Jung Koo Chang was one of the most aggressive Korean champions of all-time but it was his bag of tricks and fast hands that propelled him to champion status. Known as "The Korean Hawk" he was a brilliant boxer who seldom hurt his opponent but in the mid 80's had to be considered one of the best pound for pound fighters with 15 successful title defenses. Chang would wear a opponent down with constant pressure while impressing the judges with at least one flurry of combination punches a round. The one thing Chang did not possess however was a knockout punch. Chang was so impressive in the early stages of his career that he was rushed into a title shot against v eteran Hilario Zapata and lost a close split decision while still only 19 years old. Zapata made the mistake of giving Chang a rematch in Korea and was stopped in the third round of the one sided affair. This was to be the beginning of a career that would see Chang on top of his division and the most beloved sportsman of his country. In the last 15 round fight of the divisions history Chang outpointed tough former champion German Torres from Mexico, then went on to outpoint the rising Thai star Sot Chitlada having to overcome a badly cut eye to do so. The Torres fight however did have a moment of controversy when a legitimate knockdown of Chang was ruled a slip. The 2 point advantage in that round would have given Torres the decision win. Chang did give Torres a rematch and erased any doubts about who the better fighter was with a one sided win. Fransisco Montiel, Eduardo Tunon, Efren Pinto, and Augustin Garcia all good challengers were defeated with little difficulty. Two more successful title defenses followed before Chang burdened by the financial difficulties of a failed business and family strife decided to vacate his crown in 1988. Some say his fighting spirit left him after the problems which led to a divorce and his return in 1989 was less than impressive. Chang would loose all 3 of his comeback fights against very good opposition. In a attempt to regain his title he lost on points to Humberto "Chiquita" Gonzalez and a move up in weight saw him to loose to earlier victim Sot Chitlada and Muangchai Kittikasem. He wisely retired after the fight with Kittikasem. Chang is a example of boxing being a mentally taxing game and a unfocused fighter will not win at the world class level. Still in his prime he was a super boxer with a crowd pleasing style.
Wasn't there another fighter out of Korea that was in the same division as Jung Koo, and just about as good? I think they were supposed to have a unification, but it never happened.
That would be Myung Woo Yuh you are reffering to, who was a very good fighter in his own right. But Chang would have been too much for Yuh, who I think would have faded late in the bout and lost the championship rounds to the ever busy Hawk. Would have made for a very good fight though, I think they would have brought out the best in each other.
So, its Jung Koo over Myung Woo? I never saw Myung Woo Yu in the ring. What type of fighter was he? Also, where do you think Jung Koo Chang among fly weights?
Well Yuh was 13-0 (0) at one stage in his career... He was a cutie who was a little more subtle than Chang. Yuh came to the USA to arrange a fight with Carbajal, the story goes his mangement were so tight, Yuh slept in a cot! I think overall Chang sneaks ahead, but Yuh style wise edges a split decision if these two had ever met.
Yuh was a skilled technician and when necessary, a brawler. He threw short, compact hooks to both the head and body in close and stiff jabs and straight rights as well from long range. He also had a good chin and good stamina, although he did fade late in some his 15 round fights. I rank Chang ahead of Yuh all-time and have them both in my top ten with the hawk in the top 3.
Yuh would have definately given Chang problems, but I do think the Hawk`s constant pressure and high workrate would have seen Yuh tire by the last third of the fight. The best version of Chang was a very busy fighter, and he could keep it up from round one to fifteen. Yuh was just as busy but he did run out of gas in some of his bouts, and against Chang I think this would have cost him the fight. This would have been an epic battle though, with a raucous Korean crowd cheering on both these great and proud fighters. If they fought a series I`d say that Yuh would beat him at least once, but more often than not Chang would walk away the winner.
You may very well be right, after all people forget sometimes how good Chang was. I saw some of the Chitalada fight, he was amazing. And before says anything, sure Sot may have had only 4 pro fights but his Mauy-Thai experience was such he was very much nearing prime; as Magri found out less than a year later!
I agree with you about Sot, he did have years of experience as a muay-thai fighter before becoming a boxer, so he wasn`t a novice by any stretch at the time of their first encounter. On another note, have you ever heard of a japanese featherweight by the name of Shozo Saijo? Not a lot of people know who he is around these parts but he was a damn good fighter for a while as champ, trounced both Raul Rojas and Irish Frankie Crawford twice among others. He was a tall, rangy guy and knew how to use his assets, but he also had a warrior`s mentality and if tagged he would tear into his man with both fists and then back off and go back to the jab. I`ve always felt that a fight between he and Kuniaki Shibata would have been a good one, with the tall boxer-puncher Saijo against the shorter armed pressure fighter in Kuniaki making for a interesting clash of styles.
