Name: Ichiro Miyata
Age: 16 at the start of the series
Birthday: August 27, 1973
His supposed to be age now (2003):33
Blood Type: A
Zodiac sign: Virgo
Family: Lives with his Father, the older Miyata-san, who was also an outboxer but retired and became his son's coach. I haven't heard what happened to his mom though :P
Boxer Type: Outboxer
Famous Move:Counter

Ichiro Miyata is the son of a former boxer who was also famous for the counter. (In the series, he is often called Miyata-san by Ippo, Miyata by the older members of the gym and Ichiro by his father. To prevent the growing confusion, I'll call him Ichiro and his father will be Miyata-san ^_^;) Miyata-san is also famous for his counter and back when Ichiro was still a little boy, he admired his father so much and he gets to watch the match just below the ring. Then suddenly, in one match, when the odds are in favor of Miyata-san, his opponent came through with a lucky punch and therefore damaged his body. He was hospitalized and due to the severe damages he received, he was forced to retire on his boxing career. Shattered little Ichiro, seeing the whole fight right in front of his eyes can't stop but cry as he was there holding his father's gloves. He then sworn to himself to prove that his father's style of boxing is not wrong (the counter) and from that day forward, he followed the way of the boxer. Everyday, he goes to the Kamogawa Boxing Gym even if he got beaten up and eventually became strong, in fact stronger than most of the boxers there. (even though he still haven't got his license yet, talk about strong)

He first showed up by the time Ippo learned jab through the leaves and was taken by Takamura to the boxing gym. Since the coach couldn't believe that Ippo was strong, he made him spar with Ichiro, who was the same age as he. Ichiro was really awesome during the spar. He has learned so many techniques even though he's still 16. At first, he took Ippo for granted seeing he didn't look strong at all. But later, he became more serious and showed even greater stuff. He won anyway, though unlike his former opponents, Ippo didn't fall so easily as he expected, in fact, Ippo never gave up as long as he can still move his body. He had the perfect chance to hit Ichiro but ten he fainted and Ichiro won. In the end, Ichiro saw his arms, even though he dodged all of Ippo's attacks, were sore. That's when he took a new interest in boxing.

Even though he didn't show it, it seems that Ichiro likes Ippo and wanted to fight him as a pro. He was the one who helped Ippo buy his first boxing shoes when it seems that Ippo was being tricked by the salesman. (that's when he was tricked by Ippo into telling him his reason for boxing...over a can of juice..~.^) On the next rematch, Ippo won over Ichiro. He moved away from another gym, because he feels that training two pros in a same gym would be stupid. Ippo really thought that he was the reason, and so, he came to his house and wanted to apologize to him. That's when they made a promise to see each other in the finals of the "Eastern Japan Rookie Tournament". So, it was Ichiro who gave Ippo a goal.:D. But he was also the one who broke the promise, though he was cheated. His downfall came when Ryu Mashiba stepped on his leg to punch him That paralyzed his leg and made it hard for him to move (outboxers depend on speed on their legs). But he really tried hard and he almost got the man...thats when he fainted..Waaahhh!!!

Anyways, after Makunouchi won the Championship over Mashiba (and getting revenge for Miyata), and after beating Sendo and stuff, graduation came. That's when he came back, just to tell Ippo that he was leaving. Apparently, he's going to Thailand and other East Asian Countries to "make the gap between them disappear". It was snowing then, and it became another reason for Ippo to keep on becoming a boxer. Another favor for Ippo.

At first, things didn't go out too well in Thai, since he WAS Japanese. He was so pathetic then. He barely eats, always practices and still he was heavy. His first break finally came when the Thai hero, Jimmy Shisfa challenged him to a fight. At first, his father didn't approve of it because he will become a "made-to-order punching bag" just to boost Jimmy's fame, but then he finally agreed, and so came the day. Oh yeah, he got to meet a boy, who was a fellow boxer's brother, who idolized him much. That boy was the one who witnessed Ichiro's hardships on attaining the best counter. On the match, it seemed impossible to beat Jimmy. But he got the perfect chance when he didn't pay much attention on the opponent's movements and the cheers,(since his eardrums were destroyed) and payed attention to the beating of his heart. That's when he threw the perfect counter to beat Jimmy. Before moving on to another country, he gave his very best fan a last piece of advice. Which is:

"In order to make a counter, you need two things: timing and heart"

After that, he came up again, beating every opponent he meets, finally becoming the "Orient King"(heheh, i don't really know the title. I just made that up. But it has something with orient in it). With the gap finally conquered, he came back to Japan to challenge Ippo.

.......Weell, I really don't know what happened next. The last episode was when Ippo beat Sendo and became Featherweight Champion. That's how the story ends. And I still haven't watch the continuation in DVD..how sad. I'll tell you when I finally get to watch it, promise! Or if YOU have known the ending, or there are some corrections (like the orient thing :P) why don't you share it.Send it to me!!! I'll really, really appreciate it.

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