Mamoru Takamura (鷹村守, Takamura Mamoru) is the deuteragonist in Hajime no Ippo.

He is a multi-weight class professional boxer affiliated with the Kamogawa Boxing Gym. He is the current unified WBC and WBA middleweight champion. Takamura has a personal quest to conquer all the next six weight classes, from junior middleweight to heavyweight.

His surname is Takamura. In Japan, surnames are listed before given names.





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Background

Early Life

Takamura was the estranged middle son of the famous Takamura Enterprises, supported by his older sister Kyōka and younger brother Wataru. His eldest brother, Suguru, a former rugby standoff, constantly belittled his vast boxing accomplishments and carried on the stigma that Mamoru is simply a thug that thrives on beating up others. One time during Suguru's rugby game, his team was crushed and fans were insulting him, and that was when Takamura injured about 20 of the fans, making Suguru's team penalised with a year suspension. Despite his family's impressive wealth, Takamura would later live off of his own earnings as a pro boxer.

Becoming a Boxer

As Kamogawa Genji was walking the streets of Tokyo one night, he witnessed a brutal beating being dealt to a number of delinquents by Takamura. Kamogawa took it as nothing but a senseless fight between delinquents until Takamura unknowingly executed a pro-class punch right in front of him. Takamura is then stopped by Kamogawa before proceeding with the fight as he did not want him to kill anybody. After being body checked by the coach, Takamura is then offered to box at the Kamogawa Boxing Gym. Takamura did not like the idea of fighting with rules, but decided to do it to "kill some time."

In the anime, Takamura is taken to the gym and immediately began working the bag, leaving Miyata's father, Yagi Haruhiko, Shinoda Tomoyuki, and Kamogawa in awe. He is then taken to run a course as guided by Kamogawa. Takamura had only desired to hit people and bailed on the Kamogawa gym shortly after. Kamogawa, not sure if Takamura would show up of his own free will, showed up at his house for several days ready to train him. Along with roadwork and pulling his scooter, Kamogawa forbade Takamura from using his right fist and to only work the bag with his left fist, going so far as to tape his right fist to his body. Kamogawa ended up getting sick from waiting on Takamura in the rain one day and did not not show up the day after, much to Takamura's pleasure.

He, however, decided to train himself of his own free will after being forced to do it prior to Kamogawa's absence. After days of training, Takamura had his first match set up for him in three months. Takamura had a hard time dealing with this as he faced against a pro straight out of high school. However, once in the ring, Takamura realised how the training has affected him and knocks out his opponent in under a minute. It is then that Takamura declared to take Kamogawa to the world.

While Kurita Baron was in the Kamogawa gym, Takamura was the only one around his weight class to spar with since Baron was a junior middleweight. Takamura gleefully waited in the ring to spar with him every day until Baron quit boxing before his debut match, complaining of a stomach ache.[1]

Encounter with Aoki and Kimura

After his second match,[2] Takamura met a delinquent from the south high Aoki Masaru in an arcade where Takamura was attacked by getting his head smashed through an arcade screen. Takamura quickly retaliated and defeated Aoki with wrestling moves. Takamura later quit the Imanishi North High School and was supposed to be taken home with fellow gym member Miyata Ichirō to avoid getting into fights. However, Takamura heard fighting near by and inspected the scene where he saw delinquents Aoki and Kimura Tatsuya getting beaten up by a group of Takamura's former class mates. Takamura made the group flee to stop them from attacking the two. Takamura was then drawn into fighting Aoki and Kimura due to them being angered that he stopped the brawl. Takamura quickly defeated the two delinquents despite promising to not use his fists in the street.

When Aoki and Kimura joined the Kamogawa gym with the goal to hit Takamura at least once, Takamura decided to let them spar against him everyday, making them train harder to achieve their goal, resulting in them getting stronger and eventually, they land a scratch on Takamura's face. Takamura then helped them win in their debut matches, with Takamura being the only one who could bring Kimura back to his senses when he was nervous. Despite Takamura teasing them about barely winning their debut match, his influence on the two made them continue boxing with the goal of one day defeating him.

