Youko Shiraki

Youko Shiraki comes from the wealthy Shiraki family, well known in the boxing world, and she grows up polite, graceful, and every bit the proper daughter her background expects her to be. She donates to charity and treats people kindly, but Joe Yabuki is quick to call out what he sees as the hollow side of her kindness, suggesting that her sympathy for the poor says more about how she wants to feel about herself than about the people she is helping.

Despite this rocky start, and despite coming from a world of comfort that could not be further from the poverty Joe grew up in, Youko slowly comes to understand him better than almost anyone else in the story. She takes over management of her family's gym and brings the boxer Carlos Rivera over to Japan to help pull Joe back from a difficult stretch in his career, even as Joe keeps dismissing her as someone trying to control his life.

As the story goes on, small, growing signs reveal that Youko has fallen for Joe, and right before his biggest match, the world title fight, she finally admits her feelings and begs him not to go through with it for her sake. Joe refuses to back down anyway, choosing the fight over her request, which only shows how differently the two of them value safety versus the life Joe has chosen for himself.