The First Swing is Round 1310 of Morikawa Jouji's Hajime no Ippo manga series.
Details[]
- Characters Introduced: Billy McCallum
- Mentioned Boxers: Julio César Chávez
- Title Page Character(s): Mashiba Kumi, Wanpo
Summary[]
The WBA featherweight champion, Ricardo Martinez faces off against his opponent, the former WBC featherweight champion, Billy McCallum in the ring. Ippo explains to Milo how the undefeated McCallum was trying to fight Ricardo, however, the WBC refused to go for it with McCallum having a mandatory WBC defence, so McCallum relinquished his title to fight Ricardo. While Milo predicts a knockout win for Ricardo in the early rounds, Ippo mentions a moment when one can tell who will win taught to him by his coach: the moment they step into the ring and throw their first punch is when it comes together, where even the mistakes one makes during training could be forgiven if they are strong in the ring. In the corner before the match, McCallum realises that the reason that, even with the world belt he wasn't called the strongest because Ricardo is still around, wanting to prove that he is the strongest by facing him. Ippo and Milo watch McCallum's shadowboxing and quickly notices how sharp his punches are. Ricardo can still feel the heat from Sendō and Alfredo's match, feeling apologetic that he can't offer the same heat, however, he hopes that McCallum answers his high expectations of him. As the bell rings, McCallum charged to Ricardo at the centre of the ring and stops. Ippo observes that McCallum is strong, worrying that Ricardo could be in trouble.
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Bold Retirement | |||||||||||||||||||
Ippo in Mexico | |||||||||||||||||||
Manga Volumes | |||||||||||||||||||
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128 | 129 | 130 | |||||||||||||||||
Manga Rounds | |||||||||||||||||||
1292 | 1293 | 1294 | 1295 | 1296 | 1297 | 1298 | 1299 | 1300 | 1301 | ||||||||||
1302 | 1303 | 1304 | 1305 | 1306 | 1307 | 1308 | 1309 | 1310 | 1311 | ||||||||||
1312 | 1313 | 1314 | 1315 | 1316 |