- "You would never understand the pain of being denied even a chance to fight... I gave up on public martial arts, where I was bound down by all this shit, and I devoted myself to underground martial arts, where my strength makes all the difference... I couldn't live in the public eye, but I found my place in the 'underground'."
— Carlos, on his reasons for vanishing from the public spotlight
Carlos Medel (カーロス・メデル, Kārosu Mederu), also known as El Dorado (
Quick Answers
What led Carlos Medel to transition from public martial arts to underground martial arts?
What is the significance of Carlos Medel's nickname, El Dorado?
How does Carlos Medel's wiry physique contribute to his fighting style?
What is the story behind Carlos Medel's disappearance from the public eye?
Who is Carlos Medel in Karamo?
Appearance[]
Carlos is a man of average height and bronze skin and donned many physiques throughout his boxing career to become a champion across five weight divisions from middleweight to heavyweight. As such, his appearance has ranged from lean and defined to hulking and voluminous. However, after departing from boxing and entering the underground scene, he has since shed all unnecessary weight.
His bantamweight is him in his most comfortable physique: thin and wiry to the point of being considered emaciated by other fighters. He has a gaunt facial structure and a narrow jawline, slicked-back hair, and a thin mustache.
As a fighter for Purgatory, he tends to wear wraps around his arms and feet. He also wears dark shorts with the imprint of a Calavera on the left.
Personality[]
Carlos is a relatively calm and confident person with a quiet yet profound sense of pride in his abilities and his talent as a fighter. During fights, Carlos is prone to be even more boastful than he already is, bordering on trash talk at times, and plays at psychological warfare on his opponent - maintaining his calm demeanor, arguably to the point of extreme pride by playing with Kaolan. Despite his skill, he is still not above utilizing Purgatory's rule-set to his advantage, winning by ring out if need be.
Carlos desires to be strong above all else, ready to adapt as necessary to acquire that strength. In the face of unfamiliar difficulty, he would go as far as expand his skillset more martial arts to his repertoire. When he had trouble in underground matches in Brazil, he started to practice capoeira. After his fight with Kaolan, he recognized that he would need to adapt yet again.
Carlos is also quite the playboy, flattering and acting like a gentleman with Akiyama Kaede. He seems to also hold a great sense of camaraderie.
Carlos is also a smoker.
History[]
Fourteen years ago, Carlos Medel became the undisputed middleweight boxing class champion, despite being slightly shorter than the average boxer of that class. After achieving that goal, he surrendered his belts and switched to the super middleweight class. He eventually dominated every weight class until the heavyweight class, building his body up from scratch every time. His reputation from his career is so great, he is effectively worshipped as a "god" in Acapulco.
Eventually, there was no one left who wanted to challenge him. Along with his promoter's spotty reputation, Carlos couldn't climb any higher in the public spotlight. Soon after that, he suddenly disappeared from the public eye, with only rumors of him joining different combat sports organizations ranging from professional wrestling organizations, and at one point, a Japanese martial arts promotion by the name "GO-1 Grand Prix" keeping his public existence afloat, though none of these rumors would come true.
In truth, Carlos secretly entered the underground fighting scene in Brazil, where at first, he struggled against martial arts he had never seen before. Acknowledging that his weight was ultimately an obstacle for him, Carlos decided to learn a new martial art to practice to stay competitive in the underground scene, compensating for his lack of reach, and, after finding reference material to capoeira in a bar, he followed through with 20 hours of practice, claiming to have mastered it.
At least eight years ago, Carlos discovered and joined Purgatory, where he soon became a gladiator.[9] At some point, before facing Liu Dongcheng, he spoke with Naidan Mönkhbat to figure out the gladiator. With that info, even though he won, he understood that if Dongcheng had "gotten going", then he wouldn't be able to beat him.
Plot[]
Before the first round of the Kengan Association VS Purgatory Tournament, Yumigahama Hikaru wanted to enter as the first fighter against Kaolan to spite both Kanoh Agito and Misasa. Carlos stopped the Traitor Fang and gave Yumigahama a bloody nose for his brutality against Jose Kanzaki, before going up himself.
Carlos entered the stage, sending ripples as a legendary boxer returns as a fighter for Purgatory. As soon as the match began, he effortlessly dodged Kaolan's Flash and gave Kaolan a bloody nose for his trouble. After a brief battle of jabs, he escaped Kaolan's attack by ducking to the ground, and then struck him with a kick, demonstrating his capoeira. Unleashing his full set of techniques, Carlos was shocked to learn that Kaolan's right fist had been tempered to the point of being practically invulnreable. Eventually downed by Kaolan's vicious right, Carlos stood up to the referee's count of two, ready to unleash all he had.
While overwhelmed by Kaolan's muay Thai, Carlos baited Kaolan to the edge of the ring. Upon being knocked down by Kaolan's God Glow, Carlos managed to grab and take Kaolan down with him as they fell outside the ring. Carlos was declared the winner since Kaolan's right hand made the first contact. However, Carlos' injuries meant he had to be taken away on a stretcher.
After his loss, Carlos, alongside Lihito, watched the other fights from a monitor in the infirmary. While Lihito and Falcon were making a scene, Carlos apologized on their behalf to Akiyama Kaede. Recognizing that he's still not where he needs to be in strength, he contemplates sealing off capoeira and enhancing his striking power. Realizing something was happening at the arena, he asked the nearby doctor (who happened to be Hanafusa Hajime) to turn the volume up to listen.
