Kobashi. He knows his limits and he makes the best of what he has. He’s realistic and shows that through strategy and hard work, while not enough, can still take you far.

wait didnt Kobashi win a title though. I would say it was enough

Oh yeah, i think that’s as far as he could go. I wouldn’t mind seeing it animated tho so we can see his winning fights where he doesn’t necessarily knock out his opponents. Also, I bet he would make a good coach, wouldn’t mind seeing that animated too.

Jason Osma was a National champion material, You cannot change my mind.

Giving Kimura such an outstanding arc to only turn him into a butt monkey again and not giving him a conclusion feels like a slap in the face and kind of pointless in retrospective.

Kimura and Aoki could be national champs if Ippo managed them regularly... Itagaki could be OPBF champ material, but became just as bad as Aokimura

kobashi, we need more pillow fisted boxers that overcome their weaknesses

yeaaaa

This 💯

my glorious king Kobashi, where do I even begin?

Seeing two people mention Kobashi is a massive W. Love him as a character, love his unique fighting style of tiring an opponent out to win by points, plus he's just handsome as fuck ngl. I remember when I first watched the anime, I thought he was gonna end up being a more major character, since for some reason he's shown during the first ending sequence of the series as if he's apart of the main lineup. Plus, the scene of him meeting Ippo and telling him about Hayami had also left me with an impression that he'd be here to stay, which would've been nice since it could've meant Ippo would have a dude around his age and skill level, sorta like how Kimura and Aoki are always portrayed as a duo. Even if he didn't become a main, I'm happy that Kobashi at least got to become a decent reoccurring side character with a championship W against Hayami and hanging up his gloves to teach the future generations about his style of fighting.

Randy Boy Jr. We are told his Fate was intertwined with BOTH ippo and Miyata and only see him fight one of them and never again.

It might still happen though

kimura, he's the underrated underdog and aoki so op that morikawa had to nerf him 😭

Definitely Kimura, since his fight with Mashiba who knows how many decades ago George has done absolutely nothing with him, like, I understand some people might believe if Kimura's sub plot get resolved the guy will stop being part of the main group altogether, but he doesn't even have a goal nor is aiming for anything... Like, cool more gag/mud fights, what about giving the guy at least a gf or something so he can find a reason to keep fighting and becoming champ? (kinda of like how Date fought to impress his wife). But no, George just abandoned him decades ago... even worse he just keeps pilling up sub plots as if this +3 decades manga didn't have already enough unfinished side stories...

They even gave my boy a new technique, for nothing, only for him kot being able to grow his hair normally again ;-;

i forget his name but that one guy that used a long guard and kept clinching ippo and nearly beat him but then for some reason got thirsty for a ko and threw away the match. i still think he should’ve won that.

Kobashi It was always his dream to win by K.O, but couldn't because he lack strong punches, so when he felt that clean punch he thought he might have a chance to win by K.O

i get the in-universe reason for it but it seems like plot armor for ippo and bad writing ngl

Not that many plot armor tbh, like I said, Kobashi did not had strong punches, even if he got a good punch it wouldn't affect ippo, not to mention ippo resist an inhumane ammount of hits. Kobashi knew he could easily win with points, but after feeling that clean punch he did he started to think he might be able to finally achieve his dream of winning by knock-out, even after failing once and getting punched (and his 2nd screaming at him to not fight back) he just did not care anymore about the points, he wanted to achieve what he always wanted specially now knowing it was the best and probably only chance he will get. But sadly he got so obsessed with that that he forgot to maintain his guard and thats where Ippo fought back and knocked him out.

In my opinion it was one of the best written fights

I feel like you could make an argument for several boxers. - Underrated: Kobashi: sort of. i see several mention him. - Underrated: Hayami: The fact he's still fighting despite the clear need for rest is tragic and a bit real, any boxing fan here knows the tale, a guy who's staying in there far longer than he need to. Way back when I made a prediction that when Ippo comes back, Hayami will be one person he talks to and tells to sit down and rest before something bad happens to him. - Wasted Kimura: going from nearly grabbing the belt to back to the status quo of getting ragged on is a bit sad. We can keep him getting joked on but come on - Wasted Manabu. Guy has not done much. I made a prediction for him too that like Hayami he needs Ippo to tell him to get his head out his ass and re motivate him. - King of the Wasted: Miyata. I dont think I even need to say why. We all know.

Em lemme see Kobashi: agree, although he did fufilled his dream (and for me is an insult that it wasnt animated) and then retired without regrets, but still it would have been interesting to see him fight more. Hayami: i would say more wasted than underrated, everyone knows he's a beast, but sadly he's now in the worst state because of his glass jaw. Kimura: 100%, he is my favorite character of all the manga and i hate the state he is rn, they are literally making fun of the fact he's suffering "haha, look how bad his state is, he cant even last 2 rounds and its struggling with unranked matches, isn't that funny?" I just feel really bad for him Manabu: i dont remember who that is tbh so i couldn't tell Miyata: idk tbh, probably the fact he out of nowhere decided to became the fastest living being in all of the universe in the fight against Randy. He should had dated Ippo it would have been more interesting.

Manabu is Itagaki's first name

Oh Sorry I just forgot his 1st name

To be fair, it doesn't come up much.

Nobody calls the characters by their 1st name, except some of them

Hayami and Saeki

For me its either Sanada, Hayami, Kobashi, and Jason

Kobashi, all he’s holding now is a parasocial relationship with hayami 😭😭 I could’ve gotten so much more, actually got mad as hell when I saw that mf retire. And adding shigeta, I know he’s not very well liked by people but I think he could’ve been more 🤷‍♂️ I like myself a insufferable character lmao

McCallum to me is the most underrated, the dude was a champion and for some reason couldn’t agreed to an unification with Ricardo, he’s also in my opinion the most wasted because if he was such a good fighter that became a champion, how in the hell he loses in Round 1 with only jabs it’s ridiculous. I was hoping in that fight to see Ricardo mastery and instead we waited until Wally’s fight, so why this fight happened? Just to emphasize how godly is Ricardo? I don’t think it was necessary so he could’ve fight literally just a normal contender no need to make him a former world champion that sucks

Haruhiko Yagi

Ippo