo that he was standing at Japan's apex in a harsh world, and defend his title four times. It wasn't by being lucky, since he did it by his own strength. He wants Ippo to go as far as he can. He asks Ippo why he started boxing. Ippo remembers that he simply wanted to get stronger, so he worked hard at it, but he still can't come up with the answer. As Kobashi was leaving, he tells Ippo that he planned to keep watching him. As Ippo and Itagaki head back to gym, Ippo starts pondering his future and where his path will lead. Later, Aoki finally arrived at the gym, where he mentions that he planned to retire from boxing, but Hiroshi Kizakura and Isamu Akamatsu introduced themselves. They were impressed by Aoki's match, and asked Aoki to become their master. After he became a hero to them, Aoki decided to continue to box, and he made fun of Kimura for not doing the the same after his title match. Takamura thinks that meant he had more gophers to do stuff for him, but they told him they belonged to Team Aoki as they ignored his order to buy some juice for him. When Aoki tells them to go it for him, the duo takes off to do the request, as they obey only Aoki.