Joe Yabuki

Joe Yabuki grows up bouncing between orphanages and shelters with no real home, until he drifts into the rough slum district of San'ya. There, a washed-up former trainer named Danpei Tange spots something special in the way he throws a punch. Joe is reckless and quick to start a fight, preferring to be left alone, but his harsh childhood has also made him stubborn enough to keep standing no matter how badly he is hurt.

After getting arrested for fraud, Joe ends up at a juvenile detention center, where he discovers he actually enjoys boxing. Once released, he joins Danpei's gym and quickly builds a name for himself, eventually earning his professional license. At the detention center he meets Tooru Rikiishi, a once-promising boxer who becomes his greatest rival. Their fight later as professionals ends in a brutal battle that Rikiishi wins, but the match leaves Rikiishi so weakened from cutting weight that he dies shortly after. Joe is shaken badly by this loss and, for a long time afterward, cannot bring himself to aim for an opponent's head again.

Joe eventually works his way back up through the ranks with Danpei's guidance and faces fighters like Carlos Rivera on his climb to a world title. Along the way, Yoko Shiraki, who manages a rival gym, grows to care for him and pushes him toward tougher fights, eventually admitting her feelings before his final championship match. Joe fights to the very end of that bout, and the story famously leaves open whether he survives it.