Fightnews.com

By Victor Lee
Photos: Mi-Kyung Lee

While boxing events and overall interest in the sport have waned in our country over the past several years, South Korea’s governing bodies have proliferated, resulting in no fewer than four national commissions, including the KBC, KBF, KBA, and KPBF. In contrast, though a much bigger nation, the JBC remains the sole national commission of our neighbor to the East, Japan.

Today’s matches marked the debut of a new organization, Korean Boxing Management (KBM), under whose purview fans were treated to several competitive, exciting matches. The KBM is not a commission, but an umbrella organization under which various boxing gym owners have banded together. While the KBM is in some respects similar to the JPBA (Japan Professional Boxing Association), its members are now actively engaged in promoting their own boxing events apart from any local commission.

Today’s bouts took place in Gapyung, the site of a brutal Korean War battle that pitted largely Australian and Canadian forces against those of China and North Korea, now an idyllic little town cradled by mountains, the flowing Han river and clean air.

The co-main events featured local pugilists Juhyun Jung and Sanghoo Kil, both fighting out of the Chuncheon Art Boxing Gym, owned by former Korean Middleweight Champion and OPBF title challenger Kyunghoon Lee. Lee—the George Foreman of Korea—is somewhat of a celebrity in Korea for having won the national title at the age of 40.

Former Korean flyweight champion Jung (6-3-1, 2 KOs) faced off against Gwangsik Na (2-6, 1 KO) for the vacant KBM bantamweight title, while Kil (4-4-2, 1 KO) took on Jungmin Pyun (1-7) for the vacant KBM featherweight title. Interestingly enough, both Jung and Kil were coming off points losses in Japan. For Jung, however, this was a long-awaited return after completing his mandatory two-year military service.

Filipino and Japanese fans may remember Jung for giving former world champion Malcolm Tunacao all he could handle over eight hot rounds in Kyoto in May of 2014.

Today, at just 23, Jung demonstrated a ring wisdom and composure beyond his years from the opening rounds, effortlessly slipping punches and landing jolting jabs, lead right hooks to the head, right crosses and left hooks to the body. The taller Na, coming off a highly disputed points loss for the super flyweight title bout in July, proved a tough customer, much more skilled than his record might indicate, and eager to turn things into a slugfest. In the middle rounds Jung, too eager to trade, hung in the pocket with his hands down a little too long and got clipped with a couple rights to the head. Once into round six, however, Jung began to employ speed, footwork and head movement to excellent effect, gliding elusively around the ring behind a piercing lead left and occasional right hand trip-hammer, spinning Na off balance and turning his nose in to a gusher until the final bell. An energetic performer and one of the brightest young prospects in Korea, Jung earned his second national title by scores of 98-93, 99-93, 99-92, rising to 7-3-1, 2 KOs. The gutsy but limited Na slips to 2-7, 1 KO.

In the co-main event, Sanghoo Kil started off fast against game but outgunned Jungmin Pyun in a rematch of their October 15 non-title bout, which Kil won by first round TKO. Although Kil had Yasuyuki Otagaki hurt to the body in their April 17th bout in Kobe, he failed to capitalize and was outpointed over eight. Still, Kil appeared to have learned something from this bout in Japan. Against Otagaki, his jab was almost non-existent, but today, against Pyun, it was sharp and fast, paving the way for follow-up left hooks, often doubled and tripled, under and over and right hands to the head. In round three a Kil left hook immediately raised a lump under Pyun’s right eye. By mid-round, both of Pyun’s eyes were swollen. Pyun, to his credit, fired back, landing some solid head shots that kept Kil honest, making him circle out of harm’s way. Early in round six, however, Kil dropped Pyun with a right to the head. Pyun rose to fight, but never quite recovered, his body language indicating he was still compromised. Kil, moving in for the kill, upped his tempo, but was thrown off by Pyun’s defensive feints and counter punches. Switching to a full-on body attack, Kil doubled-up Pyun with intense left and right uppercuts to the body, finally catching him up against the ropes with a picture-perfect left hook to the point of the chin, jarring his head to the left as his body went in the other direction, then crumpled to the canvas at 2’49” of round six. Elated, Kil rises to 5-4-2, 2 KOs. Jungmin Pyun, who won over the crowd with his skill and determination, drops to 1-8.

Undercard:

The final undercard match of the day, a four round super middleweight (74 kg) encounter, pitted energetic 18 year-old Youngje Kim (2-0), against Hongjoo Park (0-3), a graduate student in Statistics at Yonsei University. Park, whose previous two bouts were at the super lightweight limit, had stepped in the squared circle as a replacement on two weeks notice. Even so, he got off to a quick start behind long straight punches, pushing Kim back into the ropes and firing off short right uppercuts. Kim, however, quickly turned the tide, bashing Park in the breadbasket and forcing him to cover up with multiple shots upstairs. In round two Park found his range from distance with the two-one, snapping Kim’s head back, then followed up by grinding Kim against the ropes. Kim rebounded in round three behind more body shots, and Park, again working well from distance, appeared to land the more effective blows in the final stanza. Overall, Park landed the cleaner shots, but Kim threw far more punches. While Park caught many of these on his gloves, the judges valued Kim’s volume and sustained aggression, deeming him the winner by majority decision scores of 39-37, 39-37, 38-38.

In the second bout of the day, boxing fans witnessed an entertaining four-round tactical battle between super lightweights, as Seungjoon Lee (1-1) and Dongkyoo Huh (1-1, 1 KO), despite their records, displayed impressive boxing skills. The two appeared evenly matched from the outset, until it became clear that Huh, a skilled counter-puncher, had trouble with Lee’s hand speed, and was dropped in round one near the ropes by a right hook to the head. Huh had a brief resurgence in round three, reestablishing his timing and landing clean counters on Lee. Lee then regrouped and battered Huh near the blue corner, landing shot after unanswered shot. Round four saw more of the same. With Huh in survival mode, Lee’s hand was raised to the scores of 39-36, 39-35 and 40-36.

In the opening bout of the day, rugged first-timer Hwangkil Kim (1-0) took on tall and lanky debuting 17 year-old Hanmin Choi (0-1) in a rip-roaring four round bout just over the welterweight limit. Kim weaved in behind a solid left jab, bloodying Choi’s nose and landing hooks to the body and head. Choi had his moments, making use of his height and reach to pop the jab from distance, but Kim controlled the action in most rounds, staggering Choi with right hooks to the head. Tall man Choi hung in there, rocking Kim with a right to the head at the final bell, but it was too little too late, as Kim logged his first victory by scores of 39-37, 39-38, 40-36.

Venue: Gapyung Middle School, Gapyung, South Korea
Promoter: Art Promotion, Kyunghoon Lee