Chong-pal Park v. Lindell Holmes II on Youtube

Several folks posted that they'd like to see this fight and yet couldn't find it online. So here it is:

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I suspect that people couldn't find it, because it's in Korean, with no comments in English. The fight is missing the last 3 rounds, so you only have up to 12 rounds. Also be warned that there is a sound delay that increases up to around 5 seconds in the end. So you might just have sound off, unless you speak Korean.

If you cannot speak Korean, then the announcers keep repeating 4 things:

1. Park is gassed (a perennial theme in Park's fights, due to his bad training habits);

2. oh, but Holmes looks to have bad stamina as well;

3. Park's hands are too low, and this is bad because Park has no chin (another perennial theme);

4. oh, but Holmes looks chinny, too.

Seriously, that encapsulates the entire fight commentary. Probably the real highlight of the commentary was when one doofus says "the skin color contrast is rather striking." Duh, idiot! One guy is Asian, and the other guy is black!

Anyways, in terms of the fight itself, this is a controversial fight where most objective viewers thought Holmes got robbed. I re-scored, and I had 10 rounds to 2 Holmes after 12. Both guys had 10-8 rounds. So on my scorecard, Park couldn't have won, even if he won the last 3. There was little action in earlier rounds, however, so you could find maybe 2 more rounds for Park, making it 8 to 4. Still, it'd be difficult for Park to have won, unless he pulled out multiple 10-8s in the last 3 rounds.

I have very low opinion of Park, so no need to repeat; but I was not impressed by Holmes as well. As the commentators say, he definitely seemed to be under-conditioned. He could have blitzed and gotten Park out of there early if he were more active, but he couldn't let his hands go enough. I don't know if I agree with the commentators that he looked chinny, because one thing Park could do was crack (though Holmes did look hurt at every juncture Park landed anything solid).

All in all, this was probably Park's best outing against decent competition, and that tells you all about him. He got pulverized any time he stepped up in competition, and his arguably best win was where he should have lost against the sole fighter in the universe who had less stamina than he did - or so it appears.

 

Very low. Extremely limited talent who made it up somewhat through insane work ethic (opposite of Chong-pal Park). He got the title because he hit Orono right on the spot where he supposedly had an internal procedure. The fact that he had no business beating Orono is demonstrated by what happened when they re-matched when Orono was whole.

 

Here is Kim v. Orono I:

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Orono had an 맹장수술 ("appendectomy" in English), and he fought before he was ready to go. So he was sluggish due to lack of training, and he apparently got hit right where he had it.

 

As an addendum: I recall someone claiming that there is no boxing corruption in Asia, and no one has ever been robbed in a big fight. If you watch Orono v. Kim II, you will see how stupid such a claim must be. The bell rings some 40-plus seconds before the round is over, because Kim was about to get knocked out. These kind of things happened all the time in East Asia. Another similar situation where a Korean fighter was victimized instead was when Chung-il Choi was about to paste Navarette, and the bell rang prematurely in Manilla. And if the hometown fighters get such obvious, transparent benefits, you don't think decisions - which are murky and more subject to debate - are fixed? Jesus f--king Christ.

Let me be blunt: Every close decision where the home fighter wins in Asia is suspect.

Heck, to highlight the level of corruption in Asia, even prominent Western judges and referees behave erratically when they are in Asia. Ever watch Richard Steele referee in Asia? He will literally not stop a fight unless the home fighter is in danger of dying.

 

I think most impartial viewers do. But this is a close enough fight where you can give Kim 2-3 more rounds than I did based on Kim's work-rate. So it's not as flagrant as some of the other Seoul jobberies (though except the Roy Jones v. Si-hun Park fight, which isn't pro, I don't think bad decisions in Seoul have been as bad as those in Tokyo or Bangkok).

How did you score Park v. Holmes II for the 12 rounds we have here?

 

Ah, got it!

 

I thought Kim won.

 

Yes, this was my take, too. As I said, I scored 10-2 for Holmes, but I wouldn't mind giving two close rounds to Park. Still, it'd be 8-4.

Park was very popular in Korea indeed; he was arguably my favorite boxer early on until I realized how much he sucked when he stepped up! I think he was mainly popular because his fights were exciting; he had a complete offensive arsenal and could crack; and his weak chin and terribad stamina meant he was also vulnerable.

But Korean fans, including me, were deluded about his prospects when he was undefeated and coming up. We actually bought Park's claim that Hagler was avoiding him! LOL!

 

You have it so right on here. This was the ultimate lesson of this fight. Park had no chance against any elite fighter at their best.