Yamapi’s co-star says his Johnny’s showdown was the best

Yamapi's co-stars Yusuke Iseya and Karina at yesterday's event

More details were revealed about how much Tomohisa Yamashita (25) and his movie co-star Yusuke Iseya (34) pushed themselves to become boxers, it was revealed at an event in Tokyo on January 17, reports Oricon, Daily Sports Online, and Nikkan Sports.

The two actors may play rivals in the upcoming film adaptation of popular manga series “あしたのジョー (Ashita no Joe)”, but looking back on their fight scenes, Iseya had said they were not acting all the time.

“Being able to have a real punch up with a Johnny’s was nothing short of amazing,” he said.

It has been reported Yamashita had said he had never liked the idea of punching people, but when he began his training for the role, the pop star’s trainer deliberately punched him hard in the stomach to get him into the fighting spirit.

“(He taught me that) making one mistake can lead to a serious injury.  I learnt to concentrate on every single movement and wanted to unleash everything I had learnt inside the ring.

“Boxing is a hard sport.  I didn’t want to offend it so I put serious work into this,” he said.

Another thing Yamashita did every day was sit-ups.

“Doing sit-ups became a habit, it didn’t feel right going home at the end of the day without having done them,” he said.

In fact, Yamashita’s training was enough to have an effect on his on-screen rival.

“Even if he had a cold he’d be training.  He’d continue training after shoots and so there was no way (his rival) Rikishi could get away without training either.  He motivated me, but he’s an abs freak,” Iseya said.

“Ashita no Joe” opens in Japan cinemas on February 11.

* Photo thanks to Sankei Sports.