@Eldrummer:
He's only building up drama and tension for the last moments of AoKimura in the manga as boxers. Heck, this is the guy that has been building up tension between Miyata and Ippo since chapter 3 and Itagaki and Ippo from 600 chapters ago. We can't expect him to do things quickly but at least we can expect things to happen in a smooth way.
So, Morikawa is hinting towards a path in which AoKimura retire (one due to a loss and the other maybe due to permanent damage)… but he won't do it imho. I consider him a master of building up drama for different situations in the manga and besides disagreeing/not liking some things, I think he knows exactly what he is doing and also knows what kind of reactions he has from the readers since he puts Takamura to say things like "this is bullshit" during the fights.
Like I said, it's been nearly 700 chapters since Kimura made the vow that he'd quit if he lost to Mashiba.
He and Aoki have both threatened to quit, actually quit, and changed their mind on a complete whim and come back at least 3 times since, or more.
This was being built up to be the big one - his parents were in the audience this time, actively worrying for their son. But no! We didn't even SEE Kimura's fight. It was sidelined for a conversation about Itagaki. It's absolutely outrageous that Itagaki and others get 10 chapter fights but we can't see even one chapter of Kimura's - IF we're expected to care about him. There might have been dramatic tension or fear the first few times, now we just want to stop being jerked around.
It's sad, but at this point, I do not even care if Kimura quits: and he's one of my favorite characters in this series.
If I've come to that point, I can only look to the narrative for why.
Morikawa has been drawing this manga out for decades. It is not praiseworthy. It's not cute. And I'm ready to move on.
Depending on the outcome of this match, I stay or I go.