Tiger Ozaki is the previous Bantamweight Japanese National Boxing Champion.
| Tiger Ozaki | |
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Weight Class: |
Bantamweight |
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Rank: |
Champion (JBC) |
The Japanese Boxing Commision's heads covertly organized a match between Joe and Tiger without the knowledge of Danpei as a way to crush the up and coming Japanese boxer, believing that giving Joe the title shot early in his career would be too much too soon putting a halt to his momentum.
Tiger is first physically seen when Joe Yabuki is invited to train at the Daito Club Boxing Gym. He and his team set up a camera to record Joe's sparring matches there to prepare for their upcoming match with the rising bantamweight star. Joe notices this upon walking into the gym and immediately takes out all of his sparring partners quickly, even fouling the final one. Joe, upset about being spied on then rushes up stairs to the mezzanine to fight Tiger then and there. They are both held back by their trainers and Tiger leaves just as a brawl breaks out between Joe and the Daito Club boxers.
In his bout with Joe, Tiger starts off getting the better of Joe by cleanly parrying Yabuki's body blows and countering with punches of his own. Towards the end of the round he is knocked down after biting on an apparent feint upstairs from Joe, before being hit by a crushing shot to the solar plexus, sending the Japanese Champ crashing down to the canvas.
Tiger then wins all the remaining rounds, him and his team figuring out that Joe is unable to throw a significant punch at his head. Tiger wins by TKO in round 6 when Joe's team throws in the towel. He is next seen in Ryu Harajima's corner during Harajima's fight with Yabuki, instructing him on how to easily beat Joe.
Tiger's next appearance is in his match against Carlos Rivera, the fighter ranked 6th in the world. Tiger expects an easy fight, thinking that Carlos' wins against the #1 and #2 ranked Japanese fighters were flukes, won only by lucky punches. He is then proved wrong, with Carlos skillfully knocking him out 14 seconds into the first round with an uppercut followed by a hidden elbow strike. This is the last Tiger is seen in both the anime and manga.