Alfredo Gonzales (アルフレド・ゴンザレス lit. arufuredo gonzaresu) is a semi-recurring character in Hajime no Ippo.
He is a Featherweight professional boxer and Ippo's first Mexican opponent (as well as the first non-OPBF opponent), and the second person to defeat Ippo in a boxing ring. People in his hometown and around Mexico, think that he will be the next World Champion in the WBA division.
Template:Boxer
Background
Similar to other characters in the series, Alfredo grew up in the slums of a dangerous neighbourhood in Mexico City where he got involved with street fights. From looking at Ricardo Martinez's matches, he saw how Ricardo helped people after his matches by interacting with the crowd more than other boxers. Ricardo became the light that helped Gonzalez become what he is now. Gonzalez always looked up the sky searching for "the light" to guide him.
He was introduced to boxing at a young age by his coach. He fought two world title matches against Ricardo but lost, with his second fight taking him the furthest since he reverted to using his original fighting style. It is then that he came to Japan to fight Ippo in a preliminary world title challenge.
History
GO TO THE WORLD!
Alfredo successfully defeated Ippo in the 7th round by KO.
Match History
| Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Rd., Time | Date | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WIN | 22-2-0 | Makunouchi Ippo | TKO | 7(10), 1:17 | 1998-03-21 | Tokyo, Japan | "Go To The World!" |
| LOSS | ?-2-0 | Ricardo Martinez | KO | 6(12) | N/A | Mexico | WBA Featherweight Title Match |
| LOSS | ?-1-0 | Ricardo Martinez | KO | 1(12) | N/A | Mexico | WBA Featherweight Title Match |
Appearance
Alfredo is slim, pale-skinned, with sleek black hair. His forward bangs are parted on the left side. He has a long straight nose and sharp eyes, whose brows are always slightly furrowed.
Personality
When he first arrived at the gym in Japan, he was polite to his sparring partners and also really calm. He even said that Japanese people are really polite and good, but it turned out that his politeness was masking an aggressive and ruthless personality.
By the 6th round during his match against Ippo, the look on his face changed completely to a highly aggressive look, about right after Ippo started using the Dempsey Roll. This shows his other side, the bad habits of his, the so called Mexican grim reaper "Metztli".
Fighting Style
Alfredo is a well-rounded Hybrid boxer with an effective, long-range jab. His main strategy is to use his jab to both distance himself from his opponent and stay on offense via counterpunching. When the situation calls for it he can In-Fight effectively. With the experience he possesses from two world title matches, he is adept at outsmarting his opponents with world-class boxing strategies, such as using his jab and short upper to set up a one-two, to later execute a long hook (when the opponent is not expecting an attack from the side). It is said that his boxing is a mirror image of Ricardo's, and that he would likely be the world champion if Ricardo was not alive.
Metztli
Alfredo has "bad habits" which he forcefully seals away in his boxing matches; they are essentially a tendency to want to brawl. "Metztli" takes over when Alfredo is overcome with rage and anger. According to his trainer, in this mode Alfredo's offense is greatly increased, but his defense is lowered considerably, making him vulnerable to attacks. The problem with this style is that Alfredo is not a naturally tough boxer like other brawlers. Despite this, "Metztli" enabled Alfredo to push Ricardo in his rematch.
Techniques
- Motionless jab
- Short uppercut
- One-two
- Long hook
- Neck spin
- Sway
- Counter
Weaknesses
Though Ippo never exploited any weaknesses in Alfredo, it is mentioned by Alfredo's coach that he is a fragile fighter.[1] For this reason his all-out offensive Metztli mode is actually a "double-edged sword."
Gallery
Trivia
- His nickname, Mextli or Metztli, means god of war and bringer of storms, the patron of Aztecs, in other words the Mexican Grim Reaper.
- Alfredo vs. Ippo is the longest match in the Hajime no Ippo series, spanning 38 total chapters and 11 months (335 days) of releases.
- His KO victory against Ippo resembles the KO Juan Manuel Márquez gave to Manny Pacquiao in their fourth fight; curiously it was also a Mexican vs. an Asian.
- He shares alot of similarities with real life professional boxer Juan Manuel Márquez, when he was younger as a ranker in the featherweights. Most similarities are of being a natural counter puncher, known for being fast, highly technical fighter and also his aggressiveness at fights time to time. Not to mention that Alfredo looks alot like younger Márquez. He also has similarities to boxer Rosendo Alvarez, who was the only man to draw with Ricardo Lopez, whom Ricardo Martinez is based on.
- In Round 1015, Alfredo mentions that Martinez used to invite poor kids to watch his matches. In the manga, the image shown looks like Alfredo watched Martinez vs Date I match, where Martinez broke Date's nose leaving a scar. Alfredo mentions "The challenger was strong that night...", even though Date ended up losing in the 2nd Round.
- For Alfredo's ring entrance for his match with Ippo, he was wearing a sombrero hat and poncho. Martinez wore the same thing during his first match with Date.
- The arena that Ricardo fought Date was shown to be Arena México in which Alfredo watched in a very young age. Judging by this location, it might be possible that Alfredo is from Colonia Doctores, Cuauhtémoc in Mexico City, though nothing has been confirmed.
- The area that was shown where he was with his girlfriend Lisa, seems to resemble a bit real life Chapultepec Park in Mexico City, although it can possibly be any other location because some scenes had a vast sea in the backround, or could of been just an illustration method.
References
- ↑ Chapter 1059, p.11