Keīchi Take (武 恵一, Take Keīchi) is a former featherweight professional boxer from Fukuoka, Kyushu, Japan, and the former first ranker during Eiji Date's reign as the JBC featherweight champion.
He is the seventh individual to challenge Ippo Makunouchi for the Japanese featherweight title. Take is the most experienced boxer that Ippo had fought up to this point, as well as the first southpaw he ever fought in the pro ring and was someone that Date held in high regard.
Background[]
Take was the first ranker at one point during Date Eiji's first reign as the JBC featherweight champion. When his son came down with an illness before the title match however, Take decided to retire from boxing to take care of his family. As his son overcame his illness, he was bullied by others thinking that Take ran away from the champion. Take was asked by his upset son if he ran away from the champion.[1] Because of that event, he went back to boxing, in hopes of showing his son the back of a father who fights his best.
History[]
Part II[]
Father's Back Arc[]
Take being interviewed by Mari.
Being the JBC's first ranker in the featherweights, Take was to challenge the JBC featherweight champion Makunouchi Ippo in the Champion Carnival. At the Sameichi gym, Take learned from his coach about the rumour that Ippo might relinquish his belt after his next defence. While his coach was upset and felt that it was an insult, Take thought it was good for young ones to seek higher competition. When his son arrived to tell him that dinner is ready, Take began to leave. After his coach found out that he watches videos of Ippo every night, Take commented that he wanted to show his son how a man from Kyushu should live his life. Take told his coach that Ippo's problem was that he only looks up, leading Take to wonder what happens to people like him that don't mind where they are walking. Take argued with his son as they walk home about how Take shouldn't overdo it because they were supposed to go to Disneyland afterwards. Later, Take was interviewed by reporter Īmura Mari. In the interview, Take revealed his high respect for Date Eiji, and explained how he withdrew his challenge to fight the JBC champion Date due his son being hospitalised and he had to give up boxing temporarily to be with him. As Take claimed that his son locked himself in his room for a year after being discharged from the hospital, Mari wondered if he was being bullied. Take simply claimed that the world is full of cruel people, but he wants his son to grow up strong, which is why he plans to show his son the back of a father that fights his very best by fighting Ippo for ten rounds. Mari believed that facing Ippo for ten rounds is crazy, however, Take was sure that the pain that his son felt was worse, as he noted that words can hurt more than being hit sometimes.
Take arrived to the Kōrakuen Hall when it was time for his weigh-in. Take faked being sick to try and fool Ippo to let his guard down, however, Take was surprised that Ippo felt bad for him, but still wanted to give it his all. The next day, Take went to the Kōrakuen Hall for his JBC featherweight title match against Ippo. Before heading inside, he met up with his son and his wife, Keiko. His son wanted to go to the nearby amusement park after the match, but wondered if they would stand out as he noted the match posters with his picture everywhere. Take pointed out that no one around knows him and that the crowd is there to see Ippo. As his son began to look worried, Take put him on his shoulders and insisted that he will become champion tonight.
Take traps Ippo's left and right.
When the match began, Take went down quickly after receiving a combination of punches from Ippo. When Take got up, he clinched Ippo multiple times for a minute and a half in order to recover from the down. During a clinch, Take told Ippo that he found his weakness. Take entered the Southpaw stance as Ippo charged toward him, using Ippo's inexperience against Southpaws against him as Ippo was unable to reach his head despite his feet being close to Take's. Take was about to attack before turning around as the first round ended. Take mentioned to his coach while at the corner that he plans to seal both Ippo's speed and destructive power before heading out for the second round. In the second round, Take continued using the Southpaw stance, which allowed him to avoid getting hit as Ippo had trouble reaching his face due to the stance messing with his depth perception. After Take landed right jabs on Ippo, Ippo put his guard up and charged forward. Take responded by also charging forward with his guard up, however, he crouched lower than Ippo. The two get into close range, and Take put his right shoulder on Ippo's chest, making Ippo's left and right fists unusable. In that position, Take hit Ippo four times with short uppercuts, with the second round ending soon after. After hearing his son cheer for him from the crowd while at the corner, Take told his coach that he will power up in the third round and do it with three times the strength.
In the third and fourth rounds, Take used the same tactic of ducking lower than Ippo and hitting him with body blows and short uppercuts. Even though Take got hit while using the tactic, Ippo's punching power was cut in half due to Take being able to stop Ippo's rotation in his punches by ducking low enough to make Ippo have to punch in a downward trajectory, which he has no experience in. During the fourth round, Take gave Ippo a cut that began bleeding under his left eyebrow, affecting his vision and precision of punching after Take nicked Ippo with an uppercut. After the fourth round, Take looked at his son from the corner and wished for him to keep watching and to not take his eyes off his back.
