One of people's biggest opponents wasn't in the ring. It was both a mental and physical battle. Mentally, he was never set out to compete on a world stage. Entering the ring with the mindset of a challenger can only take you so far. Against high ranked boxers, that kind of mentality comes off as almost childlike. Going in with the order of a challenger instead of an intention of to win the match. And let's not forget all the accumulated damage started to suffer which deteriorated both his body and mental health to the point where he had no choice but to quit boxing for his own well-being. But one character in particular s through the warning signs that would lead down the path of disaster and that guy is none other than Takamura. Now Takamura is the literal definition of a menace to society. This guy does things to other characters that should have landed him in jail for life. He's just an all-around gigantic douchebag to people pearly for laws. And it robs both other characters and us to read us the wrong way. But when it comes to boxing, he's always been dead serious. In many ways, boxing saved Takamura from being just another low-life brawler with no future, abandoned by his family destined for prison until Kabuga randomly found him and took him into the gym. Through boxing, he found purpose. Since he always loved to fight, now he could test himself in a fair squared ring against trained professionals to see just how strong he really was. Nakamura always had the spirit of a champion, but he had to learn through experience what it takes to truly think like one. Through brutal fights and sheer will, he forged the mindset needed to pursue his goal of becoming a sixth division world champion. Now, when it comes to his perspective on the spot is completely different. Ipo came from a place of self-doubt and insecurity. He saw boxing as a form of therapy to finally understand what it means to become a strong person. Kamugava saw the potential had with his natural physical abilities and slowly started to build up the mindset of a true champion. However, over time, IPO only had a few matches where he entered the ring with the mindset of a champion or with a true attacher to win a fight. His goal was never about titles or glory. His only real objective was to discover the essence of true strength and he believed the answer lay in the fighting his rival Miata in the ring. Around the time the fight was finally confirmed, was objectively in his best form as the reigning Japanese featherweight champion. His fight against Samura was the moment he was finally accepted as a dominant national champion. Someone that other fighters fear to challenge. Then came his fight against Kadasawa, which made it clear that had outgrown the national scene. They destroyed the seventh ranked boxer in just two rounds with minimal effort, proving that he was ready for the international stage. But the only one who truly believed in IPO's potential to global was Kamugava. IPO himself still saw things differently. He wanted to retire early with the upcoming match against Miata being his final fight. However, as you guys know, Miata got injured and Ipo had to face a veteran boxer named Tak as a replacement. Despite Taka being a southpaw with double the experience, IPO overcame him too by adapting his strategy on the fly and combining it with raw power to secure the win. It looked like to end his career in a dominant way after finally defeating Miata. However, Miata came to him and apologized saying he couldn't fight him because he had to deal with his daddy issues match first. The most mid excuse possible. If was initially shocked and had no idea what to do with his career anymore. With no clear goal ahead, he felt lost. But then Kabagawa stepped in and planted a new goal in his mind to defeat Ricardo Martinez. To do that, would need to climb the rankings and challenge him at the top. This marked a major turning point in the story and's boxing career. IPO began to take more and more punches in his fights even though he should have learned by then that he fights best when he avoiding damage. My theory is that around this point, Ipo started to develop brain damage and a cut arc where he meets Sonada. Sada mentions that no longer falls to the ground like before. He just takes punches that he would have normally dodged without much effort. These are early signs that the boxers becoming punch and there's a reason why Morico plays this moment right after the Samura fight. Show that was slowly but surely taking on serious lasting damage. Take his fight against Jimmy Sisa for example. It was a literal death match. Jibi gave it everything he had in a relentless infight. But Io had already faced several fighters before like Sandor Shima Bokuru. He had made the same mistakes again, trading globes until one of them dropped. In this fight, saw something deeply unsettling. A light which symbolized Kamogava. Jimmy in this arc also saw the same light and called it gods. He claimed it appeared in fights where he took too much damage and that it gave him strength. But you don't need to be a medical expert to realize that Jimmy Sisva suffered from brain damage from years of brutal biting. The light he saw was a visual hallucination or cortical response caused by extreme physical trauma to the brain. And it's commonly linked to concussion, lack to oxygen, or even near-death experience. Ipu saw the same light in that match. And even though it was never brought up again, the damage he took was permanent. In this fight against Malcolm mother freaking ghetto, Malcolm used tricks to extend his reach, making it almost impossible for Ipo to get in close. But the thing is, if I had trained for the fight with Mashiba beforehand, who has an even longer reach plus already had experience from earlier fights against long range boxers. Yet in this fight, it looked like he didn't train at all. He ran straight into Ghetto's punches. Even though the whole theme of the series is to train like hell to bring out your best performance, he