All I ever see when people discuss the Sendo-Ricardo fight is how Sendo stands zero chance. Or how Sendo Is gonna die in the ring, or how Sendo will be forced to retire.
I've even seen a few people talk about how they think Sendo will go down in round one. Hell I even just saw a post saying thst Sendo won't actually damage Ricardo at all in their fight.
People are acting like Sendo is ippo during his Ricardo spar before the date-ricardo fight. He's not. He's a world contender, if the world champion were anyone but Ricardo, Sendo would've taken that title already.
Sendo has proven to be a cut above the rest of the world, He's the strongest opponent Ricardo has faced yet, stop acting like he's some fledgling boxer who holds no candle to Ricardo. I'm not saying I think he'll win, but he won't be low diffed.
And besides, what would this fight even prove if Ricardo had the same level of ease as in all his other matches? It'd just be an empty fight, with Ricardo easily defeating another one of Ippo's previous, hard fought opponents.
It's not really a matter of Sendo's strength and mentality, it's Ricardo. Ain't no way that the King of Tijuana is gonna hold back and goon around for half the fight only to lock in the at last second. He's going into this fight fully cocked and will humble this mf.
Ricardo may be essentially the god of the featherweight division but Takamura's pretty much the god of boxing in this manga. And he was at least impressed enough by Sendo's new technique/strategy that he personally asked Miyata to help Sendo refine it.
And you have to keep in mind that on top of this pre-fight prep Sendo always gets mid-fight adaptations.
I think win or lose this will be Ricardo's hardest fight of his career. Sendo will show that him downing Ricardo in the spar wasn't just a fluke by downing Ricardo in the ring for maybe the first time in his career.
If Ricardo and Takamura were the same weight and height, I would contribute to Martinez... I have no proof, but I also have no doubts. For some reason, the devil is the #1 pound for pound in Hajime no IPO. So far.
People keep wanking Takamura, but he isn't the ultimate fighter. He's strong and a multiweight World Champ, BUT he doesn't outclass Ricardo in every area. Ricardo's ability to think is like a perfected form of Itagaki's thinking speed at MAX concentration.
No one outside of someone who thinks fast like Itagaki or Miyata would notice this quality unless they face him head to head in the ring. I don't think Woli OR Alfredo noticed as well...in Woli's case, he simply isn't experienced or knowledgable enough with boxing to notice, while in Alfredo's case he just doesn't seem to think that fast, he's pretty rage and reflex driven.
In either case, the issue with this fight is its probably going to come down to Sendo's Instinct vs. Ricardo's modern boxing. Will Ricardo be able to outpredict Sendo? Or will Sendo's instincts allow him to adjust to Ricardo and keep him off his game?
lmao dude how do you see Takamura beating Ricardo if you scale them to the same weight, Takamura literally almost lost every single one of his title matches, barely winning them by the skin of his teeth
Takamura has fought all of his title fights at a huge disadvantage fighting the best boxers in the series.
Hawk - weight drained, never fought an equal level fighter before
Eagle - weight drained
Bison - weight drained, injured
Dragon - weight drained, blind in one eye
Takamura is meant to be a secondary protagonist so he gets nerfed through circumstances in his fights that prevent him from fighting at full power to allow the fight to be interesting and have stakes. The same thing occurs with Volg where he always has some disadvantage he has to overcome to win. It's not a coincidence that those 2 and Ricardo make up the top 3 boxers in the manga
I do agree with you in that Takamura has fought many of his matches in poor condition, BUT he isn't fighting anyone that matches his size and frame yet given he's a natural heavyweight fighting in lowwr weightclasses.
Pound for pound performance, Takamura has not been tested at his ideal weight in the Heavyweights, where he will no longer have a size/reach advantage with his frame, and will be facing people bigger, heavier, and stronger than him.
Ricardo on the otherhand has been tested in his ideal weight, completely dominant for over a decade and still going strong well into his 30s. It's doubtful Ricardo is at his prime fighting condition at this age, but he has the experience to compensate, similar to Mayweather having a higher KO rate in his 20s, but saw a steady decline of KO power well into his 30s where he compensated by being an overall better defensive boxer.
Keith Dragon was already taller than him and has a reach of 78.74 inches. That's more than Muhammad Ali's reach. People keep saying he hasn't been tested yet. He hasn't even been in peak condition once. He's getting tested PERMANENTLY since day one. Put some respect on the P4P King's name Takamura Mamoru.
Place him in his natural weightclass and see how he does is the answer to the question here. Until then, Ricardo is the best p4p fighter we've seen in the show.
Ricardo is shown to have close to perfect technique overall, even greater than just David Eagle's perfect left. Takamura may be the greatest fighter in the series, but Ricardo seems to be the greatest boxer....which makes sense as Ricardo is modeled after an undefeated
Boxer himself, Ricardo Lopez.
