Oscar de Larrazábal



Oscar de Larrazábal (June 8, 1916 – February 3,1978) was a Filipino boxer who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics. In 1936 he was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the bantamweight class after losing his fight to eventual silver medalist Jack Wilson.

He hailed from Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, when he represented the Visayas and the Philippines in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

He was born in Manila on June 8, 1916, to parents Jacinto Emilio German Lope de Larrazabal y Cuerva and Angela Sanchez y Lalinde. His grandparents were Roque Jacinto de Larrazabal y Rotaeche from Llodio, Alava, Spain and Maria Cuerva y Mendoza of Bulacan.

He finished high school in Bacolod City at the Negros Occidental High School, where he distinguished himself as a boxing champion. At 20 years old, he locked horns with the top amateur boxers of the country to qualify and win a spot as a bantamweight with the Philippine boxing team to the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

He won over Frederiksen (DEN) & Stasch (GER) before losing to Wilson (USA) in the quarterfinals. Jack Wilson was 6 feet tall and towered over Larrazabal, who was 5 feet, 7 inches. According to a German article in the Olympia 1936, 'Drama at the Boxing Tournament', Larrazabal was knocked down on the canvas 4 times but refused to stay down and continued to fight until the referee stopped the unequal fight.

He went on to study law as a scholar of Far Eastern University, graduating with a law degree in 1947 and passing the Philippine Bar Examination in 1948.



Pioneered in the travel industry business in the late 1950s helping countless people migrate to the United States.