Yūji Date (伊達 雄二, Date Yūji) is a boxer at the Date gym. He is Eiji Date and Aiko Date's second son. He was mad after seeing his father fall against WBA featherweight champion, Ricardo Martinez for the second time. Yūji wanted to become a boxer after Makunouchi Ippo claimed he was not ready to avenge Date as he was then.
Quick Answers
What inspired Yūji Date to become a boxer?
How did Yūji Date react to his father's defeat against Ricardo Martinez?
What was the significance of Makunouchi Ippo's words to Yūji Date's boxing career?
How did Eiji Date's retirement and comeback impact Yūji Date's life?
What is the relationship between Yūji Date and his father, Eiji Date?
Background[]
He was born during the period of Eiji's retirement after he lost against WBA featherweight champion, Ricardo Martinez. When he was two, his father decided to come out of retirement.
History[]
Part I[]
Revenge Arc[]
Yūji being told by Ippo that Eiji will win.
Prior to his father's WBA title rematch against Ricardo Martinez, Yūji was waiting outside his father's locker room with his mother when he met Makunouchi Ippo. He told Ippo that today his father would become the world champion. He watched his father's match against Ricardo with his mother at the ringside. During the match, Yūji asked Aiko if Eiji was okay, but she told him to watch closely till the end. The match ended in Eiji losing and sent to the hospital in a stretcher.
Yūji wanting Ippo to get revenge for his father.
Later, after Eiji woke up in the hospital, Yūji witnessed his father giving the baton pass to Ippo. Before Ippo left, Yūji asked if Ippo was the next person to challenge Ricardo for his father's revenge. However, Ippo told him that Ricardo was too strong and that he could not have a chance as he was now. Yūji dismissed him as a weakling and a coward, and he vowed if he was bigger, but his mother stopped him and told him that he didn't hear Ippo clearly when he said as he was now.
Part III[]
Importance of the Support Role Arc[]
Yūji confronting Ippo about Sendō stealing his shot.
Yūji was training at his father's gym, while a sparring tournament was going on where various boxing gyms were taking part. Fujii Minoru arrived later with news that Sendō Takeshi downed Ricardo in a spar, and that he had a match in three months against Alfredo Gonzales where the winner would earn the right to a title match against Ricardo. When Yūji overheard Ippo's comment that he hoped Sendō will earn a title match against Ricardo. He asked Ippo if he was really okay with Sendō stealing his chance against Ricardo since he defeated Sendō previously. While heading out for roadwork, Yūji told him that he wouldn't be able to fight Ricardo in time, but he thought someone else would be able to do it in his place. He believed Ippo would be that person. He added that Ippo said before that it was impossible as he was, and he wondered when he would be able to. His father yelled at him for his comment and told him to leave for his roadwork.
Appearance[]
Yūji is a young male with black hair that was parted before later changing it into a more straight hairstyle. Yūji grew taller from his appearance during Eiji's rematch against Ricardo, and after becoming a student of his father's gym, he has begun growing a more fit body type.
During Eiji's rematch against Ricardo, Yūji wore a blue blazer over a white dress shirt and he also had a bow tie.
Personality[]
Etymology[]
- The name Yūji means "hero, manly" (雄) (yū) and "two" (二) (ji).
- Yūji's surname Date means "show/showy, dandyism, foppery, gallantry, vainglory/vainglorious" (伊達).
Trivia[]
- Yūji first appeared in Round 113, in a newspaper article of Date Eiji, where Date is shown holding him after winning a match. The picture is similar to the cover of Round 183.
Gallery[]
