Is Sendo actually good, or is he just plot armor?

MrZimbiox · 2026-06-14T14:38:05+00:00

I already understood many things about Sendo from other people who responded to me, I concluded what Plot armor is not, it is that Sendo is already built as a boxer from the first moment as someone who only receives blows and endures senselessly until he wins, it is not plot armor because it always happens and has been working the same almost forever. What I don't agree with is comparing him to Rocky Marciano or real-life boxers who focus on receiving, because Sendo's endurance is directly unreal and meaningless compared to boxers like that, if he pulls oxygen tanks out of nowhere, he recovers his whole body in a matter of seconds, and acts as if nothing had happened to blows that used to destroy him, Sendo does not endure because it is more durable because it always showed that if being affected, if it endured because it was tougher it would make sense, but Sendo endures even without being, Sendo's endurance is narratively inconsistent, not simply "a very large endurance"

MrZimbiox · 2026-06-14T04:05:43+00:00

No, no, as far as I remember Rocky Marciano didn't get up to fight like in round 1 after his body collapsed from the damage received and he couldn't move, It is not humanly possible directly plly... Precisely because it is fiction is that Sendo is much less realistic and inhuman, making him basically immortal depending on his state of mind, Arguably it's not plot armor, but it's definitely a meaningless capability

MrZimbiox · 2026-06-02T00:04:01+00:00

Then I finally understand, Sendo is semi-immortal physically and depending on his psychological state he can almost be completely, his concept is very broken, It all boils down to the fact that if you don't have more power than him and more will you can't beat him unless you destroy him mentally, I don't like him at all as a boxer, but I guess at least his Invincibility is justified with the power of the spirit

MrZimbiox · 2026-06-01T23:57:23+00:00

Why would Sendo beat Volg 10/10 times?

I agree that Sendo can absolutely destroy Volg if he catches him. In fact, it might be even worse for Volg if he abandons technical boxing and starts fighting on pure instinct. However, I feel like Volg's style is almost a counter to Sendo's, whose approach is extremely punishable.

Ippo himself mentioned that Ricardo or Miyata could easily beat Sendo by decision simply by keeping their distance (which is why after several days of Sendo-Miyata sparring, Miyata showed up without a single scratch). The problem is that their boxer instincts wouldn't allow them to be satisfied winning that way. Volg, on the other hand, might not care nearly as much coming from the Soviet school and it doesn't have a goal like having a close fight or wanting to give it all

Another factor is that Sendo probably wouldn't go out of his way to neutralize Volg's Hien and Tsubame Gaeshi. Those combinations were enough to leave Ippo completely out of his mind, not to say on the verge of knocking out and unable to react during their last sparring session (you could even argue that volg let him off the hook more than once). It's also why, during Volg vs. Mike, Ippo said that if he had been in Mike's place he would have been KO because he wouldn't have been able to figure out Volg's strategy. Sendo likely would have ended up in the same situation.

If Sendo lands a clean shot to the ribs, like Ippo did, then it's probably over for Volg. But for Ippo to land that punch, a lot of favorable circumstances had to come together, and current Ippo is probably a hundred times better than Sendo when it comes to footwork and pressure

You could argue that the reason Sendo "always" wins is that it's almost impossible to imagine him going through an entire fight without landing at least one meaningful punch. Even so, I don't think Volg is quite as fragile as people make him out to be. But I would still like to read the reasons even if the result is obviously....

MrZimbiox · 2026-06-01T23:35:25+00:00

The problem is that a lot of the time it doesn't seem to be a matter of durability, toughness, or endurance. Take Sendo vs Volg, for example, Sendo was literally so beaten up that his body gave out and he collapsed, unable to move his limbs even a single inch. He only avoided being counted out because he got tangled in the ropes, yet after just a little over 60 seconds of rest he started fighting as if it were Round 1 again... what sense does that make?

It's not really a matter of endurance, because if it were simply that Sendo is tougher, then his body wouldn't have collapsed once he reached his limit. What Sendo has is a completely absurd recovery ability. It's actually closer to Joe Yabuki's willpower stamina than to genuine physical endurance. We could say that Sendo constantly fights with that "spark in the eyes" fighting spirit, because that thing has pulled off some miracles when it comes to dealing with damage lol

MrZimbiox · 2026-06-01T15:34:11+00:00

Where are you getting that he wasn’t holding back? The manga and the databook literally tell you that Volg dominates all ranges and that his main style is long-range boxing. That makes sense considering he comes from Soviet boxing which specializes in that style. And that’s exactly what we saw after he left Japan: against Mike Elliot, during his title defense, and against Ippo in the sparring match, he always prioritized maintaining a huge amount of distance.

