I know exactly what you mean... hmm, I'll be purchasing a DVD burner sometime after my exams; would you like some anime mailed to you? (Like Honey and Clover XD and possibly Hajime no Ippo... as soon as I find out which episode I'm missing.) It'll have to wait till after June 18th but it should be no problem afterwards ^__^

victory snatched from the jaws of defeat, but also some heartbreaking losses

I'm one of those fans who cry while watching/reading sports anime/manga series, it is kind of, um, sad -_-;;

You don't need to know anything about boxing; the fact is Ippo doesn't anything about boxing either, so, he learns, and you learn with him. It is all very good!