History

Part I

Main Article: Takamura Mamoru/History/First Part

(Volumes: 1-46 & Episodes: 1-104)

Part II

Main Article: Takamura Mamoru/History/Second Part

(Volumes: 46-121 & Episodes: 105-Current)

Part III

Main Article: Takamura Mamoru/History/Third Part

(Volumes: 121-Current)

Match History

Successions

Preceded by Title Succeeded by Richard Bison WBA Middleweight Champion

June 12, 1998 - current Incumbent Undefeated David Eagle WBC Middleweight Champion

August 27, 1995 - current Incumbent

Undefeated Bryan Hawk WBC Junior Middleweight Champion

December 20, 1994 - April 28, 1995 Unknown Yajima Yoshiaki JBC Middleweight Champion

October, 1991 - July 1993 Unknown Unknown All Japan Middleweight Rookie King Unknown Unknown East Japan Middleweight Rookie King Unknown

Appearance

As of a stereotypical description of a Japanese delinquent, Takamura dons a curly pompadour while wearing his school uniform in a more laid back style with a few of the top buttons loose. His eyebrows are considerably thick and he has a tough looking face. Even before joining the Kamogawa Boxing Gym, Takamura had a very refined physique. Along with the Kamogawa training regiment, his body is even more refined, having bulging biceps, bulging pecs, and a hardened 6-pack stomach. While at the training camp at Nekota's place, he fought a bear, the encounter resulted in the three scars visible on his chest. Rarely, his hairstyle will change from his usual pompadour-style, to a messy hairstyle with his bangs dropped.

His basic attires consists of tank-tops and shirts of various colours, sometimes under an opened coat, and pants of various colours. His attire when he's doing roadwork consists of a navy blue sweatshirt with a hoodie and a shirt underneath with navy blue sweatpants. His boxing match attire consists of burgundy and dark azure boxer shorts with the name Mamoru written on it, it also has tags such as a label that has KB in red print, Takamura's hawk logo, and a flag of Japan. He also wears burgundy boxing shoes.

When ever Takamura struggles with his weight training, his appearance drastically changes. His stomach and ribs show through his skin, he gets chapped lips and wrinkles, and his skin begins to peel off.

Personality

Takamura has a broadminded, arrogant, outrageous, and incredibly cocky personality. However, other dimensions of his personality have shone throughout the series, the culmination of which is a concerned, insightful, ambitious man.

He is one of the most well-studied characters in the series, having on numerous occasions identified strategies and traits of different boxers in tangent with and sometimes even ahead of; Kamogawa. He has never fallen into an opponent's trap. Despite this, Takamura does not invent his own tactics during matches, which further exemplifies both his straightforward nature and his boxing talent. Because of this, while he's usually brash and devil-may-care both in the ring and outside of it, he is surprisingly pessimistic and level-headed when watching other boxers' matches, usually anticipating the difficulties his partners are going to encounter.

When Nekota snuck up on him underwater as a joke while at the beach, he ran away in fear believing it to be a real ghost. He also had a very Umezu Kazuo-like face when Tomiko used tarot cards to accurately guess how many times he had masturbated after a fight. There was also an occurrence where Takamura challenged Yagi to a fishing competition, resulting in a "No Takamura" sign to be put up next to a "No Yagi" sign. These are all indications of Takamura's deep belief in the supernatural and fear of the unknown.

Another less admirable trait of Takamura's personality is his perverted nature. He has a strong belief he is a ladies' man, despite rather obvious evidence to the contrary and despite fancying himself a ladies' man, rarely actually sees any action. This is due to his abrasive, perverted nature as he once made the newspaper by trying to force himself on a woman and her running away. He is not above spying on couples and groping women and getting peaks at women's panties. During his victory speech against Hawk, he says how the women of Japan should come to him so he may donate his sperm to him. In addition, he even often grabs the penises of his fellow boxers and makes inappropriate comments regarding them, particularly towards Ippo.