Take getting defeated.
In the fifth round, when Take used the same tactic and had Ippo's left and right fists trapped, Ippo used Take's tactic and got lower than Take. Take was hit by the same uppercut that he used to hit Ippo with, sending him to the ropes. After getting hit multiple times as Ippo turned Take's method against him, Take held Ippo in a clinch. Take was thinking of opening the cut under Ippo's eyebrow again, since the referee will have to stop the fight, however, he pushed Ippo away to prove that he will not run away again as he wanted to prove to his son that he can fight against a strong champion as a proud boxer. Take decided to enter a close range exchange match with Ippo, which lasted until the fifth round ended. His coach tried to get Take's attention at the corner, however, since Take was unconscious, he did not talk, only getting for the sixth round. In the sixth round, Take was easily knocked down by a one-two, but he was able to get up. When Ippo motioned the Dempsey Roll, Take stopped it by sunning into him and immediately hit Ippo with an uppercut. Take ducked low and attempted to hit Ippo with another uppercut, however, Ippo ducked lower than Take, dodging it, then throwing an uppercut of his own from that position, striking Take. Take was then hit by a right hook, sending him down. The referee ended the match without a count, resulting in Take's loss. Take was helped out of the ring by his coach.
Outside the venue, while Take was telling his son that they can go to the amusement part the next day, Hide revealed that he wants to become a boxer and for his father to be his coach.after seeing how great he fought and declined to go to the amusement park. Take happily hugged Hide in response.
Match History[]
| Match History | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Result | Record | Date | Opponent | Location | Time | Type | Notes |
| Retired | ||||||||
| 34 | LOSS | 22-11-1 | 1995-01-25 |  Ippo Makunouchi[2]
|
Tokyo, Japan | 6(10), 1:00 | TKO | Champion Carnival "The Challenge for the 7th Defence" JBC Featherweight Title Match |
Appearance[]
Take is portrayed as a relatively slim, mildly muscular man of average height with short, shaggy dark coloured hair. A small amount of wrinkles outline his dark coloured eyes, both of which are constantly seen half-lidded. The lower part of his face is covered in stubble, accompanied by a thick moustache.
Personality[]
Take's first appearance in the series was during a weigh-in, during which he became sick and could barely walk over to the scale. He is initially seen as polite, respectful and considerate, keeping Ippo at bay so the other wouldn't catch his flu. In the ring he is depicted as brave, incredibly spirited, but also relaxed to a certain extent. He seems to care a lot about his family and his son, taking a leave from boxing when the latter came down with a terrible illness.
Boxing Abilities[]
Take is strong at taking punches, knows many tricks and can use both the Orthodox and Southpaw stances. He is shown to be an unorthodox in fighter. He knows how to stall a fight on the inside when he is injured, and he also will make plans and strategy for how to fight his opponents. His strong body and intense fighting spirit allowed him to stay in the ring for a prolonged time with esteemed hard puncher Ippo.
Weaknesses[]
Even with all these plans, tricks, the opponent might find annoying and might lose, there are still flaws. His weakness is that he uses the same thing again and again, and if the opponent realises it, it is all over like what happened with his title match against Ippo.
Gallery[]
Quotes[]
- (To his coach) "...and I'm a veteran, I know the laws of the ring. Makunouchi's a strong man, but his problem is where he's looking. If you only look up, you can't see the people below who are coming to get you..."[3]
- (About Hide) "...I want to show him the back of a father who fights, who he can be proud of. I can hold out through anything! Even if it kills me, I'll last!!"[4]
- "It couldn't hurt me more than it hurt my son...Words can hurt the heart more than fists can hurt the body."[5]
Etymology[]
- The name Keīchi means "favor, benefit" (恵) (ke) and "one" (一) (īchi).
- Keīchi's surname Take means "military, martial" (武).
Trivia[]
- Based on Eiji Date's comment[6] about Take being the first ranker when he was first JBC champion, Date and Take's match for the Champion Carnival should have took in place around 1985 before Date's world title match against Ricardo Martínez, where Take was probably 19 or 20 years old since Take was 31 years old for is match with Ippo.
References[]
- ↑ Chapter 632, page 7
- ↑ Chapter 636
- ↑ Chapter 630
- ↑ Chapter 632
- ↑ Chapter 632
- ↑ Chapter 631