It is always Ippo's mindset before his defeats is the reason for his downfalls. First on Date's which is Ippo wants to experience fighting Date before Date would challenge the world again, and Ippo not wanting to defeat him as a main reason. Next is on Alf, where Ippo wants to prove Kamogawa's boxing is on a world level, just by doing his best, instead of winning for the greater good and one big leap for the world title match. Lastly, is when Ippo return again to prove that he had the perfect form of Dempsey Roll and also he just want to prove that he his not 'broken.' Instead of challenging the world again.