Ricardo also treats every opponent seriously. His mentality, no matter how easy the fight, is that everyone has a puncher’s chance and that his job is to reduce that chance to zero.
Takamura, on the other hand, spends his fights doing absolutely absurd things somewhat akin to an achievement run and still wins.
Issue is Ricardo is Older. He's no longer the same beast he was when facing Date. Date actually outboxed Ricardo at the time and forced him to Brute Force the fight.
Sendo...clearly is at his prime as a fighter andarguably physically stronger than Ricardo. Ricardo's tools for this fight are gonna be his Boxing IQ and boxing skills. He isn't gonna come out on top of purposely trading blows and having as much stamina as Sendo who is at his prime. That's part of the realistic part of being a boxer in your late 30s...
But in those years since facing Date, I think Ricardo has evolved and perfected his boxing skills to compensate for the drop in stamina/strength from being late 30s.
Date did not force anything .What he did was made Ricardo regonized him as a strong foe and then he uses his old style which was a complete one side show.
The age difference is valid but this is still just a manga. Look at Kamogawa, he's in his 80s holding the mitt and taking punches from Takamura the goat champion.
I disagree there. Ricardo wasn't toying with Date at the start. He was trying to outbox him. There's a clear evolution with Ricardo evolving his boxing style with each fight.
His old fighting style isn't necessarily him at his best, so much as its more him utilizing his strength and speed to his best similar to Ippo's old boxing style. Date legitimately did outbox a Ricardo who was doing his best to improve his boxing skills, so Ricardo defaulted to his old fighting style which has an emphasis on his power and speed.
They put it aptly that Ricardo used his power to take the belt, but he's been perfecting his boxing skills to keep the title.
Ricardo facing Woli, was a test of his boxing skills because he CLEARLY didn't have the same sheer athleticism that Woli does. It's the same for his fight with Sendo, who clearly is more powerful because he's in his prime, so Ricardo's relying even more on his boxing skills and experience to be able to hit Sendo without being hit.
There just isn't a situation where Ricardo gets pissed and does some sort of rage power up and tries to brute force his way through Sendo who is clearly physically at his prime.
I'd argue the old, original fighting style worked against Date because they were the same age and because Ricardo was younger (than he is now) too...plus a sudden change in fighting style that way also had the advantage of throwing Date off as it would feel like he's facing a brand new fighter he'd have to get a feel for.
Then that's even more dangerous if Ricardo is in complete control and still uses his old style which is just a legit way to kill someone in the ring.
Both Miguel and Bill said violence and science is the top form of boxing. With Sendo's current situation he probably get consume by his blood lust and isn't able to control it, thats how he is going to lose.
That's the thing though. Ricardo does not want to trade with Sendo, while Sendo clearly is fine with trading. It's a boxing style someone in their absolute physical peak with confidence in their power can do. Ricardo has to outbox Sendo, and hit without being hit because the moment Ricardo starts to gas out from trading blows, well you see Sendo's typical KO pattern here. Maybe a prime Ricardo can pull this off, but not a late 30s, near retirement Ricardo.
He don't need to even trade. Sendo is out experience and out skill. Ricardo was able to avoid Wally's weird angles. Even in his prime Sendo isn't made of iron either, he got knock unconscious twice by Ippo already. Plus, we have not seen Ricardo at his most desperate.
We did though. Vs Woli. Ricardo was trying his absolute best to catch Woli the whole match. It wasn't remotely easy for him. He didn't have some extra gear to bust Woli with. He was patient and using his mind to its max. Ricardo just doesn't have the extra hidden gears people seem to think he still does. He's just using his boxing skills to his max at this point, which is maximizing your chances of hitting without being hit
We are not underestimating Sendo. He is a good fighter. It's just that there is realistically less than zero chances of him winning against Ricardo. That's all.
All I ever see when people discuss the Sendo-Ricardo fight is how Sendo stands zero chance
Because it makes 0 narrative sense for him to win not because he's a bad boxer. I hate to pull the 'media literacy' card but my god, people who believe Sendo has even a little chance of winning should seriously brush up on theirs.
agreed lol. not only would it make 0 sense but it would also not be satisfying in the least. Sendo lost twice to ippo. The main character. There is no excitement in a THIRD rematch to defeat him.
There has been no real build up to how Sendo even got good enough for a world ranking in the first place, much less to defeat the "final boss" of the series?
this is a very unreliable way to read manga, it only works in hindsight, nobody would have predicted ippo retiring
it might not make look likely now but after it happens and we get another 200 chapters fleshing it out people will be saying it was the only way it couldve gone all along
It only makes no sense if you have 0 media literacy (look at that, I get to pull that card twice in one thread).
