"Hajime no Ippo" fans are still reeling from Ippo Makunouchi's shock loss, and author Jyoji "George" Morikawa did not waste any time delivering another pipe bomb that shook the entire boxing manga's fan base to the core: Ippo has possible brain damage.
The raw chapter 1208, latest issue of Morikawa's popular manga, takes readers to the aftermath of Makunouchi's loss to Filipino southpaw Antonio Guevarra, who many perceived to be a tune-up fight for Ippo, and many expected the hard-hitting hero to walk over his opponent, especially since he is very determined to bounce back from the beating he took from Mexican Alfredo Gonzales.
The loss left Ippo so badly damaged that his coach Kamogawa worried that his fighter might be "broken" as suggested by Takamura,so he had the fighter undergo several test in order to ensure that he did not suffer any brain damage. It can be noted that Makunouchi started to show symptoms related to brain damage such as shaking hands and reflex impairments.
Although he was able to recover in time for his comeback fight, he was badly knocked out by his opponent in a shocking turn of events, again teasing that Ippo may indeed have brain damage, or just suffered one after receiving a devastating left counter that left him face first in the canvass for the third time in his career.
Ippo then decided to get checked up by a doctor to confirm his suspicions that he might have Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) which is a degenerative brain disease caused by repetitive impact to the head. He is worried by this as he knows that the fighting style he uses causes him to get hit a lot.
The doctor makes him undergo certain examinations to see if he has the condition, and his scans show that the doctor does not see anything but does not necessarily mean that Ippo is in the clear.
Ippo decides to step away from the ring for a while as he knows that he really needs to take time to recover. The chapter ends with Ippo stopping by the tree he always practices on by the riverbank. He then kicks the tree and deftly catches the leaves with punching motions, reminiscent of his first trial from Takamura, where ha had Ippo catch 10 leaves in each hand to convince him that he has what it takes to be a boxer.
Ippo opens his hands and reveals that there are several — possibly more than ten — leaves in each of his hands, signifying that he still has what it takes to be a boxer, and that his fight is not yet over.
