Lim Yo-hwan (Korean: 임요환; Hanja: 林遙煥, born September 4, 1980), known online as SlayerS_'BoxeR' (usually shortened to BoxeR), is a former professional player of the real-time strategy computer game StarCraft.

From 2001 to 2002, he won multiple major championships, including two OnGameNet Starleague titles and two World Cyber Games gold medals.

He began his compulsory military service in 2006, where he played on South Korea's newly formed Air Force esports team Airforce Challenge E-sports.

In 1998, during his third year at Seongbo High School in Seoul, South Korea, Lim developed a passion for the video game StarCraft.

It was during this time, in August 1999, that Kim Yang-joong, the president of management company Sinabro, approached Lim while he was playing at a PC Bang.

After accepting the offer, Lim had to seek his parents' approval, as pursuing a career in video gaming was an unconventional choice at the time.

[5] The term "Royal Road" is used to describe a player's achievement of winning an OnGameNet Starleague (OSL) title in their rookie season.

Despite the perceived weakness of the Terran race, Lim defied expectations and walked the Royal Road in the 2001 Hanbitsoft OSL.

[8] At the end of the year, Lim added another achievement to his list by winning his second consecutive gold medal at the World Cyber Games 2002.

[10] Due to his performances and consistent victories between 2000 and 2002, Lim became recognized as StarCraft's first "bonjwa", a player who dominates all others for an extended period.

In anticipation of the formation of the new professional StarCraft Proleague in 2003, Lim, along with manager Joo Hoon, established the team Orion in November 2002.

[13][14] Entering the KTF EVER Cup Proleague in March 2003, Orion was not initially expected to perform well and was often referred to as "Lim Yo-hwan's one-man team".

[15] Following their Proleague championship, the Orion Group made a decision not to re-sign any of their players and instead offered to sponsor Lim individually.

In April 2004, the South Korean wireless carrier SK Telecom acquired the team with a substantial investment of $2 million.

[13] During this period, Lim's status as a "bonjwa" started to fade as newer and younger players emerged in the competitive scene.

Lim joined this team along with other former professional gamers, including his SK Telecom T1 teammate Sung "MuMyung" Hak-seung.

In a match against Hwaseung OZ's Park "Killer" Joon-oh in the 2009-10 Shinhan Bank Proleague, Lim emerged victorious.

In that stage, he faced Lee "NaDa" Yoon-yeol, who was regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and someone Lim had never defeated in a major event.

Subsequently, he faced Lim "NesTea" Jae-duk in the semifinals but was unable to secure a win, finishing the event in the top four.

[26] Following, Lim shifted his focus from competing in individual events to the Global StarCraft II Team League (GSTL).

[28] Lim received an invitation to compete at the 2011 Major League Gaming (MLG) event in Columbus, Ohio.

[11] In April 2012, it was reported that Lim would be taking a break from professional play in order to undergo physical therapy.

[34] During this early time in his career he innovated heavily, creating many new strategies that saw much use afterward, most notably making much more effective use of the Terran Dropship unit than had previously been achieved.

[citation needed] Lim was integral in popularizing StarCraft and esports around the world in the 2000s, becoming a pop culture icon.

The greatest significance Lim Yo Hwan has towards e-sports is that he has transformed it from a festival of mere maniacs to a mainstream culture that is now broadcasted [sic] by the media.

[48] In September 2018, Lim achieved a significant milestone in his poker career by winning the APT Philippines Championships II event.

The victory brought him a prize of $87,946, his largest live cash earnings to date, and it also propelled him to the 10th position on South Korea's all-time money list.

[58] During the 2008 Paralympic Games held in Beijing, Lim met South Korean actress and media personality Kim Ga-yeon.

The scene was set in the top-floor cafeteria of the SM Entertainment office in Chungdamdong to promote the gaming capabilities of Intel computers.

However, the commercial was eventually pulled from Korean TV when Intel executives discovered that the gameplay footage was a replay of one of Lim's earlier televised matches.