Kim was 23. But in his very short-lived life, he was able to tell the world that millions of people could not do even if they’re allowed to live twice their lifetimes – it is on what courage is all about. That is what made Duk Koo Kim champion forever.
From the standpoint of the actual and literal nature of the sport, boxing is in truth the game of kings for having the gallant participants place their lives on the line. Throughout the long history of the sport, many had risked and consequently lost their youthful lives and their deaths at times tragically reverberated to the bereaved family; even to people who are unattached to the victim by any trace of consanguinity.
One tragic ring incident that befallen a fighter was that of the gallant Duk Koo Kim of South Korea who lost his dear life when he fought Ray Mancini for the WBA lightweight title. Kim was born in a remote province 100 miles east of Seoul. His father died when he was only two and his mother married three more times. Growing up poor, Kim went into odd jobs, becoming a shoeshine boy at one time and a tour guide at another before trying his luck at boxing in 1976. As an amateur he was able to gather a respectable record of 29 wins with only 4 defeats. In 1978 he decided to join the professional ranks in an apparent effort to save his family from abject poverty that seemed to plague rural South Korea at the time. A gallant, dedicated, and a good fighter, he fought his way up the hill of boxing and became the mandatory challenger in 1982 to the WBA world crown in the lightweight division then held by the Italian -American Ray Mancini. Into the Mancini fight, he was 17-1-1, winning straightly the last twelve of which when he traveled to the United States for the world title fight on November 13, 1982. Kim and Mancini crossed paths in an arena outside Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, engaging toe to toe for a good portion of the fight. Kim, a respectable challenger, was able to handle the fight decently to the point of bringing it in situations where the defending champion briefly considered quitting. For the trouble of Mancini, his left ear was slashed open as a result of Kim’s significant punches. The champion’s left eye was also puffed up, while his left hand swelled twice its normal size. However, as the intense fighting wore on, the champion begun to turn the tide of the fight, dominating the young challenger with greater volumes of punches than Kim was doing; in the eleventh Kim’s legs wobbled for the first time. And at one point in the 13th round, Mancini was seen hitting Kim with 39 consecutive punches, but the gallant South Korean still held his ground but now throwing weak and few retaliating punches of his own that landed without any serious threat to the assaulting champion; despite of it, the referee did not stop the fight. At the start of the 14th in a fight scheduled for 15 rounds, Mancini, like a raging bull, charged forward, resulting to Kim receiving a good right. Kim staggered back; Mancini followed up a hastening left but missed the target; a reinforcing powerful right landed on Kim’s face, sending him to the canvas, back and head first. The impact was so powerful that it appeared to dislodge Kim’s two feet simultaneously off the canvas, sending his body into the air like a grounded dead leaf that was swept by the passing of a strong wind, but only to be deposited back to the hard ground, helplessly.
In one of the most heroic gestures ever demonstrated in the boxing ring, Duk Koo Kim refused to stay on the canvas, getting up before the end of the referee’s count. Though standing unsteadily, he wanted to go on fighting but the referee stop the fight, allowing Mancini to retain his title via technical knockout (TKO), 19 seconds left to fight in the 14th round.
While still in the ring, minutes later Kim collapsed into a coma and was taken out of arena on a stretcher. He was at once brought to a nearby hospital where emergency brain surgery was hurriedly performed, but to no avail. Four days later, on November 17, Kim died at the presence of his mother who was flown across the Pacific to be with her son before the life support equipments were turned off.
Speaking of fighting experience abroad, Kim was on stark disadvantage over the champion. For the record, his challenge of Mancini was his second only outside his native Korea. In addition, Kim struggled to make the contracted lightweight limit for the fight, thus he climbed the ring a bit dehydrated on a harsh 15 – round fight in which he had no experience. For a fact, he only had two 12 – round fight in his resume coming into the Mancini fight. Nevertheless he was the mandatory challenger and his arrival at such rank can be seen as a major flaw in the boxing rules of the 80’s. Fighters should not be put into the ring on a 15 – round championship fight without prior experience. Courageous as he was, Kim promised his people he would do whatever it would take to bring home the crown even at the expense of his life. In his Las Vegas hotel room, on a lamp shade he wrote prophetically, “live or die.” He had a mini – coffin brought to his hotel room.
Impinging on the lives of others, Kim’s death practically ruined the personal life and career of Mancini who, without the prodding of his friends that the incident was plain accident associated to his profession would have altogether renounce the sport. Bob Arum, his promoter commented that “Mancini was never the same fighter again.” He lost the title two years later to the perceived mediocre challenger in Livingstone Bramble. Kim’s mother who blamed herself his son would have never entered boxing had it not been for her poverty, took her life three months later by drinking pesticide, and claiming the larger part of the blame, Richard Green, the bout’s referee committed suicide on July 1, 1983.
Learning bitter lessons from Kim’s death, the World Boxing Council – although not the sanctioning organization for the fight – announced during its annual meeting in 1982 that some major boxing rules had to be changed. One of which is the reduction of word title fights from 15 rounds to 12, and heeding on the recommendation of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the number of ring ropes was increased from five to six in order to prevent the common incident of seeing fighters falling off the ring. In 1987, the WBA and the IBF followed suit, while the WBO immediately implemented the new rules when it was formed in 1988. To ensure optimum health care for the fighters, boxers are now made to undergo pre-fight medical check ups such as lung tests, brain tests, and electrocardiograms. Prior to the Kim – Mancini tragedy, fighters’ medical requirements were used to be on blood pressure and heart beat checks only.
The story of his life had permeated through popular culture. A movie “Champion” brought Kim’s life into the big screen starred by the well-liked Korean actor Yu Oh Seong, and so named in his honor, several songs were recorded by Mark Kozelek of Red House Painters. In a Warren Zevon song titled “Boom Boom Mancini,” Kim is mentioned as well.
Kim was 23. But in his very short-lived life, he was able to tell the world that millions of people could not do even if they’re allowed to live twice their lifetimes – it is on what courage is all about. That is what made Duk Koo Kim champion forever.
