Joonie73
12-13-2003, 12:48 AM
I posted this elsewhere. But some may still find it of interest:
"In the past, I have tried to introduce to the forum members (or tried to deepen their understanding of) a few great or near-great Asian fighters: Fighting Harada, Jung-Koo Chang, Masao Ohba, Hiroyuki Ebihara, Chan-Hee Park, Sung-Kil Moon, Jiro Watanabe, et al. I have also talked about the more obscure Asian fighters who had talents that promised greatness but were thwarted for one reason or another: Chung-Il Choi, Kwang-Sun Kim, Hi-Sup Shin, Kang-Il Suh, et al. But today I am going for a change of pace & introducing the readers to a fighter who was truly mediocre & yet will be remembered more kindly by history than he deserves. Indeed, if anyone's career is "misleading" it is that of the fighter of whom soon you will hear about.
Let us consider the man's paper record. He lost only thrice in his career & defended his world title 5 times. Sounds good you say? Why is the man so "truly mediocre," you ask? Was it "competition," Joonie's favorite bugbear, you ask? No, not at all. The man faced arguably 2 of the top 5 guys in the division's history & beat them both, including the man some (including the august panelists here) consider the #1 guy. Gifts? Yes & maybe. But he did knock 1 of them out persuasively! He can't be that bad, can he? Knockouts are always legit, right? Ah, but one can have a "gift" of a different kind. Indeed, this man was lucky throughout his career in so many ways; indeed one could use the adjectives "lucky" & "accidental" to describe his entire career. Let us begin.
The man is Chul-Ho Kim, the former WBC Super Flyweight champion & I believe still the youngest Korean ever to win a world title. To begin with, he had stunningly mediocre tools. Absolutely zero power in either hand & seriously lacking in either hand or foot speed. Technique? The man had the skills of today's premium heavyweights & maybe I slander the Tuas of the world by making the comparison. The best I can say about the man was, well, he was tough & well-conditioned. So what happened?
He stumbled upon a world title shot, you gussed it!, "accidentally." Another Korean fighter was to fight Rafael Orono, the man whom Kim conquered to win the title: Seung-Hoon Lee. Because of the utterly bizarre & controversial nature of Lee's original fight with Orono (which is a story unto itself), Lee & Orono were supposed to face off yet again. The trouble is, Lee couldn't make the weight & had to move up. Lee's promoter then thought up this bright idea. Hey, WBC & Orono, because of the crap that went on in the Lee fight, you damn owe me a match, Lee or no. So take one of my fighters as Orono's challenger in place of Lee! WBC & Orono relented & thus Kim got his title shot. Of course, needless to say, Kim was entirely undeserving of a title shot; in fact, I believe he wasn't even ranked before the negotiations for the fight took place!
Now, no one gave Kim a shot, probably not even Kim's mother. And the fight unfolded according to everyone's expectation. Orono was very good & Kim was beyond out-classed. He lost every round up till the faithful 9th round. Those who watched the fight & didn't know about the circumstances must have been saying: "Where did they get this bum?" "How did he get a title shot, indeed?" Then a seemingly harmless body blow strikes Orono & Orono runs to the corner & starts writhing in pain. WTF?!!! Even the Korean announcers don't know what is going on & Orono is counted out. Again, WTF?!!! Well, it turns out that Mr. Orono had a serious intestinal surgery not much before the Kim fight & didn't postpone because he took, deservedly so, Kim so lightly.
So Kim was double lucky in landing the shot & landing the outrageously lucky punch.
But Kim's luck didn't run out there.
Knowing Kim's limitations, his promoter did his best to secure Kim the most harmless opponents. First up was Jiro Watanabe, who was unknown at that point & rather under-developed as well. So Kim was lucky to get a very raw Watanabe. But still, Kim struggled terribly & got a gift decision where he was able to at least win the last few rounds on his own conditioning & Watanabe's inexperience.
Next was I believe his mandatory, Willie Jensen. Now Jensen wasn't special but he wasn't that bad; well, at least he was a mandatory. And surprisingly Kim's conditioning pulled through & he finally won a legitimate victory over a decent fighter.
Next up were 2 rather atrocious Japanese challengers, Maruyama & Ishii, both of whom Kim knocked out.
Then came another would be another "sure thing" softie challenger in the Maruyama-Ishii mold, Raul Valdez. But when you are as bad as Kim, there is no such thing as a "sure thing." Valdez beat the crap out of Kim, only to get an outrageous "draw." The 2nd gift among Kim's 5 successful defenses.
Alas, all good or lucky things come to an end. Kim's 6th defense was a rematch with Rafael Orono, sans the intestinal surgery. To give you an idea of how little esteem the locals held for Kim, the local boxing public were giving Kim virtually no chance, in spite of the fact that you have a champion with 5 defenses facing someone he's knocked out! And indeed, just as in that lucky night in Venezuela, Kim lost every round, except that the fight ended in him getting knocked out this time.
Kim retired at an absurdly young age of 22."
