BoxeR's name value is so good that he can get a personal sponsorship.

Source: http://news.naver.com/sports/index.nhn?category=general&ctg=news&mod=read&office_id=073&article_id=0002043321

BoxeR's name value is so good that he can get a personal sponsorship.

The company backing him up is only known as an multinational company "I", and they will be sponsoring BoxeR for 200 million won, if negotiations go well.

The article goes further in-depth about supposed potential conflict with SKT1, but eh. He's not under any contract now though. It ends with an e-sports related personnel saying that he has received a request from T1 to consider BoxeR as officially retired, but it has not been confirmed with BoxeR himself.

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The "Emperor", Lim Yo Hwan (editor's note: henceforth, shortened as BoxeR), who is currently participating in GSL, will receive personal sponsorship worth 200 million won.

BoxeR, who is currently doing very well in GomTV's GSL, a multinational company -- recently entered the Korean market -- only known as "I" have offered to provide a personal sponsorship of 200 million won, and full details in regards to this contract will be released soon.

An affiliate to corporation I, has cautiously stated, "It is true that we are currently in the talks with BoxeR for the sponsorship. It is not confirmed, as there are multiple issues and understanding between related parties."

It is understood that corporation "I" would sponsor BoxeR personally for 200 million won, then use 300 million won for the management of a team, for total of 500 million won used for a StarCraft 2 game team. (editor's note: This part is vague as to whether this "team" is BoxeR's own team or what).

BoxeR, who started being a progamer at early 2000s, is the representative icon of the e-sports as the man who put down the foundation for the Korean e-sports scene. But a lot of fans were disappointed in BoxeR's performance after BoxeR's discharge from the military in 2008, due to the many new star progamers in place.

The corporation "I" have watched carefully BoxeR's activities in SC2 and what he represents, then have come to decide to sponsor BoxeR.

In a meanwhile, there is a potential conflict in regards to BoxeR's progamer status due to BoxeR finding a potential sponsor for him in SC2.

BoxeR played for SKTelecom (after absorbing 4U, a former team he was in) since 2004, and his contract with SKTelecom ended in this August 31st. Then, he delayed signing up again on the contract due to personal reasons, then officially announced that he will switch to SC2 after showing up for the GSL prelims.

BoxeR, after confirming his switch, has shown his will and desire to keep his status as a progamer by saying "I am merely switching to SC2, not retiring from being a progamer."

Currently, BoxeR's status is "not contracted player". To keep progamer status from KeSPA, the player is not allowed to participate in a different team for a similar game without explicit permission from the team that currently owns the "rights to the player" -- in this case, SKTelecom. If SKTelecom doesn't announce temporary resign or retire request, there can possibly be a conflict between corporations.

However, it is not likely any conflict will arise. SKTelecom has officially requested BoxeR to be a retired player to KeSPA.

KeSPA's Lee Jae Hyung stated, "We received request to make BoxeR as an retired player from T1 progame team. But, this is not confirmed from BoxeR himself. We will announce retirement status after confirming BoxeR's opinions first."

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Source: http://www.fomos.kr/board/board.php?mode=read&keyno=111969&db=issue

Update:

KeSPA officially announced they retired BoxeR from progamer status. Now he's "Amateur" status.

As a result, BoxeR will not be able to come to any KeSPA-sponsored progames for 3 years, and will not be able to re-acquire progamer status for a year.