Kim Duk-koo

Kim Duk-koo
Data
Birth Name	Kim Duk-koo
Weight class	lightweight
nationality	South Korean
birthday	January 8, 1959
place of birth	Banamri
Date of death	November 18, 1982
Place of death	Las Vegas
style	Legal display
Combat Statistics
Struggles	20th
Victories	17th
Knockout victories	8th
Defeats	2
draw	1

Kim Duk-koo (also Duk Koo Kim ; born January 8, 1959 in Banamri , † November 18, 1982 in Las Vegas ) was a South Korean boxer .

Professional career

Korean spelling
Hangeul	김득구
Hanja	金 得 九
Revised Romanization	Gim Deuk-gu
McCune- Reischauer	Kim Tŭkku
See also : Korean name

South Korean southpaw Kim became a professional lightweight in 1978 and won 17 of his first 18 fights in South Korea against internationally unknown opponents, the best record of an opponent was that of Kim Kwang-min with 21-3. He did not have much clout, which is proven by the relatively low knockout rate.

Nevertheless, he finally boxed his way to first position in the ranking of the WBA Association and was thus able to challenge the defending champion Ray Mancini in the USA . The fight took place on November 13, 1982 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. He had major weight problems and had to lose a lot of weight to keep the limit. In his hotel room he wrote in his diary "Kill or be killed". The action-packed duel was initially even, until Mancini began to dominate in the second half of the fight, finally defending his title in the fourteenth round by knockout.

A few minutes after the end of the fight, Kim collapsed, fell into a coma and was taken to a hospital, where he underwent emergency brain surgery. But his life could no longer be saved and he died five days after the fight. The referee Richard Green (* 1936/37 - † July 1, 1983) and Kim's mother committed suicide a few months later.

In response to these events, professional boxing was reformed in the USA. The maximum number of rounds was reduced from 15 to 12 and comprehensive medical examinations such as EKG , brain and lung tests were made mandatory before boxing matches.

In 2002, Kwak Kyung-taek made the film Champion about his life in South Korea .

Web links

• Kim Duk-koo in the BoxRec database
• Champion in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Kim is the family name here, Duk-koo is the first name.