In the 7th round Takamura outclasses Hawk and by the end of the round he's scared of Takamura and thinks he's trying to kill him. After a very dramatic ending, the world title match has a winner.
Takamura tries to end the match before the 5th round ends because of his weight management he can't fight more than five rounds. In the 6th round, Takamura gets hit for almost the whole round but gets two hits in and survives the round.
Date tries the heart-breaker shot but Martinez blocks it with his elbow breaking Date's hand. By the end of the round Date's hand, jaw, and ribs are broken. After ten rounds the match has a winner.
The world title match starts with both Takamura and Bryan Hawk staring each other down, Takamura makes the first move and hits Hawk a little but is surprised by Hawk's strange angled punches. Takamura and Hawk both show their great speed.
Ippo gets a first round KO like he said. Before Takamura's match, the Japanese champions from almost all the weight classes talk with Takamura, Date, Sendo, and Miyata too. Both Takamura and Bryan Hawk make their grand entrances.
Ippo spars with the world champion, Ricardo Martinez and Miyata spars with Martinez's challenger, Eiji Date, both Date, and Martinez win their sparring matches effortlessly.
Takamura. At the press conference, Bryan Hawk hits Takamura as well as Kamogawa and says things that makes him very unpopular with the Japanese. Ippo tells Takamura that he'll get a first round knockout.
The Kamogawa gym has some matches coming up, Ippo's title defense match, Aoki's title match, Itagaki 's round of Rookie kings, and Takamura's title defense match. Miyata wants to fight Ippo but Kamogawa tells Ippo to get stronger first.
The world featherweight title match has begun, in the first round, neither Date or Martinez use their rights. The second round is more exciting than the first. In the third round, Martinez steps it up and becomes more aggressive.