He also has a sister complex with his older sister, Kyōka and is tender towards older women such as Yamaguchi.

He can be a rather big bully to his fellow boxers and kouhai. He is fairly childish and egotistic, considering himself the best (which is in fact true) and hates being left out of events or people forgetting to invite him. He can also hold grudges, once attempting to set fireworks against Ippo and the others at the beach because they were shooting fireworks without him and showed a good time and only stopped when they appealed to his ego and said he should come because it wouldn't be fun without him. He can be petty and somewhat a bad sport, as Ippo manages to dodge his punch and right when Ippo is about to land a punch on him during a sparring match, Takamura (in a panic) elbows him (which is illegal in a boxing match).

Even during important matches he has a tendency to play around, such as by using Aoki's "Look Away" technique, labeling a regular uppercut the Beetle's Uppercut in a fight where he wore a beetle costume, and arguing with the spectators when they mock him. In spite of all of this, he is the one who got Ippo, Aoki, and Kimura into boxing, he is well respected at the Kamogawa Boxing Gym. Even though he constantly looks down on and ridicules their achievements, his unrivaled strength and rare moments of kindness have earned him respect from his fellow boxing juniors. He has also occasionally shown concern for Miyata Ichirō and seems to genuinely look forward to Ippo's rematch with him.

While Takamura says that most boxers are "small fries" and talks about them with patronising contempt, Takamura seems to be genuinely fond/proud of Ippo. He teases him less than the others and in more than one occasion has asserted that he and Ippo are on a different level than the rest of the boxers from the Kamogawa gym. Also, while he usually seems aloof and derisive of his coaches, it's shown (particularly during matches) that he thinks very highly of Kamogawa and his methods. Takamura seems to have unwavering trust on Kamogawa's teachings.

Despite pulling pranks on his gym mates, he is highly-respected, and is a reason Aoki, Kimura, and Ippo started boxing.

Boxing Abilities

Takamura is a right-handed Boxer-Puncher with the genius stat. He's the strongest known fighter in the weight classes he's in. He possesses a genius-level boxing talent, to such an extent that Kamogawa stated he was already stronger than the JBC Middleweight Champion when he was first found on the streets, and would've been capable of taking the World Title with or without Kamogaawa's teachings. In his title matches, Takamura showcased incredible power, speed, and durability through the guidance of Kamogawa. Takamura has an extremely destructive fighting style, focusing on constant huge swings that could KO any fighter, if not even kill them.

Counters are ineffective against him because most of his swings must be either dodged or met in an exchange, an exchange nobody dares to risk.

This fighting style goes hand-in-hand with Takamura's aggressive personality, his ego and his unbeatable arrogance. His anger in fact has such an influence on driving him in each of his fights that one could say anger is the core of his fighting style.

He has been shown to be the perfect combination of technique and instinct, being able to match world champion Bryan Hawk using both. However, brawling is noted to be his natural and most powerful style.

As a veteran boxer, Takamura (unlike many other characters) knows that aiming for the opponent's weakness is not a "dirty move". He has done and expressed it in several occasions.

He has also shown that he has the ability to mimic any move he sees or experienced like Bison's Flicker Jabs, Flicker Counter and Ippo's Tornado Jolt.

Techniques

Weaknesses

Takamura's one weakness is his arrogance and temper, as he is able to be easily provoked by many of his opponents, he also has in two occasions felt the compulsive need to finish his fights with 1-Hit KOs (Due to Miyata getting too much attention, and Ippo scoring a 1-Hit KO), which led to him almost losing against opponents a lot weaker than him.

Like Miyata, Takamura is constantly struggling with weight control, so he is prone to losing stamina slightly quicker due to fighting in weight-classes below his natural weight, which is approximately 195 pounds. Aside from that the only times Takamura has been in trouble is when an opponent reads his attacks, but he just keeps trying until he finds a way to connect.

