This is a list of the fictional characters that appear in the manga and anime series Hajime no Ippo (はじめの一歩?), also known as Fighting Spirit. Characters are grouped by the boxing gym they are a member of.
Ippo Makunouchi (幕之内 一歩 Makunouchi Ippo?)
Ippo is the main protagonist of the series. His boldness as a boxer is juxtaposed with his shy and amiable personality outside the ring. He lives with his mother, Hiroko Makunouchi, and helps with the family charter boat fishing business—a job which has developed his lower body well enough to become an effective boxer. When he was young, Ippo used to get bullied and picked on by others in his school. As fate would have it, Takamura came upon Ippo as he was getting a beating from a couple of bullies and decided to help him. Takamura saw something in Ippo and introduced him to the world of boxing. After seeing a video of Tyson, Ippo becomes inspired to take up boxing to feel reborn with strength and asks Takamura to get him into Kamogawa Gym. Immediately after arriving at Kamogawa Gym he impresses Takamura and Kamogawa with his explosive punching power and guts in the ring. Like he has with Takamura, Kamogawa personally takes on Ippo as his pupil and starts him on the path to being a pro boxer. Since then, Takamura has treated Ippo like a younger brother and has taken him under his wing.
Ippo is described as an in-fighter (though, he resembles more of a boxer-puncher) and is well known for his comeback KO victories, his Peek-a-Boo style defense and his heavy blows which include three signature punches: a rib-cracking Liver blow, Gazelle punch (an uppercut variant), and the Dempsey roll, modeled after punches used by Mike Tyson, Floyd Patterson, and Jack Dempsey respectively. He stands at 164 cm (5'5") tall with a 165 cm (5'5") reach and has consistently weighed 126 pounds (57 kg). His natural talents include stamina, balance and enough punching power to turn around a match instantly; combined with his superb fighting spirit, these assets lead to his comebacks victories and have allowed him to overcome any technical shortcomings. His destructive Dempsey roll technique has been a particular focus in the story and has continued to evolve through the series: in the match with Sawamura, he added a rapid stop-and-start to prevent it from being countered, and against Jimmy Sisfa, he incorporated an uppercut to the rotation, but Makunouchi needs to continue to develop his lower body to use these without risking further injury. He temporarily stopped using the Dempsey roll in order to refine his basics and become a more complete boxer. His nickname is the God of Wind, coined after the force of his powerful blows. In addition, his intense training has allowed him to mimic some fighters' specialities with a degree of success such as Sendo's smash attacks or Jimmy Sisfa's jolt attacks during their matches.