just kept taking damage that he could have easily avoided. Sadly, no one in this camp really noticed that I was getting beaten up in every fight. They kept attributing his wits to his fighting spirit, his will to keep going. And honestly, we don't even need to talk much about the Wally fight. On one hand, the fight just doesn't make any sense. Wally plays around with for 90% of the match, pulling off all kinds of impossible acrobatic midair moves. And the fact that ends up winning despite barely touching Wally throughout the entire fight, yeah, that doesn't help the logic at all. But this was the first time Takamura realized something was wrong with that was during his fight against Cojima. During the whole buildup to this fight, Cojima kept talking trash about his opponents and about Kamugawa. Ibu couldn't just let that slide and he wanted to teach Kochiba a lesson in the ring. Takamura noticed before the match even began that wasn't the same anymore. Something was off. So he told itaki to warn. He put to tell him not to fight in this fight headstrong. But itaki never delivered that message because he wanted to see for himself what the offo was capable of. And well as you all know the fight went exactly as expected. Kjima led the departure was basically like a two-tonon crash and IPO through pure willpower launched Kjima into the stratosphere and won the match. But IPO's body simply couldn't keep up with his mindset anymore and that became most clear in his fight against Alfredo Gonzalez. Before this match, had the sparring session with Sando of the Volkswing about it to Takamura, but Takamura hovered him real quick, telling him that had simply gotten weaker. Even before the big fight started, Takamura gave his honest take on it, saying was cooked and stood no chance against a legitimate fighter like Gonzalez. This fight was meant to expose the harsh truth. IO and Kamugawa style of boxing just isn't enough to survive on the world stage.Oo Io only got as far as he did because of his unbreakable willpower. In the end, I lost and Takamura had an interesting inner monologue afterwards. He thought that Kamugawa didn't need to look so devastated because at the end of the day, he still had him, Takamura, and that Kamugawa didn't need to be so desperate. After the fight, Takamura let out all of his frustrations by shadow boxing intensely, clearly affected by everything he just witnessed. Later, while training with IPO for Takamura's world title match against Bison, Takamura straight up told that he had disappointed Kamugawa, clearly accepted the loss. But real boxers, those who want to keep going, make excuses for their losses. That's the difference between someone who still wants to grow and someone who's just a loser. Kakamura told that he had reached his limit. And if he really wanted to continue, he had to cross the line Takura had carved out. The line that once crossed would strip away your humanity and turn you into a monster. Ipu didn't get it at first, so Takamura made it clearer. A boxer has a limited window alive until age, health, or physical wear takes everything away. You have to push that time to its absolute limit while you still have it. Because your opponent isn't going to take it easy. They are going to come at you with everything they have and try to crush you. That's why loser mindset accepting things as they are isn't good enough. You need a new attitude. Whether it means changing your style, strengthening your mental game, or whatever it takes. This entire philosophy was perfectly shown in Takamo's fight against bison. He quickly adapted and dominated Bison. Even when his right eye gave out and one of his legs was completely useless, he gave everything he had, not to avoid losing, but to find a way to win. And even in that fight, Takamuru believed he was making the same mistake he put it. Kamog was deeply concerned for Takamura's life. And in the end, Takamura sacrifices two days just to find some way to win. That's where the question comes in. Is Takamura jealous of jealous that Kamugawa gives more attention? And the answer to that is a little bit more complicated. IPO fights because Kabuga and the other boxers, including Takamura, have expectations for him. But's poor performance only ends up disappointing everyone, Kamugawa included. That's why Takamura said mindset is weak. Just because other people have expectations of you doesn't mean you should fight. For Takamura, it's a bad idea that Kamogawa and the team spend so much time and care on because in the end you'll just disappoint them. Takamura already knew I had brain damage and wanted Pamugawa to accept that, but no one did. Even though Takaba is harsh towards IPO, he's absolutely right. IPO had accumulated damage. He wasn't performing like he used to and he simply didn't have the hunger or mindset to become a world champion anymore. This contrast in mindset between these two was shown best in one of their last conversations before's final fight. U told Sakamura he was pushing himself too hard and shutting others out. He even asked Takamura if he wasn't lonely. Takamura corrected them. This is the path he chose. Many others want to go down it, but you have to eliminate other boxers along the way. At the top, you're alone. Not because it's sad or pathetic, but because it's extraordinary. Takamura didn't really care if I lost or won. What he really cared for is that if I really will actually deliver, meaning if he will let Kamugawa down again. And in the end, lost. Kamoa was right again in the end. as he reminded himself that he shouldn't get too emotionally attached to IPO. He needs to focus on himself to win. Even though Takamo was right about career coming to an end, IO massively improved in the ring. The only thing he's still missing is a mindset like Takamura's. If he gets that, he could truly become a dominant machine in the ring. If you have enjoyed this video, then please leave a like, subscribe to my channel for more content. I'm the readom crow and thanks for watching.