Sendou vs Date

Date chooses not to move to the world, so Sendou has to beat him for the title.

This is Sendou with the same upgrades he had in his rematch with Ippo, against Date as he was then.

I kind of think Sendou, with all of his post champ upgrades, could take Date. His "rolling" probably wouldn't even work with a smash, and there's no way he'd survive just one good blitz..

Not a chance. Date is too smart for Sendou! Date simply keeps his distance, nails Sendou with counters all night long and then just about knocks his head off with a smash of his own after landing the heartbreak shot!

Ah, but Sendou developed that 0-60 insta charge for just such a scenerio. Between that and the fact even Vorg was nailed square by a dominant handed smash (Ok, a vastly inferior version of Vorg who was a noob to pro boxing, but still..)

Later in the manga, Sendo spars with Miyata and gets thrashed initially due Miyata just nailing him with counters left and right. After the first round, Sendo manages to get the better of him after figuring out that Miyata always aims for the head during his counters, but Date is bit less predictable and more adaptive, as we see when he fights Ippo. Not saying Sendo can't win, but he's a bit too straightforward for Date and was ultimately beaten as a result of a single feint from Ippo. I definitely see him getting past the neck spin, but he really doesn't have an answer to the heartbreak shot other than hoping tanking the free hit Date gets as a result of landing it.

According to Vorg later on in the manga, Sendou hits harder than Ippo but is also less durable(Vorg calls them the ultimate spear and shield respectively). Martinez is the only person that has beaten Date(not counting Takamura in a bar brawl) and he is effectively Ippo strength with Miyata levels of speed.

Sendou would hurt Date a lot but considering Date was able to put down someone Vorg considered tankier than Sendou, I feel Date's experience will carry him.