Takeshi Sendo

Boxing Abilities

Sendō giving off an aura of a genuine tiger to other boxers.

Sendō, befitting his street fighter origins, is an instinctive infighter who is heavy handed with his blows. He possesses incredible lower and upper body strength, comparable to Ippo Makunouchi, although his optimum punching distance is actually at a medium range. He is almost feral in his fighting approach, relying on sheer instincts, rather than technique to avoid injury in his matches and consistently aiming for a KO victory. His punching power in particular is one of the greatest in the world for his weight class, if not the greatest, and on par with Ippo. However, while Ippo relies on compact combinations, Sendō puts all of his power into every punch, making each of them a likely one-hit KO.

Sendō's fighting instinct is one of his most dangerous tools aside from his punching power as it makes him incredibly unpredictable when facing him. He has an innate intuition where to punch, as well as where his opponents punches might be coming from. He was able to predict Saeki's movements and see through his attempted feints and even stepped into one of Alfredo González' counters during their fight through his animalistic sixth sense. In addition, he can throw strong and accurate punches from obscure angles such as landing a Smash after getting hit by one of Volg's blows, using where he would be for aim such as striking Nargo on top of his guard without his leg strength despite not looking at him, landing a right Smash to the Solar Plexus on Alfredo after he adjusted his punches to hit him in his "safe zones", and forcing dual exchanges during his combinations to land a hit.

Tactically, he is large with his punches and uses wide swings to instil a sense of fear into his opponent, which he takes advantage of to set his rhythm. His ability to intimidate his opponents is so great that it has had success even on boxers noted for their great courage, such as Ippo, José Nargo and Alfredo. In certain situations, the pressure from Sendō's punches can make boxers hesitate, allowing him to capitalise such as against Nargo and Alfredo with the latter having his counter punching accuracy drop significantly during his match with Sendō. Sendō can also throw compact punches with no lead-in making them hard for an opponent to predict, since he showcased a powerful dash built up through hours of running with ankle weights, giving him the ability to use weight shifting the same way as Ippo as his punches are now even stronger and faster due to his conditioned lower body that allows him to use combinations more fluidly and rapidly based on Yanaoka's statement before the title defense against Ippo. Sendō's prideful nature means that he will very rarely step back or retreat during a match, which has proved to be a crude but effective natural seal to techniques such as the Dempsey Roll which rely on unbroken rhythms and starting distance.

Techniques

• Orthodox Boxing Techniques

• Combination

• Smash

• Low Smash

• Dash

• Deadly Smash

• Cross Arm Block

• Clenched Fist

• Head Slip

• Motionless Jab

• Knuckle Drop

• Sakki

• Neck Spin

Weaknesses

His prideful boxing style is also his main weakness. His guard is essentially non-existent, resulting in him getting hit more often, and damage to accumulate overtime. He is willing to take a hit from his opponent if it allows him to be able to land his punch. However, he sometimes may be the only one to get hit when he tries this strategy, which can lead him to try the same strategy multiple times, causing damage to accumulate. Sometimes he spreads both of his arms to his sides to urge his opponent to go on the attack. While this strategy is used to help him get within punching range when he otherwise couldn't to land a punch, it causes him to take damage from his opponent's punches as the stance leaves his face and body open for attacks. His Sunday punches, the Smash, Low Smash, and Deadly Smash requires a large swinging motion, leaving him completely open for counters.

Moreover, his instincts can also be used against him, as they often lead him to make rash decisions too quickly to judge the danger behind them. Sendō has also pointed out that his style is very weak against counters, but in a spar with Miyata after he defeated him in the first round Sendō memorised the timing of the Miyata's left and with pure instinct, was capable of cornering him with no guard.