A thread titled “What are the top 5 boxing manga?” went up on 5ch and pulled in 41 replies. Most posters agreed that *Ashita no Joe*, *Ganbare Genki*, *Ring ni Kakero*, and *Hajime no Ippo* were near-locks for four of the five spots, but the final slot sparked chaos, with candidates like *Kamisama wa Southpaw*, *Nozomi♡Witches*, *BB*, and *Youki na Kamome* all thrown into the ring with no consensus in sight. Standout replies dug into the weeds — comparing volume counts, arguing that Rikiishi Toru’s death was really caused by his brutal weight-cutting rather than the fight itself, and a former gym regular testifying to just how popular *Ganbare Genki* was on the inside.
What people said
1AnonymousOct 6, 2026 16:42
Which of these have you actually read?
2AnonymousOct 6, 2026 16:45
Ashita no Joe
Ganbare Genki
Ring ni Kakero
BB
5AnonymousOct 6, 2026 16:55
Ashita no Joe
Ganbare Genki
Age
One-Pound Gospel
Champ
SUGAR
RIN
6AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:00
Caught an Ashita no Joe rerun over a decade ago. Apparently it's so packed with words that would never air by today's standards that the audio kept getting cut, and I couldn't even tell what anyone was saying lol
9AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:02
I always figured Joe's punches in Ashita no Joe were so insane they basically killed Rikiishi, even though Joe lost that fight — but thinking about it now, Rikiishi had cut an absurd amount of weight beforehand, so that's probably what actually did it.
10AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:03
What about Todoroke! Ichiban, the one that ran in CoroCoro?
12AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:04
Re: #10
That's like calling Dokaben a judo manga.
11AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:04
Taiyo Matsumoto's ZERO is so cool.
13AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:05
I loved "Taro," the one from Young Sunday.
31AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:53
Re: #13
I've got the collected volumes.
14AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:06
The boxing arc in Aishiteru is good too.
15AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:08
BB bit off way more than it could chew.
37AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:56
Re: #15
It left way too strong an impression as a mercenary manga.
16AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:10
Sugar and RIN both got a little cameo from a Hello! Project member (Sonin, specifically).
17AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:10
That one, Rokudenashi Blues — by Maeda Daison.
18AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:11
No doubt about it, Ashita no Joe is head and shoulders above the rest as the masterpiece.
21AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:17
Don't remember Nozomi Witches all that well, but personally I don't think it was that great. The stronger the hero got at boxing, the less of the actual "Nozomi" there was to it.
44AnonymousOct 6, 2026 18:04
Re: #21
It's good right up until he turns pro and wins the Japanese title.
23AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:21
What about Kamen Boxer (Masked Boxer)?
32AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:53
Re: #23
It wraps up nicely in one volume. Shimamoto-sensei also drew Challenger, a more straightforward boxing manga.
24AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:22
The Kokuden Punch from Honoo no Tenkousei came to mind, but now that I think about it, that wasn't even a boxing manga, was it?
30AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:41
Geni Kasuri is actually pretty solid — might sneak into the top 5.
34AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:54
There's one called Youki na Kamome (The Cheerful Seagull), you know.
35AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:54
Re: #34
Yeah, the hero's an ex-pickpocket.
38AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:57
Fighting Cook
Pit Bull
Both by the same author, Adachi Tsuyoshi.
39AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:58
Volume counts:
Hajime no Ippo (Weekly Shonen Magazine) — 145 volumes
Nozomi♡Witches (Weekly Young Jump) — 48 volumes
Ring ni Kakero (Weekly Shonen Jump) — 25 volumes
Ashita no Joe (Weekly Shonen Magazine) — 20 volumes
Kamisama wa Southpaw (Weekly Shonen Jump) — 12 volumes
40AnonymousOct 6, 2026 17:59
Joe
Genki
Rinkake
Ippo ← doesn't look like it'll ever end, but
that last slot really is the hard part
41AnonymousOct 6, 2026 18:02
It's a shame Chiba Akio's Champ was left unfinished.
42AnonymousOct 6, 2026 18:03
That fight in Ganbare Genki where Genki awakens against his rival Kazan and knocks him out cold with a rush, ending Kazan's career on the spot, was brutal. Rising Fighter Takeru has a similar beat where the hero awakens and beats a technically superior rival into a career-ending pulp.
43AnonymousOct 6, 2026 18:03
Isn't the Gangoose creator doing a boxing manga right now?
45AnonymousOct 6, 2026 18:05
There was also Toughness Daichi. Youki na Kamome actually gets pretty serious about the boxing.
46AnonymousOct 6, 2026 18:05
The boxing manga by the Major guy wasn't it lol. All anyone remembers is the fat heroine.
47AnonymousOct 6, 2026 18:09
Ashita no Joe, Ganbare Genki, Ring ni Kakero, Hajime no Ippo — those four are locked in, but that last one's tough.
48AnonymousOct 6, 2026 18:10
I used to box, and Ganbare Genki was by far the most popular one at the gym.
51AnonymousOct 6, 2026 18:13
Re: #48
What's great is how lived-in the opponents feel — except for the prodigy Kaido and Seki Kenji.
49AnonymousOct 6, 2026 18:11
Is there even such a thing as a sci-fi boxing manga lol. There was one as an anime, though.
52AnonymousOct 6, 2026 18:14
Boxing's probably got more manga than any other combat sport. There are likely more than twice as many boxing titles as judo ones.
53AnonymousOct 6, 2026 18:14
Isn't Ring ni Kakero basically a fantasy manga by this point?
56AnonymousOct 6, 2026 18:15
Re: #53
It was a straightforward boxing manga right up until the boomerangs showed up.
58AnonymousOct 6, 2026 18:16
The manga that exists to sell Apollo Exercisers and Power Wrist/Power Ankle weights.
59AnonymousOct 6, 2026 18:18
Heh… Kurumada's gift for salesmanship truly knows no bounds…
Background and Key Points of the Debate
In Ashita no Joe, Rikiishi Toru’s death after the match is portrayed as a direct result of exhaustion from extreme weight-cutting — a scene widely seen as reflecting the real risks of boxing’s weigh-in culture. While the thread reached near-unanimous agreement on four titles, including Ganbare Genki, Ring ni Kakero, and Hajime no Ippo, commenters pointed out that Masami Kurumada’s Ring ni Kakero drifts increasingly into fantasy territory in its later volumes, introducing signature moves like literal boomerangs — which split opinion on just how far it could still count as a “straightforward boxing manga.” The fifth slot likely went unresolved in part because which titles feel essential depends heavily on which generation of readers you ask.
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