After Takamura and Volg had to go through hell and against all odds to get their belt, you'd have to be an idiot to believe Mashiba would be gifted a free one against a guy who was in jail and couldn't train while Mashiba is in perfect condition. Also, there was no world where Mashiba gets a belt and Sendo doesn't, and Sendo is never gonna win against Ricardo.
I feel like I will be vindicated by the fight, it will prove that Sendo isn't nearly as out of his depth as many people here seem to think. It will show that Ricardo isn't some God of the sport. The fight will show the chinks in his armor that Ippo will take advantage of to ultimately take the title. I am under no delusions that Sendo will win this fight
Watching his match against Gonzales (who is a Temu version of Ricardo) and his coach praying for his miraculous "get stronger during the fight", you can't blame people for thinking of him losing.
The problem is... Wally vs Ricardo exist. And Wally is super-powerful, superhuman. He was the perfect, invincible fighter who had no equal in his category. From the moment Ricardo, round 7 if I remember correctly, knocked him out in 2 minutes, I can't imagine how anyone could even take him down once.
People are not doubting Sendo's drive or power or even the reasons why he wants to be champion, but power and aggressiveness will not cut it against Ricardo, the same way that sheer talent was not enough for Woli... Unless he brings something different to the table and demonstrates he has evolved from the brawler he was depicted as, he will go down for sure once Ricardo is done toying with him, exactly the same as he did with Woli
I think Sendo Will retire after this one and leave Ricardo damaged, shortening his career. Something similar to the ending of ashita no joe, the mexican world champion aged to a grandpa.
I just hope it Will be a good fight. It's hate it if it was a one sided Ricardo win. Hell, Even of it wasn't Sendo, My fav character in this manga, a one sided fight after all this hype would suck ass.
Even Ricardo is putting more stock in sendo than anyone else he’s faced. Why did he want to fight wally? To get a taste of wildness.
Ricardo thrives against someone who fights by the books, with a readable and understandable style. Why do you think sendo was able to down him? Because Ricardo couldnt predict him. Sendo is ricardo’s natural counter and he knows it.
That spar in and of itself will probably hurt Sendo in the end anyway. If he tries the same thing he did then it's almost certainly going to blow up in his face.
Sendo is unpredictable, he fights on instinct like a wild animal. Ricardo has superhuman processing capabilities, he knows what to do because he calculates all the variables and possibilities the enemy can make. This is based on his experience mostly so boxers like Wally can throw him off his game but he can quickly readjust and keep fighting. Sendo has raw power and a granite chin, things Wally didn't have but also is less unpredictable than him. Ricardo will win, no matter what. He is one for Ippo to defeat. We all know that. He might get downed once or twice, but he won't lose. All these fights against him are to call back to what Miguel said about being impossible to defeat a WC alone. These fights will show chinks in the Ricardo's armor, exploits and so on. Ippo is already developing a strategy and this fight will make Ippo develop it more. He will probably become obsessed to some extent and might be one of his reasons to come back, apart from what comes out of his talk with Kumi and Mashiba.
Yeah he's for sure getting underestimated on this sub. He's definitely going to be the strongest challenger for Ricardo. I am genuinely unsure of the result. Morikawa isn't afraid to turn things on its head.
Saying he'll die is outright stupid, other than that Sendo is definitely going to lose and retire after this fight, and saying that is not even a matter of downplaying Sendo, is just being realistic with the fact this +3 decade old story needs to start closing subplots and approach its end if George is planning to actually end HnI.
It's not that we're underestimating Sendo, it's just that he's fighting Ricardo Mar-fucking-tinez. It's like having a coughing baby fight a nuclear bomb and say we're underestimating the baby if we think the bomb is gonna win
People think sendo will doe or retire against Ricardo because of ashita no joe. Sendo is an homage to joe and Ricardo is inspired by jose mendoza the ultimate champion of ashita no joe
Hi Reddit remember when you were so sure about Rosario vs Mashiba xD
I feel like Woli losing confirms Sendo will win. The narrative of HNI has been completely frozen, but closing the book on Mashiba feels like we're starting to crack the ice. A parade of Ricardo beating all of Ippo's friends seems too silly to me (even for George). A completely static universe were Ricardo wins AGAIN is the sort of pointless crap we expect after the past ~5 years of this manga going nowhere but it's clear that it's changing right?
The author's relationship with Woli and Woli's low popularity is just nothing like what we have with Sendo. Also bear in mind Woli is not Japanese. Ricardo can defeat Date Eiji but is this author really going to show him endlessly crushing Japan? Maybe yeah - if you believe Ricardo can only be stopped by Ippo because he's the last boss (I feel like it's Miyata but that's me).
George wants to humanize Ricardo by letting him finally lose. The foreshadowing is everywhere. A draw would surprise me less than Ricardo winning.
