Did Huo Yuanjia really beat a foreign boxer?

Huo Yuanjia really defeated foreign soldiers, or Japanese samurai. As for the contest between Huo Yuanjia and the British and Russian giants in film and television dramas, it is pure fiction. As a famous martial artist and national hero in modern times, Huo Yuanjia lived not far away. Even his friend Lv Zi lived to 20 12. A lot of written records or oral materials about Huo Yuanjia should still be of high reference value.

There are three records about Huo Yuanjia and foreign fighting masters in related literature. Although the plot of Huo Yuanjia's fight with the British and Russian Hercules in film and television dramas is fictional, it is not without historical basis. 190 1 year, a Russian strongman, Skifanlov, came to Guinness to perform, during which he made rude remarks, and Huo Yuanjia asked him out. However, on the day of the game, Hercules chickened out and gave up. It is said that he learned about Huo Yuanjia's martial arts in advance, and Huo Yuanjia made him admit in the newspaper that he had made rude remarks before. So, although Huo Yuanjia never really competed with the Russian Hercules, there was an agreed tournament at that time.

As for Huo Yuanjia and British strongman Obin, the situation is basically the same as the Russian strongman mentioned above. 1909, the British strongman Obi-in flaunted the streets in Shanghai, which also insulted and mocked China as the sick man of East Asia. Huo Yuanjia stepped forward again and made an appointment to compete with him. At that time, all the major newspapers in Shanghai reported it on the front page. However, on the day of the game, Obin disappeared. It turned out that he had already abandoned the war and fled. Later, he learned that Obin, who called himself a Hercules, was actually only an employee of a circus in Britain, not a real boxer.

If Huo Yuanjia's contest with the British and Russian Hercules is purely farce, then his contest with the Japanese samurai is "genuine". At that time, Japanese martial artists set up judo clubs and other martial arts institutions in Shanghai. They were not convinced that Huo Yuanjia had scared away foreign strongmen, so they named to compete with Huo Yuanjia. The tournament was later held as scheduled. First, Huo Yuanjia's apprentice, Liu Zhensheng, lost several Japanese samurai in succession, and then Huo Yuanjia personally defeated the Japanese team leader, so the result of the tournament was self-evident.