27/05/2025
Oyama’s Korean Boxing Days
Boxing, which had just been introduced from the United States to Japan, became explosively popular in colonial Korea at the time.
When Korean fighters faced fighters from mainland Japan, the judges’ decisions would sometimes be inexplicably against them, so they adopted a more aggressive style that aimed for knockouts.
In the 1938 All-Japan Amateur Championship, Korean athletes dominated all weight classes, from flyweight to welterweight. Even in professional boxing, Korean champions emerged in Japan. The unbeatable bantamweight champion, Seo Jeong-gun, went to the United States and became the first "Japanese fighter" to be ranked in the world.
It is easy to imagine that Oyama would have been drawn to the explosive popularity of boxing in Korea at the time.
People who knew Oyama at the time testified that they often saw him shadowboxing, but it remains unclear from available records whether he learned boxing through self-study or was part of a gym.
