The WBC Champion is in Japan for the match against Date-san. He chose Ippo as his sparing partner. Ippo came in confident but the 3 rounds was not finished and Ippo was standing unconcious. Takamura told him to say sorry for the old man but when he arrived at the gym, guess what he saw? Date san was on a sparring match. And his partner? The newly crowned OBPF Champ Miyata. He was as usual, starstrucked to see Miyata. They realized that they still have a long way to go to be world champions.