Hajime no Ippo はじめの一歩, known as 'Fighting Spirit' in America, is a great 76 episode anime based on boxing. As with most anime, it's based on a manga(tankōbon 単行本) series that helped establish a monetary foundation to justify the animation. Much like the main character, Ippo Makunouchi, works his way up from amateur to professional boxer, the manga has been running since 1990 and the anime originally aired in 2000. The series growing popularity has spawned an new game for the Nintendo Wii in 2007 called Victorious Boxers: Revolution.
In 1992 as the Ippo manga enjoyed it's second anniversary, a young rapper named LL Cool J released the single 'Mama said knock you out'.
queue fight announcer voice
"iiiiin the blue corner we have a professional featherweight boxer from Japan, Makunouchi Ippooooooo! Aaaaaand iiiiiin the red corner we have a professional heavyweight rapper from the United States, LL Cool Jayyyyyyy!" Fight!