South Korean Speaker Chung Sye-kyun (R) poses with visiting Filipino boxer and Senator Manny Pacquiao at the National Assembly in Seoul on Dec. 22, 2016. (Yonhap)
In honor of the passing of Muhammad Ali I figured I would share this story about the trip the legendary boxer made to North Korea. Muhammad Ali joined a group of professional wrestlers on a friendship tour to North Korea in 1995 at the invitation of famous Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki. One thing you can always count in life is that pro-wrestlers will tell it the way it is and that is what Ric Flair does about his 1995 trip to North Korea in his book, Ric Flair: To Be the Man:
The second we arrived in Pyongyang, our passports were confiscated. Then each of us was assigned a “cultural attache” to follow us everywhere; these guys even sat in the dressing room while we went over our matches. In the dining room where the wrestlers ate, there was a camera in each corner, monitoring every movement. When Scott Norton called his wife and said, “This place sucks,” his phone line suddenly went dead.
Here is my favorite line from the book where Muhammad Ali also tell things the way it is:
Muhammad Ali (right) and Antonio Inoki (left) enjoy the 1995 Pyongyang Festival
Because of the ravages of Parkinson’s disease, it was difficult to understand Muhammad Ali when he spoke. But at one function, we were sitting at a big, round table with a group of North Korean luminaries when one of the guys started rambling on about the moral superiority of North Korea, and how they could take out the United States or Japan any time they wanted. Suddenly, Ali piped up, clear as a bell, “No wonder we hate these motherf*ckers.”
I wonder how the North Korean translators translated that. Probably the same way they translated this:
Before we left North Korea, our handlers requested that I make a speech at the airport. They even had specific points that they expected me to articulate — things like North Korea being a worker’s paradise, and that America sucked. I looked at Bischoff and told him, “I can’t say this.” The last thing I wanted was to be quoted in the American press making statements that I didn’t mean. So I just spouted some generic comments and thanked everyone for their hospitality.
This is how I was quoted by the official North Korean press agency: “Before I leave this beautiful and peaceful country, I would like to make a tribute to the great leader, Mr. Kim Il Sung (the late father of the current dictator), who devoted his life to the Korean people’s happiness, prosperity, and Korean unification. His Excellency, Kim Il Sung, will always be with us.”
Muhammad Ali probably should have never went on the trip, but at least he did not fall for the propaganda like so many other foreigners like Dennis Rodman did when they traveled to North Korea.
I had heard of the Korean boxer Kim Duk-koo (1959-1982) before simply because he was one of the few boxers who was actually killed while in the ring. Besides that I didn’t know anything about the guy until I watched the Korean movie Champion that was in my Netflix que. This movie was released in 2002 and is directed by Kyung-Taek Kwak who I hadn’t heard of before. However, the lead actor playing Kim Duk-koo was Oh-seong Yu who I have always liked as an actor. Considering the number of tough guy roles he has played in the past I figure he would do a good job portraying a boxer which in this movie he did.
For those unfamiliar with Kim Duk-koo’s story this movie is a good way to get introduced to one of Korea’s most famous athletes. Like many famous people in Korea’s modern history Kim is a rags to riches story. He was a poor boy that worked hard to scrape by while growing up in Goseong, Gangwon-do. In 1976 he got into boxing and eventually became good enough to where he was able to make some additional money with the sport. As an amateur he compiled a 29-4 record before becoming a professional fighter in 1978. Four years later in 1982 he won a major Oriental lightweight boxing title, which left him with a 17-1-1 record and the pride of Korea at the time.
His success was able to land him a premier WBA lightweight title fight against the famous American boxer Ray Mancini. Kim was thought to be an easy bout for Mancini especially considering that Kim had to travel all the way to Las Vegas for the match which was also his first time in the US. The fight proved to be anything but easy for Mancini who found himself in a brawl of a match against Kim. The match would end up going to 14 rounds where in the later rounds Mancini was able to start to control the match and land some big punches. After Kim received another big punch the referee stopped the matched and named Mancini the winner with a TKO. However, Kim ended up collapsing in the ring and going into a coma. Doctors would try to do emergency brain surgery, but it was too late and Kim died. Kim left behind his grieving pregnant wife and mother. The developing love affair between Kim and his wife is a major part of the movie. Sadly a few months after Kim’s death both his mom and the referee of the match would commit suicide. All around it is a pretty sad tale but Kim’s story is one that many Koreans can relate to which was make him so revered. He was a guy that worked hard and never quit despite the odds, which is the story of South Korea itself.
Real life photo of the boxing match between Ray Mancini and Kim Duk-koo.
The movie didn’t really get into this, but Kim’s death did lead to major changes in boxing. Basically both Kim and Mancini were two fighters that had no quit in them, which caused the match to go on to the point that someone was at risk of getting killed and that is what ended up happening. After Kim’s death referees were trained to end matches quicker by using the standing eight count and the number of rounds was reduced to 12. Something else the movie did not mention was how the death of Kim impacted Mancini. He was devastated by Kim’s death and was never the same boxer afterwards. Considering how Kim’s mom and the referee committed suicide, the death of Kim is indeed very tragic, but I thought this movie did a good job of not dwelling on the tragic and instead bringing out the inspiring story of Kim Duk-koo in a way that both Korean and foreign audiences will likely enjoy.
