Naniwa Coach (なにわ 会長, Naniwa Kaichō) is the head coach of the Naniwa Boxing Club in Osaka. He trains boxers such as Sendō Takeshi and Hoshi Hiroyuki.
Background[]
The Naniwa coach listening to Yanaoka about Sendō.
Yanaoka Kazuhiro told him that he ran across an amazing guy[1], where he was like a wild dog and hungry to fight. The coach asked if he beat him, but Yanaoka told him no. He felt that he would have completely lost if they had continued. The coach was surprised to hear it. Yanaoka felt Sendō had the potential to be champion, something he wasn't able to do. He told Yanaoka to find him, and train him.
When Sendō arrived and wanted to know if he got in the ring, that would end up meeting the champion. The coach was surprised that Sendō was already talking about the champion from the start.
History[]
Part I[]
Rocky of Naniwa[]
Yanaoka showing the coach the mitt Sendō was beating.
When it was scheduled that the now West Japan Rookie King, Sendō Takeshi was going to face the Eat Japan Rookie King, Makunouchi Ippo, Sendō got fired up, causing Yanaoka's mitt to have visible damage on it. When the coach saw the mitt, he believed that Ippo would not be able to take Sendō's hits. When the All Japan Rookie King Tournament match with Sendō against Ippo commenced, he was one of Sendō's seconds. The match ended when Sendō could not get up from the corner for round four due to being unconscious, resulting in Sendō losing.
Road Back Arc[]
When Sendō fought Alexander Volg Zangief for the JBC featherweight title, the coach was one of Sendō's seconds where Sendō would later win the match by decision.
Aoki and Kimura's Delinquent Youth Days Arc[]
He was one of Sendō's seconds in his first title defence against Saeki Takuma where Sendō won by knockout in the first round.
Lallapallooza Arc[]
During Sendō's second JBC featherweight title defence against Shigeta Akira, he was one of the seconds for the fight where Sendō won. Later, he was in the corner for Sendō's third title defence against Ippo where Sendō lost his title to Ippo.
Part II[]
Seiken Arc[]
He went to the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium to be a second for Hoshi Hiroyuki's match against Bunsaku Krati and Sendō's match against Jose Ramirez. Hoshi's match ended in a knockout in the first round, and Sendō's ended in a knockout in the seventh round. Later, he went to the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium to be a second for Hoshi's match against Itagaki Manabu, where the match ended in Hoshi's defeat by knockout in the first round.
Red Lightning Arc[]
At the Naniwa Boxing Club, when Hoshi revealed to the gym that Sendō went out for a trip to take down boxers in his "beat-down list", Yanaoka asked the coach what they can do, however, the coach became stressed and did not want to think about it, instead, he wanted the gym to pretend they never heard about it.
Battle of the Beasts Arc[]
The coach with Sendō after he defeated Jose.
When Sendō's match against Jose Nargo arrived, he went to the Yokohama Arena. He arrived to the ring as Sendō's match against Jose began to act as one of Sendō's seconds. The match ended in Sendō's victory by knockout in the eighth round. Once he and Sendō got back to the changing room, he watched the match between Takamura Mamoru, the WBC middleweight champion, and Richard Bison, the WBA middleweight champion, where it ended in Takamura's victory by knockout in the sixth round.
Seeking Heights Arc[]
At the Naniwa Boxing Club, Sendō wanted him to hurry up with getting him set up with a match against Alfredo Gonzales, however, he explained to Sendō that he is having problems arranging the match since Alfredo's side won't listen because Alfredo had a world title match coming up.
Part III[]
Deathmatch in Mexico Arc[]
The coach with Sendō during his match against Alfredo.
When Sendō's match against Alfredo, where the winner would earn the right to challenge the WBA featherweight champion, Ricardo Martinez was coming up, he travelled to Mexico with him. After Sendō's weigh-in, he went to the Lucha Lucha Gym and was shocked to see Sendō sparring with the retired Ippo, and was relieved that Ippo didn't get hurt since he would have to explain it to Kamogawa Genji. The next day, he went with Sendō to the Arena México to be one of his seconds when the match against Alfredo began. The match ended in Sendō's victory by knockout in the fourth round. After leaving the ring, the coach and the other staff took Sendō to the venue's doctor's office for his broken right fist before going back to the changing room to watch Ricardo's WBA featherweight title defence match against the former WBC featherweight champion, Billy McCallum. He watched as the match ended in Ricardo's victory by knockout in the first round. Afterwards, him and the rest of Sendō's group got ready to go back to Osaka, Japan.
Grim Reaper to the World Arc[]
The coach talking to Sendō about Wally's chances against Ricardo.
When Hoshi's JBC featherweight title match against champion Kyōsuke Imai arrived, he went to the Kōrakuen Hall to be one of Hoshi's seconds. The match ended with Hoshi losing in the first round by knockout. Later at the Naniwa Boxing Club, after watching Mashiba's world title preliminary match against Juan García on TV, the coach discussed the upcoming match between Ricardo and Wally with Yanaoka and Sendō, thinking that Wally may have a chance to beat Ricardo before Sendō.
Judgement Day Arc[]
At the Naniwa Boxing Club, Yanaoka held Sendō back as his sparring partner was unable to continue. The Naniwa coach was stressed about Sendō having defeated four sparring partners in one day, as well as sparring against Hoshi for multiple days. The Naniwa coach was worried that Sendō's nerves are going to fry before he gets to his match against Ricardo as it looks like he has already put in the finishing touches. Yanaoka told the Naniwa coach how for Sendō, training is about shaving away at his humanity, where the more he shaves off, the more he returns to his wildness that can sniff things out like whether his opponent is above or below him, or the smells of life and death. After Hoshi put up a sign outside that said challengers are wanted, to everyone's shock, Takamura showed up. Takamura got Sendō angry and the two got ready to spar. The spar had to be stopped after Takamura got angry after getting hit with a Smash. Ichirō Miyata arrived to help Sendō on his anti-Ricardo strategy.
King vs. Tiger Arc[]
The day before the match between Sendō and Ricardo, the Naniwa coach went to the Seagail Royal Hotel to accompany Sendō for the press conference. The next day, the coach went with Sendō to the Osaka-jō Hall where the latter's world title match against Ricardo is taking place as the main event in the King vs. Tiger event. When Sendō's match was about to begin, the coach walked with Sendō to the ring to serve as his secondary second for the match.
Appearance[]
He appears to be an elderly man with dark grey hair and large eyebrows. His forehead also has wrinkles. His attire consists of a brown business suit and a plaid (green in the anime) hat. While at the gym, he sometimes wears his gym's shirt that is red in colour.
Personality[]
Gallery[]
