Duk Koo Kim
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Template:Koreanname noimage Duk Koo Kim or Deuk-Koo Kim or Deuk-Gu Kim (1959-1982) was a South Korean boxer whose unexpected death following a match versus Ray Mancini changed the sport of boxing in many ways.
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The story
Kim was undefeated in 13 bouts when he was assigned by the WBA as the world's number 1 challenger to world Lightweight champion Ray Mancini. However, of his former 19 contests prior to the Mancini bout, 18 had been in his native country, against somewhat obscure opposition, and he had been a southpaw boxer. Many boxers, even experienced ones, simply hadn't been trained to fight a left-handed opponent like Kim. His only overseas bout before the Lightweight championship challenge took place in the Philippines. His opponent, Tony Flores, was also not very successful (3-7-0 his entire career, 3-2-0 at that time).
Kim had to struggle mightily to lose weight on the days prior to the bout so that he could weigh in under the Lightweight's 135 pound limit, or, as they say in boxing, "make weight". Prophetically, he wrote the message "kill or be killed" on his Las Vegas hotel room's mirror only days before the bout.
Mancini and Kim met in an arena outside Caesar's Palace on November 13, 1982. In what many ringside observers have described as an "action-packed" fight, Mancini and Kim went toe to toe for a good portion of the bout, but by the latter rounds, Mancini began to dominate the young challenger. Spent and battered, Kim went into round 14 with little left and Mancini dropped him. He got up, but the fight was stopped and Mancini retained the title.
Minutes after the fight was over, Kim collapsed into a coma, and was taken to a hospital. Emergency brain surgery was done there to try to save his life, but that effort proved to be futile, as Kim lost his life 5 days after the bout, on November 18. The week after, Sports Illustrated had a photo of the fight on their cover, under the heading Tragedy in The Ring.
Kim had never had a 15-round bout before. He had been to round 12 only two times before his deadly last bout. In contrast, Mancini was much more experienced at the time. He had fought 15-round bouts for three times, went on to round 14 for one time. Mancini also had won a 12-round bout with another excellent southpaw boxer Jose Luis Ramirez (71-3-0 at that time, 102-9-0 career record). Kim compiled a record of 13 wins and 1 loss, with 10 knockouts.
The aftermath
Not only did Kim lose his life after the Mancini fight, but the lives of many others who were involved were affected too: Mancini went through a period of reflection, as he blamed himself for Kim's death. After friends helped him by telling him that it was just an accident, Mancini was able to go on with his career, but Kim's death would always haunt him. The bout's referee, Richard Greene, committed suicide in February of 1983, and so did Kim's mother, four months later.
Many reforms in boxing took place after this fight. The WBC, which was not the fight's sanctioning organization, was the first one to step up and admit, during their annual convention of 1982, that many rules and areas concerning fighter's medical care before fights needed to be changed to improve a fighter's chance of surviving a fight. WBC president Jose Sulaiman declared that, immediately after the Mancini-Kim bout, the WBC and their medical advisors had conducted a study that revealed that most fighters get injured more severely during rounds 13, 14 and 15, so the organization immediately decided to reduce the number of rounds in their championship bouts from 15 to 12. The WBA and the IBF followed the WBC in 1987. When the WBO was formed in 1988, they immediately began operating with 12 round world championship bouts.
Apart from the round reduction, the years after Kim's death would bring such new implements on a fighter's check up before fights as electrocardiograms, brain tests, lung tests and other medical tests. As one boxing leader put it, "A fighter's check-ups before fights used to consist of blood pressure and heartbeat checks before 1982. Not anymore."
Popular renditions
The story of Kim's life was taken to the big screen in his native South Korea: Director Kwak Kyung Taek directed the movie named Champion, and actor Yu Oh Seong starred as the fallen boxer.
Kim is mentioned in Sun Kil Moon's song named for him on the album Ghosts Of The Great Highway. It happens to be 14 minutes long, the number of rounds he lasted in his final bout.
Kim is mentioned in a Warren Zevon song, titled Boom Boom Mancini, on the 1987 album Sentimental Hygiene.
See also
External links
- Career Record (http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=012186)
- Champion (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0325165/) (IMDB)
- Film Review: Champion (http://www.cineline.net/browse/movie_detail.asp?code=1408&mode=review&num=19130) (in Korean)
- Film Review: Champion (http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:sx7QI_J1wJcJ:www.sisachinese.com/online_study/online_list_11/online_aju_12.htm+%EA%B9%80%EB%93%9D%EA%B5%AC+%E9%87%91&hl=zh-TW) (in Korean and Simplified Chinese)