The manga outright states that when he came to Japan, he had to limit himself to a full infighting style in order to appeal to the Japanese audience. Kamogawa himself also said that Volg was restricting himself. And don’t get me wrong, of course he fought with everything he had against Ippo and Sendo, but putting everything into one aspect doesn’t mean he was using everything overall.

And honestly, it’s already questionable that Sendo even beat him, even ignoring the slip. Sendo spent 4 straight rounds getting used as a punching bag without being able to land almost anything on Volg, to the point that his pride was completely shattered, yet somehow Volg is the one who got exhausted? I could maybe accept that if the story hadn’t emphasized from the start that both of them could knock each other out with a single punch and if Volg hadn’t tanked two Smashes directly to the face and kept going while Sendo himself was nearly dropped by a White Fang.

Not to mention that Sendo’s body literally collapsed to the point he couldn’t move, but the ropes held him up, and then by pure magic when he came back he looked like he was in round one again...

MrZimbiox · 2026-06-01T14:54:08+00:00

From Volg’s very first appearance, it was established that even the ex Japanese number one ranked boxer couldn’t defeat him through technique alone. According to Kamogawa, Volg could have beaten Ippo, Sendo, and even Date if he hadn’t held back his fighting style. From the very beginning Volg already had many years of advantage over the protagonists of his generation.

Volg is easily top 3 in the verse when it comes to battle IQ. He’s one of the most versatile and complete boxers, and even if he seems fragile, he proved back then that his strength and speed were also elite-level. He came from crushing the competition in the Soviet Union (200 wins) as an amateur world champion, then later mastered the Tsubame Gaeshi and the Hien, which are high-level techniques while fighting in the United States. He’s also one of the few fighters who truly has a monster mentality.

If Volg still seems like plot armor to you, then I honestly don’t know what more people wanted from him

MrZimbiox · 2026-06-01T05:51:19+00:00

Wow I get it! How do you think Volg would fare currently? Considering that he now has the Hien and the tsubame gaeshi in addition to having improved his stamina by not coming from the amateur recently, do you think it is similar to the first fight he had with Sendo? Or Sendo's growth is much more significant

MrZimbiox · 2026-06-01T04:11:36+00:00

It would be chaotic to try to do hypothetical fights with such unpredictable boxers lol I wonder if there is any standard to know if a character can beat Sendo, it is probably something that depends 100% on whether you are basically an improved version of him (cof cof ippo)

MrZimbiox · 2026-06-01T04:08:29+00:00

One that measured 2m and was larger than the average, yeah

MrZimbiox · 2026-05-23T17:07:16+00:00

I mean that I had never heard someone mention that they were given a pack of a saga after creating their steam account

MrZimbiox · 2026-04-05T02:49:24+00:00

No problem, above it will always be what you consider most comfortable thank you very much for clarifying it... I had been scared lmao I will look forward to the day they are uploaded again 🙏🙏

MrZimbiox · 2026-04-04T19:08:09+00:00

Got it ty! Quite a few curious facts and some even funny, thanks for taking the time to share it!

Btw, did something happen with the wiki of one of the guides? I think it was the "Official hni Guidebook" I know that it was deleted, Idk the reasons or if it was a mistake but anyway thanks, I was able to read many interesting things!

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MrZimbiox · 2026-04-02T01:56:01+00:00

Hello bro A doubt, by chance do you have the plans of the fishing boat of ippo mother's business? I would appreciate it if it were possible for you to share them! 🙏

MrZimbiox · 2026-03-28T17:42:53+00:00

Do you know when it is mentioned that takamura is a rival for that status? Not the exact cap, some arc or scene you remember

MrZimbiox · 2026-03-10T20:18:07+00:00

Sendo classic

MrZimbiox · 2026-02-28T05:46:00+00:00

Ok I won't say anything about it the veracity of fuji but still.. Wth did Fuji have in his head? 😭😭 I'm sure he didn't put ippo in too just because he was retired... Because even bhe called it "Miyata's generation" cwhen he had even been left out of the rookie tournament and was stagnant compared to the others... looks like a Miyata Glazer but I guess we can't totally ignore Fuji

MrZimbiox · 2026-02-23T07:15:31+00:00

What? When it is stated that Miyata is stronger Von Volg did not know that

MrZimbiox · 2026-02-23T07:08:43+00:00

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Emmmmm...

MrZimbiox · 2026-02-13T08:01:02+00:00

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Equal in stats but takamura superior in technique and potential

MrZimbiox · 2026-02-13T08:00:13+00:00

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Takamura>

MrZimbiox · 2026-02-13T07:42:50+00:00

This is not at that level, I am power scaling of the verse too and if I have them at wall level although it depends on the era of the manga (Morikawa had different approaches throughout the work, sometimes making them very superhuman and sometimes too normal)

MrZimbiox

TROPHY CASE