By Victor Lee
Photos: Eun-Sang Cho

In boxing, as in any other art, it is fascinating to consider how one artist influences another. In some cases the influences are immediately apparent—in others, they are not as easily discerned. One need look no further than the second nom de guerre of South Korea’s only world-ranked professional boxer, IBF #13 Ye-Joon Kim (14-1-2, 7 KOs), to find his fistic inspirations: “Pacquiweather.”

Indeed the 24-year-old Kim seems as much to have grown out of his first ring name—“Troublemaker”—as he is growing into the second. This spelled bad luck for tonight’s challenger, who has an apt moniker of his own: Yuki “Strong” Kobayashi (10-5, 5 KOs) of Osaka, Japan.

Departing from the recent South Korean trend of holding boxing events in boondocks public school gymnasiums, the promoters of tonight’s show went Gangnam Style, setting up shop in a happening outdoor complex south of the river. Though kerosene-heated tents were provided for the fighters, high production value made for a cold Autumn night of knockouts with six out of ten bouts ending inside the scheduled distance.

The main event pitted Kim against Kobayashi for the IBF Asia Jr. Featherweight Title match over 12 rounds. Kim came into the bout 5-0, 4 KOs against Japanese opposition, with two of those wins in Japan. For Kobayashi, it was his first match outside Western Japan, and first foreign opponent.

Kim, a unique fighter, remains a puzzle unsolved. Though a bit short in stature at this weight, he has demonstrated physical excellence, high-level ring craft (both defensive and offensive skills) and intelligence. His style, flowing from his nickname, is a unique fusion of the best qualities of his idols, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. He thus throws fast combinations from unpredictable angles, and has achieved near untouchability with the shoulder-roll defense. He has a way of backing into a corner and making opponents miss punch after punch that makes his fans shriek with delight and his detractors shout with rage. Either way, you either love him or hate him—or both. Vergil Puton has been the only fighter to come close to solving the Kim puzzle, swarming all over him in a very close bout in March, 2015, which Kim won by split decision (had the bout been held in the Philippines, Puton would likely have won).

This evening, Kim came into the ring with both his IBF strap and the green WBC Youth Title belt he won in Kanazawa, Japan in 2014 by ninth round stoppage over Akihiro Matsumoto. Kobayashi, whose nickname derives from his reputation as a formidable puncher, was stopped in two rounds by Takahiro Yamamoto last New Year’s Eve in his first title shot, a bid for the OPBF bantamweight belt. After the ring entrances, the battle of the national anthem singers ensued. Takashi Edagawa, promoter, manager and chief second of Kobayashi, held his own with the professional Korean vocalist, belting out a resonant version of the Japanese national anthem.

Kobayashi, looking as though he had done his homework, started off aggressively, targeting the elusive Kim’s body. Halfway through round one, Kim switched to a southpaw stance and hurt Kobayashi with lightning-fast straight left counters upstairs. Kobayashi rebounded in round two, tagging Kim with uppercuts to the body and head. Kim started off round three in the southpaw stance. Kobayashi ripped in solid lefts to the body, but Kim took back the momentum, again with the straight left (both leads and counters), snapping Kobayashi’s head back and rocking him onto his heels. In round four, Kobayashi connected with a crushing right hook to Kim’s ribs, following up with a left uppercut to the head. Kim countered with multiple straight lefts to the head.

Settling into his southpaw stance, Kim opened round five with a series of counter straight lefts, eliciting oohs and aahs from the crowd. Kim proved very effective in the southpaw stance, and just couldn’t miss with the straight lefts. Urged by his corner to forget about the head and go for the body, Kobayashi struck back with a hard left uppercut to the liver, but Kim turned things around again with the straight left off the southpaw one-two.

In round six, Kim switched it up, landing the straight left again, but this time off the right hook. Kobayashi returned fire with a hard right to the body, then landed a rare straight right of his own upstairs. Kim then went mobile. Displaying agile footwork, Kim caught Kobayashi with lead straight lefts as he stepped in, then spun around his charges like a seasoned matador, setting him up for more straight left leads. Having found his timing, Kim stung Kobayashi and bloodied his nose with straight left counters in round seven. Kobayashi upped the pressure, moving forward and landing some decent shots of his own, but Kim took the round with ring generalship, timing and precision.

Coming out more aggressively in round eight, Kim landed straight lefts, southpaw one-twos, and a counter left uppercut. Kobayashi, his nose even bloodier, soldiered on. At one point Kobayashi appeared to land a punch and Kim went down, but referee Zhang Xudong ruled this a slip. Kobayashi had more success with a sustained, aggressive body attack in round nine, but once Kim switched back to southpaw, he scored with a huge counter straight left, again shifting the flow of the bout in his favor. Undeterred, the strong man from Osaka pushed forward persistently, opening up round ten even more aggressively. In this round the two boxers traded blows evenly, though Kim might have stolen it with a sharp counter straight left just before the bell. Entering the championship rounds, Kobayashi, sensing he may need a knockout to win, came out full-bore in round eleven, connecting with some decent shots on Kim. At this point Kim went into Mayweather mode, backing into the neutral corner, goading Kobayashi on, dodging and shoulder-rolling the majority of his punches as the crowd roared in excitement. While Kim showboated and provided plenty of antics, he brought the offensive gusto as well, scoring with six-punch lead upper-straight combinations.

