Hajime no Ippo – The First Step is a Japanese manga created by George Morikawa.
Ippo, a quiet and reserved boy, was often bullied by a group led by Umezawa. One day, the bullying turned violent, leaving him badly hurt. A middleweight professional boxer happened to pass by, stopped the bullies, and took Ippo to the Kamogawa Gym, run by retired fighter Genji Kamogawa. When Ippo woke up to the sounds of boxers training, the man who saved him, Mamoru Takamura, tried to lift his spirits by letting him punch a sandbag. That was when they first noticed Ippo’s natural talent for boxing.
Later, after giving it serious thought, Ippo decided he wanted to become a professional boxer. When he told Takamura, the experienced fighter scolded him, believing Ippo wasn’t taking the sport seriously enough. However, Takamura couldn’t outright dismiss him—especially after seeing how hard Ippo could hit the sandbag, a skill unmatched by anyone else in the gym except Takamura himself.
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