42 years ago, a brutal World Cup fight against US favorite Ray Mancini ended in the death of Duk-koo Kim and two other tragedies. They changed the sport dramatically.
This boxing match was hard to beat in terms of tragedy: On November 13, 1982, Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini defeated the Korean Duk-koo Kim in Las Vegas in a fight for the lightweight world title. Kim died four days after the fight as a result of the fight, the drama spawned two more tragedies and changed the boxing world forever.
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The Korean was not the first boxer to lose his life in the ring. Nevertheless, the way in which he went beyond his personal limits in the fight caused great discussion in the weeks and months after the fight. He had duel with Mancini for a whopping 14 laps and was barely able to put up any resistance, especially in the final laps.
Boxers fight over 14 rounds
The fight between Kim and the extremely popular Ray Mancini in the USA, who defended his WBA belt against the Korean for the second time, developed into a brutal battle from the first round in which both fighters tried to get close to the opponent without much defense. to knock down the other person with hard blows.
Both fighters delivered hard blows, both to the body and to the head of the opponent. The fighters staggered several times after the hard impacts. The 10,000 spectators in front of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas and the millions of people in front of the TV sets – CBS broadcast the spectacle live on national TV – were thrilled by the brutal confrontation.
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Gil Clancy, the for CBS who was working as a boxing analyst at the time, already suspected something bad in the sixth round: “Something will happen in this fight. Either one of the fighters will get a laceration from a punch or send the other one very badly to the boards.”
And that’s exactly what happened: In the 14th of 15 rounds it was clear that Kim had never had to box over such a distance before. The Korean just staggered around the ring. After a combination of punches, Mancini sent his opponent to the ground with a crashing right. Although Kim tried to pull herself back to her feet using the ropes, referee Richard Green stopped the fight.
The victorious Mancini celebrated his victory, unaware of the tragic consequences of the fight, but just a few minutes after the end the sporting outcome was completely in the background.
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Kim collapses and dies in the hospital
Kim collapsed shortly after the fight and had to be carried out of the ring on a stretcher. How Sports Illustrated reported that the Korean was only breathing four times per minute on the way to the hospital.
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When she arrived at Desert Springs Hospital, Kim underwent emergency surgery. The Korean had a blood clot measuring almost 100 cubic centimeters removed from the right side of his brain in a two and a half hour operation. According to the doctor, this clot was caused by one of the hard blows to the head during the fight.
Despite the successful operation, Kim succumbed to complications from the clot four days later. He had previously fallen into a coma from which he never awoke.
Macabre: The Korean caused a stir with martial sayings before the fight. “Either he dies or I die,” he told a reporter before the fight. In his hotel room in Las Vegas shortly before the fight, he wrote on a lamp: “Live or die.”
Fight leads to further tragic consequences
If the Koranic boxer’s death had not been tragic enough, it led to numerous other tragedies in the months following the fight.
Kim’s mother, who, according to information from the New York Times who traveled from South Korea to Las Vegas and was by her son’s side until his death, committed suicide just three months after her son’s death.
Almost seven months after the fight, the next tragedy came: referee Richard Green also committed suicide. Green shared responsibility for the Korean boxer’s death.
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Editor’s note: If you feel affected by depression and suicidal thoughts, please contact the telephone counseling service immediately (http://www.telefonseelsorge.de). On the free hotline 0800-1110111 or 0800-1110222 you can get help from advisors who have already been able to show ways out of difficult situations in numerous cases.
Mancini struggled with depression
Kim’s opponent Ray Mancini also blamed himself after his opponent’s death and became depressed. Mancini continued to box and successfully defended his title a few more times, but he was no longer really successful after that.
After losing his title in 1984, he fought sporadically until the end of his career in 1992, but according to boxing promoter Bob Arum, he was “never the same again.”
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Tragic incident causes numerous rule changes
The fight subsequently also became a decisive event for boxing, which led to numerous rule changes. The Nevada State Athletic Commission introduced the standing eight-count. This subsequently allowed the referees to score a knockdown, even if the fighter had not actually been sent to the ground but could be on the verge of a knockdown. It was also decreed that boxers were not allowed to fight for at least 45 days after a defeat by knockout.
The boxing association WBC introduced the biggest rule change: from 1982, the number of rounds in title fights was shortened from a maximum of 15 to a maximum of twelve. The WBA and IBF followed suit in 1987 and the WBO also started with a maximum of twelve rounds from its founding in 1988.
Either way, November 13, 1982 became a day when many boxing fans and boxing observers began to view the sport differently. From that day on, the sport of boxing was no longer the same.
