Duk Koo Kim
Kim, Duk-Koo (January 8, 1959 – November 17, 1982) was a South Korean boxer whose death from injuries suffered during a match against Ray Mancini changed the sport of boxing in many ways.
The story
Kim was a popular 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 had not 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 his homeland.
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. Prophetically, he wrote the message "live or die" on his Las Vegas hotel lamp shade only days before the bout (Kim wrote "live or die" but a mistaken translation led to "kill or be killed" being reported in the media). He even had a mini-coffin brought to his hotel room.
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. The profile of the incident was heightened by the fight having been televised live in the United States.
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.
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. Kim's mother would take her own life four months after the fight. The bout's referee, Richard Green, committed suicide July 1, 1983.
Four weeks after the fight, the WBA Heavyweight Championship bout between Mike Weaver and Michael Dokes, with Joey Curtis as referee at the same venue resulted in controversy.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission informed Curtis to be aware of both fighters' health during the match. Dokes came out fast and dropped Weaver inside the opening minute. As Weaver covered up on the ropes and Dokes missed a few swings, referee Joey Curtis stopped the fight at 1:03, awarding the win to Dokes. Officials questioned the timing of the stoppage, ordering a rematch five months later, with Dokes retaining the title after a draw.
Kim left behind a fiancée, Young Mee Lee, who was pregnant at the time with their son, Chi Wan Kim, who was born in July 1983
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 are injured more severely during rounds 13, 14 and 15, and defense was lacking as fighters began going after the head in many of the contests in those three rounds, as defense was nonexistent. That led to the Nevada State Athletic Commission recommending, and the WBC was the first organisation, 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.
Another safety rule implemented by recommendation of the Nevada State Athletic Commission's ordered an additional ring rope to prevent fighters falling from the ring and through the ropes to the present five.
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 (TKO) and the fight ends.
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 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
