If you want one manhwa like The Boxer, read Weak Hero. Its lead is small, calm and far more dangerous than anyone around him realizes, which is the closest thing in finished manhwa to Yu. The other five picks each match one part of what made The Boxer hit: the fights as character study, the art, or the quiet fighter nobody can read.
The Boxer's hook is in its first scene. Yen Press describes it this way: legendary coach K, looking for one last prodigy, finds a teenager standing still while bullies throttle him, and sees precision in how he moves. When K tries to recruit him, the boy asks only one thing: “Is it any fun? Hitting people…Is it fun?”
The Boxer (더 복서), story and art by JH, Jeong Ji-hun (image: Korean volume 1 cover).
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The series is finished: AniList counts 133 chapters, which on Naver is the main story, ten specials published during hiatuses, and a side story added after the ending. On WEBTOON in English it's marked completed, though the website only shows the opening episodes and sends you to the app for the rest. Our Boxer review gives it 8.5/10.
It's also about to reach a new audience. Crunchyroll announced an anime at New York Comic Con this October, made by Japan's breccia and Korea's STUDIO JEMI, with no release date yet. Here's the promo:
The Boxer anime promo from Crunchyroll's official YouTube channel.
What fans worry the anime will miss is exactly what you should look for in the next read. One r/manhwa reader put it well: “the boxing action is more of a vehicle to tell a bunch of very heartfelt stories about human struggle from various backgrounds and perspectives, mostly through the side characters.” The picks below are sorted by which part of that they deliver.
1. Weak Hero
Weak Hero, story by Seopass, art by Kim Jin-seok (image: Korean volume 1 cover).
The closest match to Yu. WEBTOON's summary: a school run by bullies, and then Gray arrives, small in stature, whose “calculative and brutal fighting leaves unsuspecting opponents lying on the floor begging for mercy.” Like Yu, Gray reads as harmless until the fight starts, and the story is about the gap between how he looks and what he can do.
There's no boxing here, just school fights, so the match is in the character, not the sport. It's finished at 268 chapters and complete on WEBTOON in English, with the same app-only catch as The Boxer.
2. Slam Dunk (manga)
Slam Dunk, story and art by Takehiko Inoue (image: Japanese volume 1 cover).
Slam Dunk is Japanese manga, not manhwa, but it's the sports comic most worth reading after The Boxer if the matches themselves were the draw. VIZ sums up its lead: Hanamichi Sakuragi, a brawler rejected by 50 girls in a row, until Haruko introduces him to basketball.
Sakuragi is the opposite of Yu, loud and driven by very ordinary wants. What carries over is how both series use a game to show who people are. It's finished at 31 volumes and published in English by VIZ.
3. Lookism
Lookism, story and art by Taejun Pak (image: Korean volume 1 cover).
Daniel is an unattractive loner who wakes up in a tall, handsome second body. That's the start; much of the long run turns into fight arcs where each opponent comes with a backstory, much as The Boxer handles its side characters. It also lines up with The Boxer's art ambition in the later arcs.
Unlike everything else here, Lookism is still going: new episodes land on WEBTOON every Sunday, and the page now advertises Netflix's animated series. Our Lookism review covers where it gets good.
4. Yongbi the Invincible
Yongbi the Invincible, story by Ryu Gi-un, art by Mun Jeong-hu (image: Korean volume 1 cover).
An older pick for readers who liked a fighter who is simply better than everyone and knows it. AniList calls Yongbi a bounty hunter “without fear or reproach,” greedy and fond of drinking, who ends up protecting a boy carrying a medallion everyone wants. He's not Yu's cold blank; he's a rogue. The shared pleasure is watching people who think they can take him find out otherwise.
It ran from 1998 to 2002 and is finished at 149 chapters. Expect art from its era, and check for an English edition before you commit; AniList lists no official English link.
5. Blue Lock (manga)
Blue Lock, story by Muneyuki Kaneshiro, art by Yusuke Nomura (image: Japanese volume 1 cover).
Another manga, here for the ego. After Japan's World Cup defeat, the Japan Football Union gathers 300 young strikers to find one who “hungers for goals.” Where The Boxer asks what talent is worth without a reason to fight, Blue Lock asks what happens when you strip away everything but the wish to win.
It's still running and is published in English by Kodansha. More in our Blue Lock review.
For the full case on The Boxer's art, structure and ending:
The Boxer Manhwa Review →
6. Wind Breaker (Jo Yong-seok)
Wind Breaker, story and art by Jo Yong-seok (image: Korean volume 1 cover).
The art pick, with a big warning. Jay is a straight-A student body president who gets pushed into a cycling crew and finds a world outside his textbooks. The riding sequences are where the art goes all out.
The warning: AniList lists Wind Breaker as cancelled in July 2025, so it has no proper ending. Read it for the art, not for closure. Our Wind Breaker cancellation explainer has the details.
Our Take
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Read Weak Hero next. It's finished, it has the closest lead to Yu, and its fights are about the people in them. If what you loved was the sport on the page, go to Slam Dunk instead. Save Wind Breaker for last, and only if you can live without an ending.
How We Checked This
For this update we checked every pick's status, chapter count, credits and premise against AniList, WEBTOON, Naver Webtoon's episode list (via its public API), Crunchyroll News and Reddit, with one quoted row per fact in our sources table. The old version had several things wrong. Weak Hero's lead isn't "Phillip Yoo"; WEBTOON calls him Gray, and the series is on WEBTOON in English, not only in fan translations. Yongbi the Invincible was credited to one creator; Ryu Gi-un wrote it and Mun Jeong-hu drew it, and Yongbi is a bounty hunter. Blue Lock's English publisher is Kodansha, not VIZ or MANGA Plus. Wind Breaker was called "completed" in one spot and "cancelled" in another; it was cancelled. We also added The Boxer's anime, replaced the hero image description, and dropped the FAQ and TL;DR, which repeated the list.
Last reviewed: October 15, 2026
Related Reading
- The Boxer Manhwa Review: the 8.5/10 review, with art analysis and the ending.
- The Boxer Reading Guide: arc structure, the side story and where to read.
- The Boxer Characters: Yu, K, J and the rest of the cast.
- Manhwa Like Lookism: more if Lookism's fight arcs were your favorite part.
- Viral Hit Manhwa Review: fighting as a learnable craft, in a school setting.
- Manhwa With Anime Adaptations in 2026: The Boxer and the other webtoons headed for screens.
References
- The Boxer on WEBTOON
- 더 복서 on Naver Webtoon
- Crunchyroll News: The Boxer anime announced
- Weak Hero on WEBTOON
- Lookism on WEBTOON
- Slam Dunk on VIZ
- Blue Lock on Kodansha
- AniList entries for each series: credits, status and chapter counts