[ December 13, 2003, 01:57 AM: Message edited by: Joonie73 ]
"In the past, I have tried to introduce to the forum members (or tried to deepen their understanding of) a few great or near-great Asian fighters: Fighting Harada, Jung-Koo Chang, Masao Ohba, Hiroyuki Ebihara, Chan-Hee Park, Sung-Kil Moon, Jiro Watanabe, et al. I have also talked about the more obscure Asian fighters who had talents that promised greatness but were thwarted for one reason or another: Chung-Il Choi, Kwang-Sun Kim, Hi-Sup Shin, Kang-Il Suh, et al. But today I am going for a change of pace & introducing the readers to a fighter who was truly mediocre & yet will be remembered more kindly by history than he deserves. Indeed, if anyone's career is "misleading" it is that of the fighter of whom soon you will hear about.
Let us consider the man's paper record. He lost only thrice in his career & defended his world title 5 times. Sounds good you say? Why is the man so "truly mediocre," you ask? Was it "competition," Joonie's favorite bugbear, you ask? No, not at all. The man faced arguably 2 of the top 5 guys in the division's history & beat them both, including the man some (including the august panelists here) consider the #1 guy. Gifts? Yes & maybe. But he did knock 1 of them out persuasively! He can't be that bad, can he? Knockouts are always legit, right? Ah, but one can have a "gift" of a different kind. Indeed, this man was lucky throughout his career in so many ways; indeed one could use the adjectives "lucky" & "accidental" to describe his entire career. Let us begin.
The man is Chul-Ho Kim, the former WBC Super Flyweight champion & I believe still the youngest Korean ever to win a world title. To begin with, he had stunningly mediocre tools. Absolutely zero power in either hand & seriously lacking in either hand or foot speed. Technique? The man had the skills of today's premium heavyweights & maybe I slander the Tuas of the world by making the comparison. The best I can say about the man was, well, he was tough & well-conditioned. So what happened?
He stumbled upon a world title shot, you gussed it!, "accidentally." Another Korean fighter was to fight Rafael Orono, the man whom Kim conquered to win the title: Seung-Hoon Lee. Because of the utterly bizarre & controversial nature of Lee's original fight with Orono (which is a story unto itself), Lee & Orono were supposed to face off yet again. The trouble is, Lee couldn't make the weight & had to move up. Lee's promoter then thought up this bright idea. Hey, WBC & Orono, because of the crap that went on in the Lee fight, you damn owe me a match, Lee or no. So take one of my fighters as Orono's challenger in place of Lee! WBC & Orono relented & thus Kim got his title shot. Of course, needless to say, Kim was entirely undeserving of a title shot; in fact, I believe he wasn't even ranked before the negotiations for the fight took place!
Now, no one gave Kim a shot, probably not even Kim's mother. And the fight unfolded according to everyone's expectation. Orono was very good & Kim was beyond out-classed. He lost every round up till the faithful 9th round. Those who watched the fight & didn't know about the circumstances must have been saying: "Where did they get this bum?" "How did he get a title shot, indeed?" Then a seemingly harmless body blow strikes Orono & Orono runs to the corner & starts writhing in pain. WTF?!!! Even the Korean announcers don't know what is going on & Orono is counted out. Again, WTF?!!! Well, it turns out that Mr. Orono had a serious intestinal surgery not much before the Kim fight & didn't postpone because he took, deservedly so, Kim so lightly.
So Kim was double lucky in landing the shot & landing the outrageously lucky punch.
But Kim's luck didn't run out there.
Knowing Kim's limitations, his promoter did his best to secure Kim the most harmless opponents. First up was Jiro Watanabe, who was unknown at that point & rather under-developed as well. So Kim was lucky to get a very raw Watanabe. But still, Kim struggled terribly & got a gift decision where he was able to at least win the last few rounds on his own conditioning & Watanabe's inexperience.
Next was I believe his mandatory, Willie Jensen. Now Jensen wasn't special but he wasn't that bad; well, at least he was a mandatory. And surprisingly Kim's conditioning pulled through & he finally won a legitimate victory over a decent fighter.
Next up were 2 rather atrocious Japanese challengers, Maruyama & Ishii, both of whom Kim knocked out.
Then came another would be another "sure thing" softie challenger in the Maruyama-Ishii mold, Raul Valdez. But when you are as bad as Kim, there is no such thing as a "sure thing." Valdez beat the crap out of Kim, only to get an outrageous "draw." The 2nd gift among Kim's 5 successful defenses.
Alas, all good or lucky things come to an end. Kim's 6th defense was a rematch with Rafael Orono, sans the intestinal surgery. To give you an idea of how little esteem the locals held for Kim, the local boxing public were giving Kim virtually no chance, in spite of the fact that you have a champion with 5 defenses facing someone he's knocked out! And indeed, just as in that lucky night in Venezuela, Kim lost every round, except that the fight ended in him getting knocked out this time.
Kim retired at an absurdly young age of 22."
[ December 13, 2003, 01:57 AM: Message edited by: Joonie73 ]