The rise of professional boxing in North Sumatra, 1934-1942

Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperConference Paper

Abstract

![CDATA[In the 1930s boxing emerged as a popular spectator sport in colonial north Sumatra. It was part of an international trend, inspired by the publicity surrounding championship prize fights in the United States and Europe, popular cinema, and the celebrity status assigned to the sport‘s best-known exponents. It also coincided with the entry of the Netherlands East Indies in the Far Eastern Championship Games, which heightened interest in competitive sport at all levels. More prosaic reasons also prevailed. In the Depression era, boxing provided a cheap form of entertainment, gambling opportunities, and a potentially lucrative source of income for talented boxers and their promoters. The proximity of Singapore, the centre of a major regional boxing circuit, gave further impetus to these developments. Chinese business interests joined with their counterparts in Medan, the capital of East Sumatra and the main focus of this paper, to stage regular boxing contests between provincial ‗champions‘. Their popularity coincided with a corresponding rise in the number of large indoor entertainment centres or Night Fairs, as they were commonly known, which became the main venues for these fights. By the end of the decade, boxing had few rivals as a sporting attraction and its reputation as a showcase for Indonesian physical prowess was beginning to take shape.]]
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationKnowing Asia: Asian Studies in an Asian Century: 19th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA), the University of Western Sydney, 11-13 July 2012
PublisherUniversity of Western Sydney
Pages62-
Number of pages1
Publication statusPublished - 2012
EventAsian Studies Association of Australia. Conference -
Duration: 1 Jan 2012 → …

Conference

ConferenceAsian Studies Association of Australia. Conference
Period1/01/12 → …

Keywords

  • boxing
  • Sumatra
  • Indonesia

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