Life and Boxing Career
Kim was born in Gangwon province, South Korea, 100 miles east of Seoul, the youngest of five children. His father died when he was two and his mother married three more times. Kim grew up poor. He worked odd jobs such as shoeshine boy and tour guide before getting into boxing in 1976. After compiling a 29–4 amateur record, he turned professional in 1978. In February 1982, he won the Orient and Pacific Boxing Federation lightweight title and became the World Boxing Association's #1 contender. Kim carried a 17–1–1 professional record into the Mancini fight and had won 8 bouts by KO before flying to Las Vegas in the WBA as the world's number 1 challenger to world lightweight champion Mancini. However, he had fought outside of South Korea only once before, in Indonesia. It was his first time ever fighting in North America.
Read more about this topic: Duk Koo Kim
Famous quotes containing the words life, boxing and/or career:
“I declare
Two lineages electrify the air,
That will like pennons from a mast
Fly over sleep and life and death
Till sun is powerless to decoy
A single seed above the earth:
Lineage of sorrow: lineage of joy....”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“... to paint with oil paints for the first time ... is like trying to make something exquisitely accurate and microscopically clear out of mud pies with boxing gloves on.”
—Brenda Ueland (1891–1985)
“I’ve been in the twilight of my career longer than most people have had their career.”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)