In both his matches with Eagle and Bison, Takamura's right eye (or at least his field of vision on his right side) played a key role in his opponents gaining the upper hand. This suggests he may have a detached retina in his right eye, though this is not confirmed by the manga; Ippo confronted him about it at one point, but Takamura was able to convince him that he had no problems.

In Other Media

Video Games

Main Article: List of Hajime no Ippo games

Takamura is a playable character in the following video games:

Real Fighting Hajime no Ippo: The Glorious Stage!!

Main Article: Real Fighting Hajime no Ippo: The Glorious Stage!!

Takigawa Kōdai plays as Takamura in this stage play adaption.

Gallery

Main Article: Takamura Mamoru/Gallery



Quotes

This is Makunouchi Ippo. He will be a member of this gym starting today."[21] (To Ippo on why he started boxing) " I didn't have anything else to do. I just sorta started doing it... And then, when the applause came pouring down, it was the greatest feeling. " [22]

" (To Ippo) " Whatever happens, your penis is heavy class! Stand tall! Believe me, bigger ones win. " [23]

" (About the JBC and world titles) " The Japanese title is just a stepping stone for me. What I really want is to become world champion. " [24]

" (To Ippo) " It's true that it's a sad ending, but there can only be one winner. No matter how hard you work, or how much you want it, when you enter the ring, the difference between victory and defeat are like light and dark. That's boxing! ...It's a cruel world. " [25]

" (Thinking about Hawk) " That cocky little mug. I bet you never lost a fight before, have you...? But that's because...I've never been...TO AMERICA!! "

" (Thinking about Hawk) " You're strong, but your luck was bad. Curse the fact you were born in the same era as me! "

" (Talking about Itagaki's family) " Ultimate! No matter what you're talking about, the term 'Ultimate' is reserved for me, that family stepped over the line " [26]

" (About boxing) " Those who wanna quit should quit. Do you have the time to worry about others though you are just a small fry? There is a single path leading to the belt. On a worldwide scale, that path is always a huge traffic jam. Anyone who stops in his tracks will be left behind in the blink of an eye. I won't stop in my tracks. I have a goal to conquer six weight classes. " [27]

" (To Richard Fox) " This is called 'Hissatsu' and it means instant death!! Eat This! " [28]

" (During Mashiba and Sawamura's match) " A cat could lose to a dog and then leave it at just that, but there's no way a cat could accept losing to another cat! " [29]

" (To Ippo) " We're like brothers, right? Just make the old man look good and we're cool. " [30]

" (To Ippo) " Don't let it dickpress you too much. " [31]

" (To Ippo about losing) " Once you accept it, you're done. 'If only I hit him first here.' 'If I could have somehow dodge that. No matter how small a point it is, you need to gripe about it. " [32]

" (To Ippo) " For a man to stand up again, he needs only one thing to make excuses. Not making excuses is a sign you've had enough. It means you're ready to hang it all up. Boxers who keep at it even though they seem like a joke, they still have that fire inside. Someone who's done this as long as the old man would know that. " [33]

" (To Ippo) " Past this line is the world...Cross it and you're dead. Past that line that's where only the real monsters can survive. Don't cross the line, if you want to stay human. " [34]

" (To Ippo) "Everybody starts out as a nobody. That means you and me both started at the same spot. Something got us moving forward. Then we were off. A flat road with nothing on it. Then a sudden and steep incline. Eventually, it becomes a mountain climb over obstacles. Pushing everyone out of the way until you see the top. There's only footing for one person up there. When the last obstacle is gone. There you are. You get a view that only others who have made it that far can see, and everyone is trying to make their way up to see it. Don't call a place we all aim for some shit like lonely. Call it extraordinary."[35] *(Introducing Ippo to Kamogawa Boxing Gym ) "

Trivia

Main Article: Takamura Mamoru/Trivia

