Novel Full Chapter 525: Nakahara Went All-in; No Tune-Up Fights
Chapter 525: Nakahara Went All-in; No Tune-Up Fights
Rikiya beats the count at eight. His legs obey the command, but the math hits him immediately. That single knockdown has wiped away everything; the clean rounds, the discipline, the stolen points.
The belt is no longer his to protect. It is something slipping, something being taken. A cold, animal fear crawls up his spine.
The bell hasn’t rung yet. There’s still time, forty-five seconds, enough to kill or be killed.
“He’s up at eight!” the lead commentator roars. “But look at his eyes… this fight has changed! That knockdown erased the champion’s lead, and Rikiya knows it!”
Rikiya abandons the geometry, abandons the clock. He storms forward, throwing wide desperate hooks, his Cuban grace collapsing into something raw and furious.
“He’s going for it!” the co-commentator shouts over the roar. “Miyamoto Rikiya is throwing everything he has left! This has turned into a street fight!”
The final seconds are grotesque, beautiful in their honesty. Rikiya swings like a drowning man, haymakers cracking against Serrano’s guard, thudding into ribs, clipping shoulders.
But Serrano, younger and fresher, absorbs the storm and answers with sharp terrifying precision.
Leather cracks. Sweat flies.
Rikiya lunges again, legs trembling beneath him. He’s becoming too slow, too exhausted.
And Serrano slips the punch by inches and fires back; left-right-left.
Dsh! Dsh! Dsh!
All three shots land flush on Rikiya’s temple.
His body slams into the ropes, arms draping uselessly over the hemp before gravity takes over. He slides down, folding onto the canvas for the second time.
“ANOTHER DOWN!” the lead commentator explodes. “IT’S OVER! THE CHAMPION IS BROKEN!”
Rikiya rises again at nine, pure defiance dragging him upright. But his eyes are glassy, unfocused, searching for something that isn’t there anymore.
There are still seconds left, but they don’t matter anymore.
Serrano stalks him, throwing, hunting, and Rikiya can only stand and endure, his body refusing to fall a third time out of spite alone.
And then…
Ding! Ding! Ding!
The bell finally sounds, ending the long exhausting round. They stand shoulder to shoulder, chests heaving.
Then Serrano steps back first, lifting one hand high. And the crowd roars, already certain for his win.
Rikiya doesn’t look at him. He simply rips his mouthpiece free, jaw clenched tight with fury and bitterness. He doesn’t wait for the announcement. He knows the result already.
Up in the press box, the verdict spreads in low voices before the official announces the result.
“That’s twice now,” one journalist mutters, eyes never leaving the ring. “Second time he’s lost the belt at national level.”
“Yeah,” another replies, “so much for the straight road to the world.”
A third leans back, arms crossed. “He’s only twenty-seven. Don’t bury him yet.”
“No one’s burying him,” the first says. “But dominance matters. You don’t challenge the world by borrowing belts. You take them and keep them.”
“But this is a close one,” someone else says quietly. “If Rikiya reads that liver shot properly, he wins this fight. It’s just one misread.”
“Sure,” another answers. “But boxing doesn’t grade on almost. He lost. Again. That’s not domination.”
“With Serrano on top now,” a reporter says, “do you really see Rikiya reclaiming this title?”
The previous man shrugs. “Of course he can. But look at the contenders coming up. This division’s stacked. If he really wants the world stage, he doesn’t just need the belt back. He needs to beat all of them first.”
***
May 21st – The Morning After
The face of Leonardo Serrano is everywhere. From the digital billboards of Shibuya to the front pages of every sports tabloid, his ecstatic, blood-streaked grin serves as the herald of a new era.
The headlines are triumphal: “THE BELT RETURNS HOME.”
For the Kirizume Boxing Gym, this is more than a win. It is the restoration of a dynasty that had been dormant since Renji Kuroiwa vacated his throne for the world stage.
Yet, even as Serrano’s coronation dominates the visuals, a darker, more whispered story begins to bleed into the margins.
Rumors from the Korakuen locker rooms have reached the surface, carried by the frantic gossip of cornermen and rival fighters.
By noon, the whispers have coalesced into a scandalous report. Headlines began to shift focus:
“NAKAHARA’S SECRET VISIT: DID THE PROMOTER PREDICT RIKIYA’S FALL?”
The public is stunned. Details of Nakahara’s appearance in the challenger’s locker room emerge.
His demand: ’not break the champion too badly’ so he could use the leftovers for his Yoyogi event.
It is a level of arrogance that Tokyo hasn’t seen in decades.
Seeking blood, the media corners Daisuke Kirizume outside his gym. And Kirizume entertains them.
“Yes, it’s true,” Kirizume says, his voice vibrating with a controlled fury. “Nakahara came into our sanctuary before the fight and treated the national champion like a piece of meat he was waiting to buy at a discount. He didn’t just underestimate Miyamoto Rikiya; he insulted every person who has ever put on gloves in this city.”
Kirizume leans closer to the microphones, his eyes narrowing as the reporters jostle for position.
