History Characters / HajimeNoIppo

* DelinquentHair: He had medium length, dyed blonde hair that was styled into a pompadour in his debut appearance, but after the incident between Ippo and Taihei, Kaneda and Taihei shaved their heads bald as part of their apology. His hair has grown since then, but he retains his natural brown-red color.

* StrongAndSkilled: Ricardo represents the absolute apex of orthodox boxing skill. However, he also has impressive physical attributes, such as incredible punching power that seems to be only slightly below Ippo/Sendo and the stamina to go a full ten rounds without any apparent exhaustion. Furthermore, it is stated that he used to be a more violent, instinctive fighter early in his career and his current style is simply the result of decades of experience. Against Date Eiji, he actually starts using his ''old'' style that is closer to brawling, and proceeds to [[CurbstompBattle absolutely destroy Date]].

* StrongAndSkilled: Ricardo represents the absolute apex of orthodox boxing skill. However, he also has impressive physical attributes, such as incredible punching power that seems to be only slightly below Ippo/Sendo and the stamina to go a full ten rounds without any apparent exhaustion. Furthermore, it is stated that he used to be a more violent, instinctive fighter early in his career and his current style is simply the result of decades of experience. Against Date Eiji, he actually starts using his ''old'' style that is closer to brawling, and proceeds to absolutely destroy Date.

* AwesomenessByAnalysis: At least as dangerous as his perfected skills are his boxing intelligence. The man himself puts it best: "I can see it all, I can predict it all, so I never take a punch."

* StrongAndSkilled: Ricardo represents the absolute apex of orthodox boxing skill. However, he also has impressive physical attributes, such as incredible punching power that seems to be only slightly below Ippo/Sendo and the stamina to go a full ten rounds without any apparent exhaustion. Furthermore, it seems that early in his career he was a more violent, instinctive fighter.

* TherRival: Ippo's biggest one behind Miyata, and currently the only one who's ever faced Ippo ''''Twice''' in an '''official''' match.

* DieOrFly: Attempted to invoke this. His insults towards Ippo were meant to sharpen his own focus as much as to harden Ippo's approach. Kojima knew his plan to counter Ippo's strongest strike was a life or death gamble, so he made sure that when he entered that ring, he had nowhere to run from Ippo except straight ahead at him to give it everything he had. [[spoiler:To be fair, he ''did'' land that punch...problem was, [[SingleStrokeBattle that was all he managed]].]]

** Kojima spends every second of his interactions with Ippo prior to their match trash-talking him and his teammates, even mocking Coach Kamogawa (which ends up being the [[{{RageBreakingPoint}} breaking point]] for Ippo), all so he can fight his idol at the peak of his skill with everything he's got in what he plans to be his final match, one he can look back on with pride for the rest of his years. Come the fateful match, and Ippo, truly enraged by Kojima's actions, [[spoiler: pushes right through his supposedly perfect anti-Dempsey Roll strategy and hits him with a single punch to the head so '''''hard''''' that it flips him over in midair ''twice'', knocks him out instantly...and leaves him completely unable to remember the entirety of the fight he had been looking forward to so much.]]

* SignatureMove: [[GameBreaker Heartbreak Shot]], a corkscrew punch (i.e a punch that relies on the spinning torque of the arm) that supposedly stops the heart of his opponents.

* SpectacularSpinning: How he defeats Richard Bison, [[spoiler:by spinning his body using his left foot's toe as the pivot, and using the centrifugal force from the spin to make Bison crash against the corner]].

* {{Irony}}: Kojima spends every second of his interactions with Ippo prior to their match trash-talking him and his teammates, even mocking Coach Kamogawa (which ends up being the [[{{RageBreakingPoint}} breaking point]] for Ippo), all so he can fight his idol at the peak of his skill with everything he's got in what he plans to be his final match, one he can look back on with pride for the rest of his years. Come the fateful match, and Ippo, truly enraged by Kojima's actions, [[spoiler: pushes right through his supposedly perfect anti-Dempsey Roll strategy and hits him with a single punch to the head so '''''hard''''' that it flips him over in midair ''twice'', knocks him out instantly...and leaves him completely unable to remember the entirety of the fight he had been looking forward to so much.]]

** [[spoiler: Fate tempted as of chapter 939 when Ippo one shot flips him onto the floor, twice. Word of advice.... Don't push Ippo's buttons.]]
* WorthyOpponent: What he says when they're together aside, he considers Ippo to be this: expecting their bout to be the hardest fought he's ever had... the kind of fight he'll "have battle scars when he walks away from." Of course, he still plans on winning.

%%* ButtMonkey

* OhCrap: He's the only conscious witness to [[spoiler:Ippo slapping Taihei so hard the latter was BlownAcrossTheRoom and nearly killed outright, as Ippo was BlindedByRage and Taihei was given LaserGuidedAmnesia. The former already terrified him shitless, the latter made him so horrified he changed his ways.]]

'''Taekeshi Sendo:''' I won't close my eyes! I keeping looking at him. Looking at the man that beat me.\\
'''Ryou Mashiba:''' You're making my sweat run cold. I've seen eyes like this before. My instincts are telling me those eyes are dangerous. Those are Makanouchi's eyes!\\