Ryo Mashiba
Boxing Abilities
Mashiba's Hitman Style.
Mashiba applies an offensive Hitman Style developed by Thomas Hearns, and his style is also modelled after the same. Mashiba's height and reach allows him to have a fast and very quick Flicker Jab that is almost impossible to get past. The Flicker Jab has become so sharp over the course of the series it is now compared to a reaper's scythe, and can even have a whiplash effect on the skin if thrown at maximum range. Besides the Flicker Jabs, Mashiba also uses long hooks with both arms and right straights. Most of his techniques are long range.
His typical KO pattern involves using the Flicker Jab to corner and weaken the opponent and then slam in a Chopping Right to their jaw. If pressured into medium to close-range fights he knows to use his arms to deflect most attacks with ease, often via Elbow Blocks. Realising that his Flicker Jabs can't keep opponents of a higher calibre away indefinitely, Mashiba has continued developing his arsenal for the close range. During his one year suspension, Mashiba added a right uppercut to his arsenal to deal with in-fighters. This later turned into a left uppercut. In his fight with Juan García, he unveils his short uppercut, which seems invisible to the opponent as his long arms allow him to hide its motion out of sight entirely while in the Hitman Style.
Techniques
Illegal Blows (previously)
Weaknesses
Mashiba's Hitman Style is also his greatest weakness since he has to drop his left guard, which gives his opponent a chance to drive a major attack on his left side. Also, due to Mashiba's height he suffers against close range fighters, such as Ippo. One of the major ways to take down Mashiba would also be to attack his jaw, as seen when Ippo and Miyata managed to give him a down with one attack straight to his jaw, but they would have to attack his body a couple of times to make it come down lower. He uses the elbow block to deal with strong punches, but continued attacks can render his left arm damaged and he would lose his Flicker Jabs.
Generally speaking, Mashiba is poor at taking hits. He shows fear towards opponents with strong fighting spirit, such as Ippo Makunouchi and Tatsuya Kimura, though Mashiba himself possesses formidable spirit born of desperation. Originally, Mashiba had to deal with severe weight control, but he has since moved from featherweight, junior lightweight, to his natural lightweight weight class.