I know a lot of people are power scaling due to the release of WHC2 so I thought I'd put my opinion here for the fun of it:
This is my reasoning for why Su-ho beats Baku and is number 1 in the verse:
Baku being stronger physically is a no brainer if you look at his fighting, though I don't think the difference is as much as many claim. In season 1 when Si-Eun was about to stomp Yeong-bins head Su-ho grabbed him with one hand and chucked him across the classroom. That is pretty crazy strength feat, I don't even think someone like Seong-je could do that. In terms of his other fights I'd also make the argument that Su-ho rarely hits with his full strength as he is extremely technical unlike Baku whose fighting consists of basically heavy hits rather than quick and swift hits that deal less damage to his opponent, basically like in For Honor (game) lol. Point is he is very strong physically as well.
I'd also like to comment on the point that many make about durability involving the swing with the crowbar against Baku vs the swing with the metal bat against Su-ho. It carried less force and was at a different angle. Suho was hit hard by someone with both hands right on his nape/temple whereas Baku was clearly hit at the very top of his head which likely did not impact his skull nearly as much. I mean if you watch the clip you can see that the motorcycle guy was close to skimming it entirely - if he swung a few centimetres higher he would've completely missed. I truly believe if Su-ho tanked that (which he wouldn't have in that situation but I'm just mentioning how Baku's reaction speed is incredibly slow) he probably would've stayed up like Baku did.
Baku is slow and has little to no defence. Both Su-ho and Baku both have very good endurance, and so I will say that their endurance is both equal however I would completely understand those who'd give the upper hand to Baku if we compare his fight with Baekjin against Su-ho's fight with the gangsters while he is injured. Either way both of them have crazy Endurance, and I'd argue that durability would be far more important because of the way the fight would go.
This is how I think it would go down:
Baku likely wouldn't land a single hit on su-ho, or would land very little. Their fight would likely not be a slugfest unlike Ji Hakho in the manhwa as Su-ho will realise that Baku is stronger physically, therefore he will use his strengths to his advantage:
- Baku would either land little to no hits, and would struggle to defend against Su-ho's speed. While Su-ho is shown to not study I believe he is quite intelligent, with a high fight IQ especially. The first way the fight would go is that he likely would figure this out and just throw blow after blow with some kicks mixed in while maintaining his quick speed.
The argument being made about how Baku easily took down a judo fighter is silly because Su-ho is not only stronger than him physically but the Judo fighter has mediocre technique outside of grappling (shown when him and Gotak fight in the final battle), Su-ho would not have gotten himself in that situation where he gets choked by Baku - he would've dodged and started throwing hands.
Without grappling Su-ho will use both his hands and legs while Baku will just be clumsily swinging as he has mediocre-at-best technique and due to his poor defence & speed he will probably block little hits. With grappling, as shown numerous times in MMA, technique beats strength. If you want proof look up 5'3 125lbs Mighty Mouse submitting a 6'3 250lbs giant. If Su-ho decides to grapple, Baku's strength, won't save him. Yes you could make the argument that this is just a fictional universe and bringing real life examples into it doesn't make sense, but in that case the argument regarding grappling gets nullified altogether, in which case my grounds for why Baku loses even without Su-ho resorting to grappling will still stand.
To summarise, Su-ho is stronger than most think. If we assume Su-ho is nearly or as strong as Baekjin physically their fight would basically just be Su-ho landing blow after blow as Baku wouldn't be able to defend himself against it due to the sheer speed, dodging ability, fight iq, and endurance that Su-ho has. Even if Su-ho decides not to grapple, Baku would be on the floor in minutes. Only way I see it going another way is if Baku somehow lands a hit to the head which might make his head ring - though I don't really see happening tbh. Only person who managed to do that was Kang Woo-young who did it once from season 1 (who Su-ho put on the ground in less than a minute despite being injured), whose technique is far superior to Baku's.
Black Mamba:
verg1l:
