@wuva
but wasn't Taguchi a Judoka (and won a competition) and that's why it's the reason why he got so close to beating Tatsuya?
Hm, yeah, there was something like this indeed. That might be the reason.
Though that's manga logic.
-----random martial arts info below-----
As a martial artist, I never tire of telling people that the fights are always "person vs person," not "style vs style." Meaning, what decides the fight is the difference in physical preparedness and experience, not some magic techniques. But that's kinda boring because it basically reveals that on the top level all styles are kinda the same on a biomechanical level.
For example, I am a karateka (Gōjū-ryū style), and my method of punching is completely different from boxing (main driving force is back muscles vs shoulder in boxing). But most top level boxers always stray away from going completely from the shoulders and learn to use their back and momentarily impulse (basically starting 'hitting' only on contact, and aiming 'behind' your target). And same for Karate: on high levels you start to understand that it's not so about going from your back, but more about creating inertia and impulse.
If you want to see what it looks like the famous Bruce Lee
was a genius of this (in case somebody doesn't know, he was a real
extremely talented martial artist, and only then an actor). No, it's not a gimmick, though it might look like one. This man perfected the body usage for creating momentarily impulse force. Every, at least Asian-style, martial artist worth their salt respects him quite a lot.
Sorry for going off-rails, but kinda had to share this.
P.S. A lot of people think that karate's trump card is kicks (lol, even the upcoming Olympic karate sign is a guy kicking (albeit with a punch, which actually displays another thing altogether, but oh well)), but in reality it's the punch. Proper karateka always have a very good posture and back muscle development and control. It's always easy to spot them among martial artists.