Currently - Part 3: Rookie King Tournament so far

Summary

The Headbutter, Yoshio Fujiwara

Sometime later, Ippo's second opponent is announced to be Maeda Boxing Gym's Fujiwara Yoshio. The match starts, Fujiwara used many headbutts during the match, even downing Ippo once. However, while Fujiwara was better than Ippo in mid-range, Ippo overcame him close-range, Ippo wins the match with an uppercut. At school, Umezawa introduces Ippo to his friends, confusing Ippo in the process, but is glad Umezawa considers him his friend.

Round One - Ippo vs. Ozuma

The schedule for the East Rookie King Tournament.

After sparring with Aoki and Kimura, Ippo celebrates his first year at the Kamogawa Boxing Gym at Chūka Soba. Next day, at the gym, Yagi announced the East Japan Rookie King Tournament schedule, with Ippo's first opponent to be Jason Ozuma. With everyone at the gym saying Ozuma is powerful, they think of a strategy to go against him. Meanwhile, at the Hachinohe Boxing Club, Ozuma's coach praised him as he defeats his sparring partner, he then helped his trainer's wife with the sandbags. After the support from his coach and the gym mates, Ozuma left for Tokyo. When he arrived at the Nerima Boxing Group, Ozuma sparred with Ōta Hiroyuki, who got defeated with a hook that sends him to the hospital. After hearing this news, Kamogawa had Ippo training to dodge hooks, with Takamura as his training partner. After nine days of not being able to dodge them, Ippo successfully dodged Takamura's hook.