“Nakahara is playing a dangerous game,” he continues, his voice a low, controlled rasp. “The half-million-dollar purse bid for Ryoma’s defense, this ’mega-event’ at Yoyogi, putting every one of his fighters on the line in a single night… it’s not a promotion. It’s a delusion.”
“Are you saying he’s overreaching, Kirizume-san?” a reporter from Boxing Monthly interjects, thrusting a recorder forward. “The public is calling it the boldest move in Japanese boxing history.”
“Boldness is often just a mask for arrogance,” Kirizume counters sharply. “He thinks he can bypass decades of sweat and tradition by throwing money and insults around. But boxing has a brutal way of humbling men who think they are bigger than the sport itself.”
“But he’s already secured the arena and the fighters,” another journalist shouts. “If August 24th is a success, the Nakahara Gym becomes the new face of Tokyo boxing. Doesn’t that put your gym’s legacy at risk?”
Kirizume lets out a dark, dismissive chuckle. “Success? He’s digging his own grave. He’s betting their entire futures on a house of cards. When he loses, and I am certain he will lose big, there won’t be enough left of his gym or his boxers to pick up off the canvas. He isn’t just risking his own name; he is gambling with the careers of every boxer under his management.”
***
There is a cold, calculated irony in the fallout. Nakahara had anticipated every headline, every surge of public outrage, and every venomous word from Kirizume.
Nakahara didn’t just invite the villain label. He actually cultivated it.
By turning himself into the antagonist of Tokyo boxing, he has created a vacuum of spite that only one man can fill. He doesn’t need to offer a king’s ransom to Miyamoto Rikiya now. He only needs to offer him a chance at vengeance.
The offer sits on a mahogany coffee table in a quiet house in Kanagawa; ¥800.000.
For a former two-time champion, the purse is almost insulting, a fraction of what he earned defending his title.
Coach Araki Okada sits across from Rikiya, his face etched with worry. Meanwhile, Rikiya is a landscape of fading bruises, his body far from recovered from the war with Serrano.
But as Rikiya reads the terms for the August 24th event at Yoyogi, it isn’t the physical pain that dictates his expression. It is the raw wound to his pride.
“They are dangling this in front of us because he thinks you’re finished,” Okada says, his voice low. “He’s using you as a stepping stone for his boy.”
Rikiya’s hand trembles slightly as he grips the paper, but his eyes are burning with a dark focused intensity.
“So he wants to celebrate the rise of his new dynasty on the back of my reputation?” Rikiya looks up, a bitter smile twisting his lips. “Fine. I’ll take the fight. I’ll go to his stadium, and I’ll ruin his party. I’ll turn his mega-event into a funeral.”
Okada leans forward, his desperation palpable. “Rikiya, think about the risk. Your opponent, Aramaki, is from the same ’monster’ generation as Serrano. He’s only ranked 6th. If you win, people will say you just beat a kid. But if you lose to a 6th-ranked prospect…”
“Then I’ll take it as my answer,” Rikiya cuts him off, his voice like snapping bone. “If I can’t even handle a kid ranked 6th, then maybe I was never good enough for the world to begin with.”
He signs the contract with a violent stroke of the pen. “Tell Nakahara I’m coming. And tell him to make sure his boy is ready to bleed, because I’m not coming for the money. I’m coming to take back my name.”
***
May 22nd, the trap is set.
Nakahara had played his cards with the cold precision of pride manipulation, debt and ambition, until every slot was filled.
There are no ’tune-up’ fights on this bill. He is going ’all-in,’ wagering the entire future of his gym on a single explosive night.
When the official press release finally hits the wires, the scale of the event sends a second shockwave through the Japanese boxing community.
NAKAHARA PROMOTIONS PRESENTS: “THE TAKEOVER” – AUGUST 24TH, YOYOGI NATIONAL GYMNASIUM
JBC Featherweight Rank Bout: Okabe Shuji (#9) vs. Wakabayashi Yasuhide (#4)
JBC Super Featherweight Rank Bout: Tatsuki Aramaki (#6) vs. Miyamoto Rikiya (#3)
OPBF Welterweight Rank Bout: Kenta Moriyama (#4) vs. Arman Sargsyan (#2)
JBC Super Lightweight Title Fight: Ryohei Yamada (Champion) vs. Shoji Hamakawa (Challenger)
OPBF Lightweight Title Fight: Ryoma Takeda (Champion) vs. Thanid Kouthai (Challenger)
The sheer audacity of the lineup leaves the media speechless. Two local rank wars, a brutal OPBF eliminator, and two major title defenses, all featuring Nakahara’s top fighters under one roof.
It is a card designed not just for victory, but for total domination.
As the news spreads, Nakahara stands by the window of his quiet office, watching the city lights of Tokyo.
He has ignored the hierarchy, insulted the veterans, and gambled a fortune on the belief that his boys are ready for the world.
The world, in return, is now waiting for him to fail.
There will be no room for luck at Yoyogi. Either the Nakahara Gym will rise as the new kings of the capital, or August 24th will be the night they all burn together.