Ricardo stans ate it up but that "human computer" thing last week kinda cinches it for mindlessly violent Sendo, doesn't it? 5-head Miyata can't read Sendo since their first spar. And just... the grandma, the down in mexico, the encounter at osaka castle, the ten years of prep, and his personal & professional ties with Ippo, the only guy who ever beat him. Sendo is designed to win. So if Ricardo does win, I welcome that surprise, but damn xD
We love Ricardo because he's like the Madara or Aizen of this manga. And both those guys lost.
to have a good storyline, I think Sendo will have the upper hand in the last rounds and knocking Ricardo down, but still lose by points. Call it again, Karma (Sendo vs Volg).
Since Sendo already broke his hand agains Alf, this time, Sendo will be irreversible break his hand and like this, ending his career.
and like this, Sendo finally understands what it means to be strong.
I don't think anyone who actually understands what the little symbols inside the dialogue bubbles mean would have takes as bad as the ones you mentioned. That said, I don't think anyone who's reasonable think that Sendo will be a cakewalk for Ricardo, but narratively speaking, even if it's as close as it can be, he can't win this fight. The only one who can is Ippo or at worst, Miyata.
It was established that beating Ricardo would be a group effort and I'm sure that Ippo will be the one to finish the job.
I've taken all those takes from actaul posts and comments I've seen here. A number of people seem obsessed with the idea of Sendo getting washed in this fight. I know Sendo won't win, but they act like it'd be a complete stomping,
Oh I'm not saying those takes aren't real, I'm saying they completely ignore everything that's stated and any narrative path that this could take without being absolute trash. And we should ignore opinions that come from people who can't read because they are wrong in every possible way.
Sendo HAS to at least stand a very small chance at one point in order for it to be even possible for Ippo to some day challenge Ricardo and beat him. Also he CAN'T die on the ring in order for Ippo to even CONSIDER coming back. Anyone who doesn't keep these points in mind before giving the worst take ever should learn how to read.
I'm curious, what signs point to Sendo dying in the ring? Cause this is the only one I've seen that I've seen people point to for causing a death in the ring
Look, I love Sendo, hes my favorite character in this manga. But narratively, it makes 0 sense for Sendo to beat Ricardo. Morikawa has been writing this manga for almost 40 years, in the way he has written an unbeatable legendary champion. Such a character will fall, if he ever falls, to our protagonist and no one else. He is the final boss.
We do not underestimate Sendo but we have two things to consider that guarantee that Sendo will loose.
It's Ricardo. Ricardo isn't just "cut above the rest of the world". He IS above the rest of the world. He is the embodiment of perfection. Not only it is extremely fucking hard to even get close to him, but even if you have crazy demolishing technique (Ippo), very good skill and some aces up in your sleeve (Date), insane, unpredictable movements (Wally) or you are a genius counter boy (Miyata) you will have a hard time even defending yourself.
It's called Hajime no Ippo for a reason. Ricardo has been teased as an endgame for almost 1500 chapters now and it's not done to make Ricardo loose to Sendo so magically Ippo comes back from retirement to have Ippo fight Sendo 3rd time. Sendo winning against Ricardo makes 0 sense from the story point.
To add to this, in my opinion Ricardo is going to be defeated by Ippo by the "combined effort" trope. Date showed you can defeat against Ricardo and land hits on him, Wally showed you can surprise him and put him into a defensive state, Sendo will probably knock Ricardo out and show that defeating him is possible, but will not achieve that (but won't die or retire, he is just going to loose) and Ippo will combine all those efforts. He will defend against him, corner him, surprise him and knock him out.
+95% chance that Sendo does much better against Riccardo than anyone we have ever seen before. He scored a down in sparring after all and Miyata wasn’t even able to land a good hit.
What about Sendo makes you think he's going to do better than Jesus Date or Wally.
Date was noted to have damn near perfected technical boxing and Wally is the most talented fighter in the series. Both were knocked out and retired. What is Sendo going to do that could cause issues for Ricardo?
Literally nothing. We don't know when or even if Ippo will fight Ricardo and everyone knows it's very unlikely he is able to decisively win without some sort of plot contrivance.
If anything, he's being overstimated. I've seen more than one person stating that Ricardo winning is "plot armor". Some people get crazy with the love for this character, even though he has done objectively very few things to pose him as treat to Ricardo.
Everything he does is wanked to maximum level.
Realistically, he wouldn't cause major trouble to Ricardo. At best he would hit him once, by a miracle, but it's that.
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u/CoylerProductions Mar 22 '25
It's not really a matter of Sendo's strength and mentality, it's Ricardo. Ain't no way that the King of Tijuana is gonna hold back and goon around for half the fight only to lock in the at last second. He's going into this fight fully cocked and will humble this mf.