In the final round Kobayashi blasted forward, unloading on Kim Piston Horiguchi-style, both fists churning furiously. Hands at his sides, Kim put on a defensive exhibition, riding the majority of Kobayashi’s fusillades and returning fire with multiple one-two, upper, straight right combinations. Although Kim got hit, he anticipated Kobayashi’s punches so well that he rode most of them effortlessly, finishing the bout taunting Kobayashi with his hands behind his back. The scorecards read 117-112, 119-110, 116-112, all in favor of Kim, who rises to 15-1-2, 7 KOs, and who will likely secure a world title shot in the next year or two. Kobayashi, who falls to 10-6, 5 KOs, should grow even stronger from this experience.

Undercard:

In the semifinal bout, Hyun Sunwoo (4-3-2, 3 KOs) met Min-Seok Choi (3-4-2, 2 KOs) for the vacant KBF Super Bantamweight Title over 10 rounds. Sunwoo, who fought veteran Mongolian Choi Tseveenpurev to a draw back in 2014, looked much sharper from the outset. This was no surprise, considering Choi, who lost his bid for the Korean featherweight title in March, struggled to make weight. Bottoming out around a pound over on his second try, Choi was forced to wear 10 ounce gloves, and looked in poor condition. The hungry Sunwoo wasted no time, dropping Choi twice with straight rights to the noggin, then sinking him for the third and last time with a straight right, left hook combination for the KO victory at 2:37 of round one.

In an eight-round match just over the super lightweight limit, power punching In-Duk Suh (7-0, 4 KOs) took on gallant Jae-Sun Kim (4-3-2, 2 KOs). A tall boxer-puncher, Suh sent Kim down right at the bell ending round one with a left hook to the temple. In round two, Kim bounced back energetically, connecting with some good shots, but then Suh, who has true one-punch power, collapsed Kim again with the same left hook to the temple for the KO win at 2:29.

In a rare encounter of Korean big men, tall, straight-punching Hyung-Tae Kim (2-0,) faced off with barrel-chested fireplug Dong-Jun Son (0-2) over four at cruiserweight. Considering their contrasting physical traits, this looked like it would be a classic Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier bust-up. Unfortunately for Son, however, he didn’t combine relentless forward movement and left hooks with constant shuck-and-jive head movement, making it easy for Kim to control him from distance. Kim took advantage of Son’s tentativeness, boxing his ears off with the jab and side-to-side movement. Growing more and more confident, Kim battered the backward moving Son on the ropes, staggering him. When Son did move forward and throw, the audience caught glimpses of what might have been, but he was never able to connect solidly or put together a sustained attack. Kim bashed Son on the ropes again in round three, rocking him and bloodying his nose with energetic combinations, but Son refused to go down. With Kim chastising Son on the ropes again in the final round, the referee stopped the action and it looked like the fight might be over. However, Son, whose nose was bleeding severely, was allowed to continue, and toughed it out until the final gong. Kim won a unanimous decision.

In a dramatic four-round encounter at super middleweight, Oh-Kun Noh (0-1) dropped Jin-Su Kim (1-0, 1 KO) hard with a straight right to the head in the opening round, causing some serious damage, and administered a one-sided beat-down for the remainder of the round. Round two was close, but by round three Noh was completely exhausted. Kim landed a sizzling one-two, then followed up with two-fisted barrages, knocking Noh out at 1:38 of the third.

In the most entertaining undercard fight of the night, a four-rounder just under the featherweight limit, Hyun-Ho Cha (3-2-1, 2 KOs) duked it out with Chan-Young Yook (2-1, 2 KOs). Cha was incredibly aggressive from the outset, plowing forward, head-first. In the second round of trench warfare, Cha stunned Yook with a combination, and Yook’s corner threw in the towel for the Cha KO victory at 2:20. In this battle between two prodigious sluggers, Cha’s granite chin made the difference.

In a four-rounder just over the super bantamweight limit, Seung-Hyun Lee (1-1) used his size and reach advantage effectively, dominating Ki-Chang Koh (0-2) with his jab for the 3-0 decision.

In a four-round bantamweight contest, Young-Sang Yuh (1-0, 1 KO) stopped Se-Jung Cho (0-1) at 2:24 of round one.

In a super lightweight slug-out, brawlers Yong-In Cho (3-2-1) and Kyu-Bum Chun (2-2-2) collided over four rounds in a very close fight. Even after three, Cho’s aggressiveness in round four proved the deciding factor, earning him the victory on points.

In a four-round light heavyweight bout, Duk-No Yoon (1-0, 1 KO), who has campaigned as both a kick boxer and MMA fighter, crumpled Se-Kyung Oh with a single straight right for the KO triumph at 1:12 of round one.

Venue: Garden 5, Seoul, South Korea
Promoter: Buffalo Promotion, Chul Jang