Duk Koo Kim

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Duk Koo Kim
Hangul:	김득구
Hanja:	金得九
Revised Romanization:	Gim Deuk-gu
McCune-Reischauer:	Kim Tŭk-ku

Duk Koo Kim or Deuk-Koo Kim or Deuk-Gu Kim, (January 8, 1959 – November 18, 1982), was a South Korean boxer whose unexpected death following a match versus Ray Mancini changed the sport of boxing in many ways.

1 The story
2 The aftermath
3 Boxing Rule Changes
4 Popular renditions
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] The story

Kim was a hot fighter in his region who had won 12 straight 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 Korean boxers, even experienced ones, simply hadn't been trained to fight a left-handed opponent like Kim, giving him an extra edge. His only overseas bout before the Lightweight championship challenge took place in the Philippines, so this was also his first fight outside of the Asian continent.

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 performed there to try to save him, but that effort proved to be futile, as Kim died 5 days after the bout on November 18. The week after, Sports Illustrated published a photo of the fight on its 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 three times, went on to round 14 once more. 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 17 wins with 2 losses and 1 draw. 8 of Kim's wins were knockouts.

[edit] The aftermath

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.

[edit] Boxing Rule Changes

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.

Ironically, after the new rule, the WBC and WBA each stripped fighters of their championships for 15 round bouts when the new rules called for 12 rounds.

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."

Many state and national federations also made reforms with fighter safety by implementing a mandatory eight count, where once a fighter was knocked down, the referee would give a count of eight seconds to the fallen fighter, regardless of the downed fighter rising immediately.

Some states also adopted the standing eight count, where a fighter in peril and on the ropes, with a potential knockdown looming, may be charged with a knockdown at the referee's discretion, with the opponent being asked to appear at the neutral corner as if an actual knockdown occurred, and the referee giving the "downed" fighter the mandatory eight count.

Others also implemented the three knockdown rule, which states when a fighter is knocked down three times in a single round, it is a technical knockout and the fight ends.

[edit] 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.

Mark Kozelek of Red House Painters has recorded several versions of a song named for Kim, most recently a version on the Sun Kil Moon 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.