Brilliant boxer who graduated from Chuo University aims for “Gold medal at the Paris Olympics

He called me after the Tokyo Olympics and was depressed, saying, ‘I feel sorry for the people who supported me. But he quickly changed his mind and said, ‘I’ll do my best at the World Championships. I’m proud of my son for doing what he said he would do,” said his mother, Yuko, who lives in her hometown of Yamagata.

On November 6, at the World Boxing Championships held in Serbia, welterweight Seong Okazawa (25) became the first Japanese fighter to win a gold medal. He achieved this feat after overcoming his setback at the Tokyo Olympics, where he lost in the second round.

Okazawa, who has a Ghanaian father and a Japanese mother, surprisingly started boxing when he was in high school. Okazawa recalls.

My mother was what you would call an educational mother, and I attended a school attached to Yamagata University from kindergarten to junior high school. However, I failed the entrance exam for a high school in Yamagata Prefecture and went to Nihon University Yamagata. I joined the boxing club because I wanted to try martial arts for some reason. In high school, I made it to the top eight in Japan.

A true student of both the literary and military arts, Okazawa later entered the Faculty of Law at Chuo University. In April, he moved to a fitness gym and has been practicing ever since. After the final of the World Championships, she tearfully expressed her gratitude to the people around her.

I’m going to stay active until the ’24 Olympics in Paris,” Okazawa said.

Okazawa said. The brilliant boxer who overcame the setback at the Tokyo Olympics and made a great leap forward is expected to make a brilliant performance at the Paris Olympics in three years.

From “FRIDAY” November 26, 2021 issue