Ryūichi Hayami

Template:Boxer

Hayami Ryuuichi (速水龍一) is a retired boxer formerly affiliated with Otowa Boxing Gym.

Story

Amateur Days

Hayami is first mentioned by Fujii Minoru as one of the top contenders in the East Japan Rookie King tournament. Hayami had an impressive record as an amateur (56 matches-56 wins-43 KOs). During his high school days he won the Inter-High Championship three times in a row, beating Yoshida Mitsuo, a fellow genius, twice. As a result he earned the attention of the press and gained a lot of fans, mostly females.

Match With Ippo

After easily winning his Pro Debut and a second bout, he signed up for the East Japan Rookie King tournament in 1991, the same year that Ippo participated in it. Among the four best prospects (including Miyata Ichirou, Mashiba and Yoshida Mitsuo), he was the favorite to win the tournament.

He faced Iwakawa in the first round of the tournament. After soundly beating him, he proceeded to do the same with Yasukawa Kazu in the quarter finals, despite the latter's attempts to wear Hayami down by picking him off with counter strikes, the same strategy that Coach Kamogawa had in mind for Ippo's match against Hayami. This is the first time Hayami is seen in action in the series--thrashing Kazu with his signature move, the Shotgun.

When Fujii approached Hayami to take his comments for the upcoming match against Ippo, Hayami stated that after seeing Ippo's match against Kobashi Kenta on a video tape, he was very disappointed in him. Since Ippo got his hands full with an opponent of Kobashi's caliber, Hayami considered him nothing of a threat, and thought that the semi-finals would be an easy pass. Fujii warned him that he should take Makunouchi seriously since his punch is powerful, and if the match went to an in fight, Hayami would face a lot of problems.

The day of the bout came, and despite being a 4-rounder match it had air commentaries due to Hayami's popularity. Hayami purposely took the match into an in fight in order to show his superiority by beating the hard-puncher in his specialty. He was quickly overwhelmed. While attempting to get some distance, he used a short uppercut, but Ippo countered with a hook that cut off his footwork. Hayami used the Shotgun as a last resort. However, due to being unable to put his waist into it, Ippo read its rhythm, and took full advantage of the situation. Hayami was KO'ed with an uppercut square in the jaw, just before the closing of the first round.

Everyone in the stadium was shocked, most of all Hayami's cheering squad, who had never seen him lose, and the reporters who were planning on making an article about him. When Hayami came to and realized that he lost, he said to his coach that it was alright since great boxers like Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard lost as well. He walked away from the ring with his head up, and received cheers from his fans despite his loss.

Recovery

He is seen in episode 45 on a karaoke video called "Champion", wearing the Japanese Featherweight Champion belt.

Junior Featherweight Title Match and Retirement

Hayami made a comeback in the Junior Featherweight division, where he became the 1st seed. After Sanada Kazuki relinquished his belt to move up a class, Hayami faced the second seed of the Junior Featherweight class, Kobashi Kenta, for the vacant title. He had the lead in the judges's scorecard until the 8th round, where they started exchanging blows and Hayami was KO'ed with a one-two to the jaw. Otowa Coach noted that since his fight with Makunouchi, Hayami's jaw has been his Achilles' heel.

This was Hayami Ryuichi's last match; he retired shorty afterwards.

Match History

Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Rd., Time	Date	Location	Notes
LOSS	14-2-0	Kobashi Kenta	KO	8(10)	1994	Tokyo, Japan	JBC Junior Featherweight Title Match, Retired after match
LOSS	6-1-0	Makunouchi Ippo	KO	1(4) 2:59	1991- 11	Tokyo, Japan	East Japan Rookie King Tournament Semi-Finals
WIN	6-0-0	Yasukawa Kazu	KO	1(4)	1991	Tokyo, Japan	East Japan Rookie King Tournament Quarter-Finals
WIN	5-0-0	Iwakawa	TKO	1(4)	1991	Tokyo, Japan	East Japan Rookie King Tournament Round 1
WIN	4-0-0	Yoshida Mitsuo	KO	3(4), 1:26	1991	Tokyo, Japan	Won Inter-High Tournament Finals for 3rd times
WIN	3-0-0	Unknown	N/A	N/A	1991	Tokyo, Japan	Inter High Demi-Finals
WIN	2-0-0	Unknown	N/A	N/A	1991	Tokyo, Japan	Inter-High Tounament Round 1
WIN	1-0-0	Unknown	N/A	N/A	1991	Tokyo, Japan	Pro Debut

Amateur Matchs: 56-56-0-0 (43 KO)

VS Yoshida Mitsuo 4R Win by KO (Inter-High Tournaments Finals)

Appearance

Hayami is a handsome young man of average height with lightly tanned skin, black eyes, and short, curly brown hair with a few bangs. His body is toned and muscular, like most boxers in the series.

Personality

Flamboyant and overconfident, Hayami displays little sense of sportmanship inside the ring when he is first introduced. He tends to think of some of his opponents as being worthless. He is adored by many female fans, and likewise, he is something of a pretty boy himself. Despite his attitude, he is hard-working and talented.

Hayami genuinely loves boxing, as he explained during his interview with Fuji (manga only). He was planning to be the charismatic hero like Muhammad Ali so that all of Japan would love boxing.

Boxing Style & Techniques

File:Hayami (17).jpg

Hayami using his Shotgun

Hayami is an Out Boxer possessing great handspeed and footwork. He is very skilled, with talent comprarable to that of Miyata Ichirou. Despite being talented Hayami doesn't slack off and trains very hard, doing even basic training that most boxers with his talent would ignore.

Hayami's strongest weapon is a barrage of high-speed punches called the Shotgun. He also possesses a Short Uppercut that he uses specifically against In Fighters, often for making an opening for his Shotgun.

Techniques

Weaknesses

Hayami's primary weakness is his cockiness. He lost to Ippo because he tried to challenge Ippo in an in fight, rather than out box him from the start. He changed this attitude during his fight with Kobashi Kenta, but after his fight with Ippo, his jaw had received massive damage, turning into a "glass jaw" which ultimately brought his defeat.

Gallery

Trivia

Before his match with Ippo, Hayami didn't utter a single line of dialogue in the anime. That means he went 5 episodes taking up considerable screen time (including having three different matches from start to finish) without talking.
Hayami's two losses are against the only two opponents he badmouthed.^{[citation needed]}
He shares many similarities with Juza, from Fist of the North Star.