Korakuen Hall Fighting History
Column: "Korakuen Hall, the most sacred place in the world"
Text by Masahiro Miyazaki
There is no intention to exaggerate or stir up controversy, nor is it an attempt to bring down a particular favorite based on local pride.
Korakuen Hall is the world's most sacred place for Sports of boxing.
The numbers speak for themselves. In 2002, a staggering 134 boxing events were held in this hall on the fifth floor Blue Bldg.. This means that 365 days a year, if you get off at Suidobashi Station in the evening, you'll have the chance to see an intense ring fight at least once every three days.
The breakdown of these figures is even more impressive. From world title matches to the fourth round, the total number of Professional boxing matches held across Japan is just under 2,400. Of these, 1,213 matches were held at Korakuen Hall, more than half of them. These include 22 Japanese title matches and 12 Oriental Pacific title matches.
In fact, there is nowhere else in the world where Professional boxing is held in such large numbers. In the gambling city of Las Vegas, the United States, luxury casino hotels such as Caesars Palace, MGM, and Mandalay Bay, which call themselves the "Home of Champions," compete to host big matches, but they rarely offer small or medium-sized cards. Nor are they found in London or Paris, the birthplace of modern boxing. In Bangkok, Thailand, there are reports of matches almost every day, but they only incorporate one or two international styles of boxing into the traditional Thai kickboxing known as Muay Thai.
The situation remains the same even in the good old days. Regular boxing events were held for a long time at the former meccas of boxing, such as Madison Square Garden in New York and the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, but they were only weekly fights held once a week on a specific day of the week.
Korakuen Hall is different. From the early days of four-round boxing events to title matches that only the chosen few can compete in, there are all kinds of boxing. It's been a while since I've been there, but it's been chosen as the venue for world title matches 29 times, and even the Kanto University League for amateur boxing, which I didn't include in the numbers, is held there.
Here you can experience the enthusiasm of powerful hits and the intoxication of supreme technique. You can also be quietly swayed by the innocent, anonymous passion that passes by without a second thought.
As boxers, we should be extremely grateful that the sacred ground of Korakuen Hall is so close by.
Masahiro Miyazaki
Born in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1956. He became obsessed with boxing and moved to Tokyo at the age of 20. After moving from job to job as a part-time employee, he joined Baseball Magazine in 1984. For the next 13 years, he was involved in the editing of boxing magazine. Five years ago, he became a freelancer and mainly worked as an editor and writer for Sports. Boxing, martial arts, professional Baseball, high school Baseball, bowling, badminton, and ice hockey were also serialized in specialized magazines.
Photo courtesy of Tokyo Dome /Boxing Magazine
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