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13th November 2020
By: BOXING GURU
Just 6 months after Ray boom boom Mancini had “served his purpose” by winning the WBA world lightweight title in 1982, he took on number 1 ranked South Korean Duk-Koo Kim in a brutal battle that sadly became one of boxing’s tragedies and changed our sport forever – watch below.
Ray Mancini was brought up in a boxing family. His father Lenny, at one time, the number 1 contender in the talented lightweight division. His dreams of a world title shot were shattered in November of 1944, near the French town of Metz, when he was hit with shrapnel from a German mortar shell.
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“I didn’t win ’em all,” Lenny Mancini would often tell his son. “But I never took a step back.”
During the build-up to the Duk-Koo fight, Ray Mancini knew he was in a battle, he expected to ‘eat a few’ and go toe to toe, “We’re going to have a war, no doubt about it.”
Although not exceptionally skilled as a young boxer, Duk-Koo Kim’s coach recalls his grit and sheer bloody-mindedness which came from his tough and poverty-stricken background. “He was more strong-willed and ruthless than the others,”
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Duk-Koo’s fiance Young-mi, who was pregnant at the time with his son (Jiwan) did not travel to the USA due to ancient Asian prohibition against fighters taking lovers and so was forced to watch from home without saying a final goodbye.
Kim had made news himself with intemperate remarks that he would beat Ray Mancini, with only one of them returning home alive.“ Either he dies,” Duk-Koo said, “or I die.”
Mancini is 5’6″ tall, the same as Kim. Mancini fought low. Kim fought lower. Mancini is righthanded, Kim lefthanded. There was a quarter-inch difference in reach, a half-pound in weight, little difference in power, and absolutely none in approach.
The build-up and fight talk pointed everything towards a violent affair, and so it proved – watch the full fight below.
Broadcasted live on CBS in the USA, the fight, scheduled for 15, started as expected at a frantic pace with both men having success and the template of the fight established. Toe to toe, the second provided more of the same, neither man stepping back or able to hold the center and exert their dominance. The third was even more explosive and the raucous crowd was on their feet. Mancini’s ear was ripped open and one of his left hooks caught the top of Kim’s head which resulted in a badly hurt hand that swelled to twice its normal size.
The mid-rounds saw the same level of action. As one man looked to take the initiative, the other would come straight back with a combination of his own. A flurry from the Korean hurt Mancini in the 6th forcing the champion to retreat to the ropes, but he used all his experience to hold and ride the short wave.
Ray Mancini later admitted he’d considered throwing in the towel during the bout – “My body wanted to shut down, my body wanted to stop, but my mind wouldn’t allow it. That’s the old saying, the body’s the army but the mind’s the general. The body will do whatever the mind tells it to do.”
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Despite the scorecards being dead even, as they entered the later rounds Mancini began to dominate, using his superior physical conditioning to determine the fight. The 10th saw the champion back Kim up to the ropes as the southpaw challenger although still game, showed signs of fatigue. This pattern continued and Mancini caught Kim with a crushing uppercut in the 11th that caused his knee to briefly touch the canvas but he quickly regained his footing and was not seen by the referee. Winning the 12th comfortably, Mancini raced out in the 13th looking to finish the job. Over 50 unanswered punches and over a minute before Kim threw his first punch but he did well to hang on and see out the round.
The champion ran out again for the 14th round, Kim’s depleted body could sustain no more punishment. Mancini stunned Kim with two left hooks to the chin followed up with a straight right which sent him onto his back. Although brave Kim somehow managed to pull himself onto his feet, referee Richard Greene who had officiated several major bouts (including Ray Mancini’s world title win against Arturo Frias, Muhammad Ali vs Larry Holmes and Wilfred Benitez vs Roberto Duran) stepped in to end the fight.
Ralph Wiley of Sports Illustrated, covering the fight, would later recall Kim pulling himself up the ropes as he was dying as “one of the greatest physical feats I had ever witnessed”
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Just moments after the fight was over, Kim collapsed into a coma and was rushed to hospital where he died 5 days later from his head injuries.
The aftermath left Duk-Koo’s grieving mother so devastated that she committed suicide 4 months later by drinking a bottle pesticide and referee Richard Greene sadly did the same a few months later although only speculation linked his suicide to the tragic event.
Mancini himself endured a prolonged period of depression and, although he fought again, he was never quite the same. Promoter, Bob Arum later said of Mancini: “He was never the same fighter. He just didn’t have the thing that made him who he was. He was never as aggressive. He never threw the punches with the reckless abandon that he used to. He was shaken to his core.”
Ray Mancini later made peace with the Kim family in South Korea “She [his Fiance] was so gracious, so wonderful, it made me feel so loving, that it let me know that she never held anything against me. She was always hoping I would find peace, and be able to live with peace. It was just wonderful.”
The bout proved to be watershed in boxing, triggering a series of major changes to the sport. A somber Bob Arum called for the suspension of professional boxing for a few months while a blue-ribbon panel of medical experts studied the safety of fighters in the ring. “It is the height of irresponsibility to allow this to happen, and the old excuses are not working.” Championship bouts were reduced from 15 to 12 rounds, the standing eight count was introduced, and fighters had to undergo more stringent medical tests before a match.
When we look back, had Leonard’s first fight with Thomas Hearns been a 12-round battle, it is Hearns’ hand that would have been raised. Had Rocky Marciano’s first fight with Jersey Joe Walcott been a 12-round affair rather than 15, he would not have retired as the only undefeated heavyweight champion in boxing history. This tragic fight changed boxing forever and although we lost Kim, many lives have since been saved in his name.
R.I.P Duk-Koo Kim.