In the aftermath of the ninth round, both Carlos and Lihito intervened Akoya Seishu from continuing to fight further, with Carlos knocking Akoya out. Carlos elaborated they needed to stop them not because Akoya or Nicolas would eventually kill one another, but because Rolón Donaire, who intervened, would not hold back on either. Carlos would later return to Purgatory's gate to watch the match between Tokuno'o Tokumichi and Liu Dongcheng. During the match, Carlos reminished about that time he asked Naidan Mönkhbat about Dongcheng, noting that the latter gets truly dangerous only when pushed to the limit. He then went back to the Purgatory gate to watch the remaining matches.
After Dongcheng's victory Carlos and Fei Wangfang shared words about Terashi and commended Okubo Naoya's boxing skills.
During Wangfang's match against Wakatsuki Takeshi, Carlos was shocked at the sight Wangfang's hidden power and, in the aftermath of the match, Liu and Carlos approached a dying Wangfang, with Carlos himself swearing to pass Wangfang's final words to whoever he wished. After Wangfang's conversation with Tokita Ohma and his subsequent death, Carlos and the other gladiators comforted Liu over the death of his friends.
After the tournament, Medel remained as a Purgatory Gladiator where he faced and defeated Koga during a match. He's later seen as a commentator in the Berserker Bowl during his match against Leonardo.
Power & Abilities[]
Carlos is a boxer at his core. When he was still a public boxer, Carlos boasted enough skill and power to dominate every weight class from middleweight to heavyweight. He was said to be so strong that, at some point, no boxer could stand up to him. He was also the only boxer who ranked above Kaolan Wongsawat in the pound-for-pound ratings. According to Hayami Masaki, his reputation and the legacy that he left behind were so prominent that those who have practiced combat sports will have heard of Carlos. Both Tokita Ohma and Kanoh Agito initially compared his status as well as his power to that of Kuroki Gensai; being a dominating fighter who ran out of competitors in their field of expertise. As a further testament to his talent as a fighter, Agito observed that Carlos' natural frame was not meant for a heavyweight physique, comparing the Mexican boxer's achievements akin to wearing weights all over his body.
Carlos claims that his bantamweight is his ideal one, feeling as light as a feather, acknowledging the sacrifice of additional muscular strength in favor of agility and maneuverability. Despite the loss of that strength, Carlos' strikes have been shown to deliver considerable power behind them in contrast to his lean appearance, mainly owing to his speed, as he was capable of outpacing Kaolan's Flash, even damaging his joints with quick and sudden counterattacks. However, as a bantamweight, his ability to take and endure diminished compared to when he had a heavier build.
Carlos also possesses a remarkable level of control and precision regarding his strikes, demonstrating swift jabs that flick towards the nose that he pulls back as soon as it makes the slightest amount of contact, bursting the blood vessels within the nasal cavity due to the initial impact velocity. These rapid jabs are incredibly fast that Carlos' fists spring forward in a blur, capable of catching seasoned fighters with sharp reflexes like Kaolan and Yumigahama off guard. However, for all its speed, these jabs are only meant to shake up the target psychologically, lacking the power needed for a knockout blow.
Considered as a "genius of striking," Carlos learned two highly acrobatic martial arts to help him compete in the underground fighting scene: capoeira, a Brazilian martial art involving dance-like movements, and Di Gong Quan, a Chinese martial art that incorporates tumbling and somersaults when striking. These two styles give him a versatile and composite fighting style that places heavy emphasis on speed and agility to overwhelm his opponents with flurries of blindingly fast punches and kicks, avoiding counterattacks thanks to the nimbleness and agility that his lean and wiry physique grants him.
Notes & Trivia[]
- Carlos is currently single, and his philosophy of love is "broadly, sincerely and fairly."[1]
- Carlos' initial concept was that of a lightweight who reached the pinnacle of boxing and could show a heavyweight like Kaolan strength of a whole different level. He was later written as a practitioner of boxing and capoeira to keep him from being too strong.[1]
- "El Dorado" is a city or country of fabulous riches held by 16th-century explorers to exist in South America.
- He is a good friend with fellow Purgatory gladiator Jose Kanzaki, sharing his birthday with him on the Mexican celebration of Dia de Muertos.[1]
- Carlos' date of birth is most likely the impetus behind his having a Calavera on his shorts, a symbol closely associated with the celebration.
- Carlos' former promoter is based on the real-life boxing promoter Don King, who also had a similarly poor reputation due to his track record.
- Carlos is most likely named after the famous Mexican featherweight boxer José Medel and Mexican bantamweight boxer Carlos Zárate Serna.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Carlos Medel's profile
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chapter 59 (Omega)
- ↑ Chapter 175 (Omega)
- ↑ Presumably a numerous amount of other wins as the undisputed champion of different boxing weight classes, plus wins in an underground fighting promotion in Brazil and in the A-list division of Purgatory.
- ↑ 1 win against Kaolan Wongsawat by ring out during the Kengan Association VS Purgatory Tournament(Ch63 Omega)
- ↑ 1 win against Liu Dongcheng prior to the Kengan Association VS Purgatory Tournament(Ch112 Omega)
- ↑ 1 win against Koga Narushima in Purgatory B-list(Ch175 Omega)
- ↑ Chapter 58 (Omega)
- ↑ Chapter 100 (Omega)
