The Boxing Match

The Boxing Match

In the early 20th century (before Karate became as famous as it is today), Western fighters would come to Japan and put on exhibition fights against local martial artists (usually judoka). Choki Motobu was a spectator to one of these fights when the Western fighter (reportedly, a Russian boxer) issued an open challenge (sort of like that scene in Jet Li's Fearless). Motobu took that challenge. The first few rounds consisted mostly of evasion by Motobu, but after that, it is reported that Motobu moved in on his opponent (who was considerably larger than him) and knocked him out with a single hand strike to the head.