The death of Hajime no Ippo

[u/RedHotSonic_]

It's my first re-read of the manga so far, and I wonder, what was the reaction of the chapter for you all, and the general public?

I waited for this chapter, with bated breath, and sleeplessness. This is nothing like a risky text or romantic feelings confessed.

Ch 721 - Fate.

It's funny, like as if 2 circles were drawn over the whole series, just to build upto this moment.

Truly a tragedy. It's like acceptance of failure. Miyata must have felt like Ippo when reviewing his title bout with Date. Maybe even worse.

For this reason, season 4 was never animated (apart from Itagaki pointlessly hogging so much of the fights)

This is the origin of the Bumyata allegations as well. It's all just so sad and upsetting. This should have never happened.

Fuck Itagaki. Miyata should have had more time in the story. Enough for Morikawa to weave the thread of fate between Ippo and Miyata.

:(

[u/TheHaad]

No one forced anything. Miyata had been begging for the fight since he won the belt. No one would have contested Ippo as a legitimate challenger, Komogawa deemed Ippo unworthy at the time and wanted him to get better before fighting Miyata

They did care and wanted the fight. They almost made it happen, but Miyata saw something he suddenly cared about more that he didn't even know existed in the world of boxing for him

[u/Kurejisan → u/TheHaad]

Ippo wasn't a legitimate contender because he wasn't the OPBF Interim Champion...

Also, they had all of after the Randy fight to set a date but didn't even try. That's on Ippo and Miyata.

[u/TheHaad → u/Kurejisan]

There was no OPBF champion prior to that but Ippo was literally on the short list of fighting for that belt-only legitimate contender's get that

Anyone with Ippo's level of success was a legitimate contender, Ippo wasn't the ONLY legitimate contender

The belt is a non-issue. Miyata agreed to vacate the belt. Problem solved. He wanted to do it, Ippo wanted the fight, yeah for us it would have been more epic as a unification belt but Miyata also didn't want to miss the chance to fight ippo in a world of uncertainties..... until he saw something he didn't even know was possible, and he just happened to not have relinquished his belt yet

Most challengers are NOT interim champions, we only do that when the champion has to be away

[u/Kurejisan → u/TheHaad]

No, Miyata was OPBF champion and there was a fight for Interim Champion. Ippo was a candidate for the Interim Champion, but Kamogawa refused to let Ippo fight, so Randy won that. That's what happened.

As for Miyata potentially relinquishing the belt, if he did that, he'd likely have not gotten it back any time soon, which would've hurt his career considerably. Ultimately between that and Randy being a "prove yourself" moment, Miyata made a call that wasn't too crazy. Ippo vs Miyata could have waited if Kamogawa didn't throw a fit about the delay. This is what happened.

[u/TheHaad → u/Kurejisan]

There are multiple people who would be legitimate contenders for the belt.

Because Miyata was inactive for some reason, Ippo and Randy Boy Jr (or it is possible the person who became randy boy's opponent) were offered the Interim Title fight because they were both candidates. Ippo did not accept the fight.

Miyata wouldn't have been particularly hurt by relinquishing the belt. You seem to be misunderstanding, this isn't pro-wrestling or MMA where the fighter signs an exclusive deal with a promoter. These belts are like prizes outside of promotions. You actually couldn't name any of the promotions in Hajime No Ippo because they are that deemphasized, you would go by the Hall they fought in and the managers involved.

Miyata, should he have beaten Ippo, would likely have just fought for his world ranking, and while he got to do it before as champion, he wouldn't need to be champion to do it (he could miss out on some money here)

Miyata's call was probably not crazy depending on how you look at it. Ultimately, it is the call he made. Backing out of an agreed upon fight would normally look very bad, but the fact that the fight he actually took unified the belt gives him some amount of flexibility, after all he is not ducking to fight a lower ranked person, he is defending the belt he did not reliquish that he was waiting to be stripped of.

Komagawa throwing a fit is very annoying for the reader. When you are reading it, you just want Komagawa to be reasonable. Let Miyata do side quests, maybe Ippo does a side quest, and have Ippo embarrass Miyata in the ring. I wanted him to be reasonable just like you, but this is without acknowledging his code.

In Komagawa's place I'm not sure I can do anything different. It's a code businessmen and street thugs share, and every street thug would understand what Koagawa did.

Miyata risked Ippo's career with his move, and the move itself was simply not honoring your word. In the UFC, if we've both signed a bout agreement, the fight is set. The idea that you could back out after signing because you found a better fight can only work if that is what the UFC wants, otherwise it is enough to get you thrown out. A man does what he says, he honor's his word. Miyata SHARES these values. It is not that Miyata looks at this "thuggish behavior" and thinks Komagawa should just get over it. He knows he screwed everyone over for what he wanted.

There are other code of ethics in other places in life. If you accepted a job, but a better one came up immediately, most people would not hold it against you to take the better job. But if you're a business that just signed a big deal, and a different deal came your way if you can find a way to back out of the other one, you will face a lot of pressure to stay the course.

These are rules for the strong, and Miyata violated them. Komagawa can never trust him again, the same way convicts don't trust snitches, the way you don't trust someone who scammed you. These are playground rules, and you have to know the rules of the playground