VISION GRID SYSTEM: THE COMEBACK OF RYOMA TAKEDA

Thanid reacts better now. He leans his head back just enough to make the punch fall short, or parries it with subtle turns of his glove.

Dug.

When the lead hook follows, Thanid’s guard angles inward, letting the blow slide harmlessly across his forearm.

Dug.

His head movement remains minimal. But it works.

“That’s a good adjustment from Thanid,” the analyst remarks. “He’s beginning to get a feel for Ryoma’s jab.”

More than twenty seconds pass, and Ryoma has already thrown over a dozen jabs. Yet not a single one lands clean.

Ryoma notices the change immediately. Compared to the previous round, the exchanges feel harder now, every opening narrower and every reaction from Thanid a fraction sharper.

Still, his expression remains calm. His eyes move constantly, scanning Thanid’s stance, tracking the small twitches in his shoulders and hips, reading every tiny movement before reacting.

After storing enough new data for an update, Ryoma steps in a little deeper this time, driving forward behind another stiff jab.

Thanid cannot simply lean away now, and…

Dug.

The punch thuds solidly against his guard.

Ryoma simply shifts the angle instantly, and whips a lead hook toward the body.

Still, Thanid drops his elbow just in time…

Dug.

…catching the hook against the hard ridge of his forearm.

But the moment that punch is stopped, Ryoma redirects the motion upward. His hips twist sharply as another hook arcs toward the side of Thanid’s head, aiming for the narrow point where the base of the jaw meets the ear.

Again, Thanid reacts fast, bringing his glove up while pulling his head slightly to the right.

Ryoma’s glove brushes against the top of Thanid’s guard, the trajectory nudged off course, and…

Dsh!

The hook clips the temple at an awkward angle.

It is a clean scoring blow. But not the target Ryoma wanted.

And Thanid answers immediately. A sharp right hook fires back the moment Ryoma’s punch completes its arc.

Ryoma reads it before it fully forms.

He pushes off his lead foot and glides backward, the punch slicing through empty air as he resets into his swaying pendulum step, shoulders rocking gently as if the exchange had barely disturbed his rhythm.

“Good exchange there,” the lead commentator says as the fighters reset at range.

The two men circle again. This time, the tension in the ring feels different.

The analyst nods while watching the replay on the monitor. “Thanid’s reactions are sharper this round,” he admits. “You can see him blocking and parrying much better. But Ryoma is still dictating the rhythm. He’s touching the target, staying balanced, and getting out before the counters arrive.”

“And importantly,” the lead commentator adds, “the challenger still hasn’t landed anything clean in this round.”

“Exactly,” the analyst replies. “Thanid is defending well, but he’s still fighting at Ryoma’s pace.”

From the outside, that is exactly what the fight looks like. The champion stepping in calmly, touching the guard, landing the occasional scoring shot, then gliding away before any real danger appears.

It’s smooth, efficient, almost effortless. To the crowd, it resembles a fighter completely in control of the ring. What they cannot see is the calculation happening behind every movement.

Each step Ryoma takes is measured against the subtle shifts in Thanid’s stance. Every jab is placed after reading the tiny reactions in the challenger’s shoulders, hips, and guard.

The angles, the rhythm changes, the sudden redirects of his punches, none of them are casual.

They are adjustments made in fractions of a second, built from the constant stream of new information Thanid keeps giving him.

Only after collecting enough of that information does Ryoma dare to step in deeper. And only after confirming the pattern does he allow himself to make it look easy.

***

Of course, after that short exchange, Thanid begins adjusting his approach as well. Little by little, he grows more accustomed to Ryoma’s rhythm.

And that forces Ryoma to adjust again to stay ahead. More feints start appearing now.

Ryoma constantly shifts angles, subtly changing the beat and rhythm behind his stiff right jab. All of it happens while he maintains that swaying pendulum step, rocking smoothly back and forth, the forward-and-back motion seamlessly blended with small lateral movements.

The lead commentator picks up on it immediately. “Look at how comfortable the champion looks in there. Ryoma is just flowing now… changing rhythm, changing angles, and keeping the challenger guessing every second.”

From the outside, he certainly appears comfortable. But the reality inside the ring is far less comfortable.

Ryoma tests it again by flicking a jab. And Thanid parries it cleanly.

Dp.

