Fighting Spirit: New Challenger - Season 1 (2009)

Miyata and Arnie's title match comes to an end. Takamura beats the 2nd in the world in the third round. Eiji Date has a WBA world featherweight title match against Champion Ricardo Martinez, a man with 62 matches and 62 wins and 58 KOs.

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.

After seven years Eiji Date will finally have his rematch with Ricardo Martinez, the world featherweight champion. The title match begins, Date starts the match off with two lefts, the second landing on the champion's face.

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.

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.

Itagaki Manabu, last years inter-high runner up joins the Kamogawa gym. Ippo has a new opponent called Hammer Nao who is someone Ippo and the guys know.

During their weigh-in, Ippo and Yamada are told to shake hands but Yamada says he'll take Ippo's belt. Aoki has his match before Ippo which ends in a decision. Yamada tells his coach that no matter the outcome of his match he'll retire.

The match between Ippo and Yamada starts, when it does Ippo rushes out trying to end the match as quickly as possible. Ippo manages to knock Yamada down two times in the first round. The second round Yamada gets some powerful body blows in.

Ippo has a hard time with Yamada's Solar Plexus Blow. The match ends in round two and after the match, Yamada decides he won't retire.

Takamura, Kimura, and Itagaki go to the beach because of their training camp while Aoki and Ippo go to the beach with Kumi and Tomiko, the two don't train because of they both had a match recently.

Ippo has a sparring match with Itagaki and knocks him down four times in three rounds. Ippo has another sparring match and this time it's with Imai Kyosuke, a boxer with an amateur record of 35 matches and 35 wins.

Itagaki, Kimura, and Takamura all have matches with the opener being Itagaki's debut followed by Kimura and After that is the main event, Takamura.

Takamura did a bad job with his weight management making him weak and fatigued, on top of that his punches are light. Takamura's fight comes to an end. Brain Hawk tells everyone that he came to Japan for the women.

Takamura throws a punch at Bryan Hawk which he stops by grabbing Takamura's fist. Kimura, Ippo, and Aoki meet Takamura's older sister and younger brother, the three find out a lot more about Takamura and his family.

Takamura, Ippo, and Kimura shave off Aoki's eyebrows. Takamura struggles with his extreme weight control regime.

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.

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.

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.

The world title match's momentum keeps switching between Takamura and Bryan Hawk with both of them having landed multiple knock downs.

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.

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.

After winning his title match Takamura says something to the crowd similar to what Hawk said making them angry. Takamura gets a statue of himself, when trying to move it Aoki breaks it. After Itagaki's first victory Ippo meets his family.

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.