Miyata
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Miyata
Ippo's first boxing spar was against Miyata, who was already well known as a promising rookie. Miyata was surprised by Ippo's strong will and states after the fight that "boxing has become more interesting". In their second spar, Miyata lost to Ippo and began to regard him more seriously as a rival. They planned to settle the score in the rookie kings final, but Miyata lost to Mashiba and their promised fight went unfulfilled. After the rookie king tournament, Miyata and Ippo promised again to meet in the ring, but many say the match is not meant to happen. However, with this goal in mind, both of them have been using each other as motivation to become stronger over the course of their boxing careers.Although many consider Miyata to be Ippo's rival, including Miyata himself, he is actually Ippo's idol. Ever since their first spar, Ippo has always idolized Miyata to the point the Kamogawa gang calls him Miyata's biggest fan. Ippo has kept track of all Miyata's fights and has always studied him (and Miyata in turn keeps track of Ippo's fights and growth).
A fight with Miyata has been Ippo's goal since he started boxing. Many speculated and it was later confirmed that Ippo would retire after his promised fight with Miyata (Coach Kamogawa considers it a blessing that the fight didn't happen).