Another jab follows. And this time, Thanid simply tilts his head off the centerline and fires back with a sharp left counter.

Ryoma has to slide away again before the punch can reach him.

They reset, for a beat, and then Ryoma steps in once more, sending another jab toward the guard.

Dug.

For the next one, he adjusts to Thanid’s head movement, reading the direction of the slip before releasing the punch.

Dsh!

The jab finally lands, only a scoring touch, snapping against the cheek as Thanid pulls his head away.

And Thanid is always ready to answer. This time he chains a rear hook into a sharp jab.

Ryoma gives ground with a short half-step and catches the jab neatly on his right palm…

Dp

…and takes another half a step back.

“Beautiful composure from the champion. Look at that control.”

But Thanid uses that moment to surge forward, stepping deeper as he throws a diagonal right uppercut followed immediately by another sharp left.

Again, Ryoma blocks the first punch.

Dugh.

Then he pivots outside the jab and fires a compact check hook in return, the punch snapping toward one of the critical points he always targets.

Dsh!

“Thanid is trying to increase the pressure, but Ryoma is reading everything. Blocking, pivoting, countering… he’s still dictating the exchanges.”

“And once again, the cleaner shot comes from Ryoma. That check hook landed first.”

The punch lands, but again Ryoma misses the exact spot he wanted, the glove striking the cheek instead of the precise point he aimed for.

Still, the more important result is that the counter halts Thanid’s advance. Ryoma slides out of range once more, reclaiming the space and settling back into his swaying rhythm.

***

Another thing most people often miss, as Thanid continues stalking forward with measured, methodical steps, the space around Ryoma steadily shrinks.

And Ryoma is also forced to map the ring constantly in his mind, He has to react before the trap fully closes.

He makes a small half-step to one side, a subtle decoy. Then he suddenly glides the other way with a smooth, wide step, trying to slip past the tightening net.

But Thanid has seen this movement too many times already.

This time he catches the timing. The moment Ryoma shifts, Thanid drives a heavy cross straight down the middle.

Ryoma still reacts quickly enough. His gloves snap up into a tight double guard while his upper body leans back, letting the ropes absorb some of his weight as the punch crashes in.

Dug.

The impact pushes him into the ropes.

“Oh! Now this is dangerous for the champion!”

“Ryoma’s on the ropes for the first time in a while. This is exactly where Thanid wants him.”

“And you don’t want to be stuck there against a Muay Thai warrior. If Thanid opens up here, we could see a storm any second.”

Now he’s trapped, not in the corner yet, but close enough that the ropes become a real danger. There isn’t much space left to escape.

Ryoma immediately shifts into a defensive Philly Shell, still in his southpaw stance. His body turns into a bladed angle, right shoulder slightly forward.

Thanid presses in with a short flurry, mixing sharp hooks with straight jabs and crosses.

Ryoma absorbs the pressure calmly, catching punches on the palm of his left glove, rolling his shoulders, guiding others away with his upper right hand, deflecting the punch away.

Dug. Dug. Dp. Dug.

He reads, waits for the chance. And then he sees it, a tiny opening, just enough.

Ryoma slips outside, and snaps a compact check counter through the gap.

Dsh!

The punch lands cleanly, but again, it misses the precise critical point he’s been hunting.

Still, that single moment is all he needs. Ryoma pivots sharply, stepping into a quick L-step that slides him off the ropes and out of the trap.

A second later, Ryoma drifts back toward the center, shoulders swaying lightly with that familiar pendulum rhythm.

His breathing remains steady, his guard relaxed. From the outside, he looks exactly like a champion in complete control.

To most people watching, it seems comfortable, even effortless. But inside his head, nothing is calm.

His mind is running through calculations nonstop; angles, distances, timing windows, risk margins. Every exchange is stored, updated, processed. Every step Thanid takes compresses the margin for error just a little more.

And the most troubling part of it all, after almost two minutes in the four round, and even after all those clean scoring blows, Thanid Kouthai still looks perfectly fine.

There’s no wobble in him, no panic, no visible damage that suggests a collapse is coming soon.

At this pace, Ryoma can already see the likely outcome forming ahead of him. The fight could just drag all the way to the final bell, ending with a decision.

His jaw tightens slightly. “Months… being Ryohei’s damn lackey.”

Then another voice creeps into his thoughts, cold and insidious.

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