Sung kil moon

I'm here now pal.

 

Exactly.

 

I'd hesitate to pin the "swarmer" label on Moon, because the connotation of a "swarmer" is someone who doesn't punch hard but tires you out with a barrage of light ammunition. If so, then Moon was not a swarmer, since he is almost unanimously considered the biggest punching Korean boxer ever. But given that he did march straight up and started swinging wildly, maybe we should call him a "puncher-swarmer"?

The American fighter you are speaking of that got knocked out by Moon in the 1984 Olympics is Robert Shannon. And it wasn't an "upset," because Moon was probably the more accomplished amateur fighter at the time and certainly over the course of their career (he's won the Asian Games, world amateur championship, and the World Cup; the only thing missing is an Olympic Gold--which he missed in 1984, because, you guessed it, a cut due to a headbutt). I actually saw the American feed of the Shannon fight a few years ago, and I think one of the announcers was talking as if Shannon was the favored, and you may have gotten the impression that it was an "upset" because of that. But that says more about the announcer's lack of knowledge than much else. He was probably assuming that the American should be always favored. But Moon was certainly one of the 3-4 Korean favorites for the Gold in 1984, along with Kwang-sun Kim, Young-mo Huh (who had memorable fights with both Kim and Moon), and Joon-sup Shin. That Korean amateur boxing team was immensely talented and should have challenged the Americans for the most Gold Medals, but that's another story (a few questionable decisions, some bad luck, and some bad performances equaled just 1 Gold).

Anyways, Moon is a sad story for at least two reasons. First, he wasted his prime physical years as an amateur. He really couldn't afford to do that, because his main asset was his physical prowess--punching power, physical strength, and stamina. And these things tend to go earlier than other assets. Moreover, he also had a style that forced him to take a lot of punishment even as an amateur, so he was really even older than his chronological age of 23 when he turned pro.

Second, largely because of his style, he kept on taking punishment as a pro, and he's now left brain-damaged.

There are many "what if?" stories in Korean boxing, and one of them is surely what would have happened if Moon turned pro as an 19 year-old after the 82 Asian Games as many promoters wanted him to do so. Those 4 additional years as an amateur gave him nothing in terms of skill development and only gave him numerous flush shots (he took some serious beatings from Young-mo Huh in particular).

Presumably Moon would have had skills more refined had he turned pro at 19 instead of 23--he would have been less set in his bad habits, and he certainly would not have been rushed the way he was when he did turn pro in 1986. And failing all else, we simply would have seen Moon at his physical best.

How about Moon v. Fenech in, say, late 1986? :good

 

You know your stuff on these guys, confucius:good.

An old South korean friend of mine who was a big boxing fan, mentioned Moon's long-term trainer dying right on the eve of the Galaxy loss as a partial reason for his performance that night.Was much made of this at the time?.

 

Yes, and there was also talk that Moon was sick for the 2nd Galaxy fight (food poisoning?). No doubt these things affected his performance--along with brutal Thailand weather--but Galaxy was a tough fight for Moon even at his best, since Galaxy had a chin, could punch, and hence wasn't going to be overwhelmed by Moon's walk forward and thump tactic.

I would have also liked Moon face off Khaosai, but I don't think there was much interest in either camp.

 

Galaxy was certainly a tough style.There's a few good posters on here that rate him over his brother Khaosai...at least in terms of ability, if not overall accomplishments.

 

Consider me among them. Khaokar was a better fighter; Khaosai had the easier opposition and hence superior record.

 

I loved the 2 Galaxy fights. A great adaption by Khaokor, in fight 2 makes me wonder how much Moon could adapt in his own right. I had Galaxy sweeping the 2nd fight, and moon sweeping 5rds in fight 1.

His slugfest with Singkrungthon is as much fun as Zarate and Zamora or Hagler Hearns although not as many have watched it.

Got a bunch of Moon on tap for this week:
Konadu I & II, Petrus, Kobayashi, Gilberto Roman, Matsumura, Ford, Pongsupa, Richardson, Salazar & Bueno.

Hopefully I will learn a little more especially is seeing how he adapts (or if he does) in Konadu II. But would be interested in others thoughts.

 

Top 5 in his division is where I would place him, and most of the above descriptions of him are very accurate, but he did lose to Galaxy once and beat him, Galaxy was nowhere near as good as Khaosai was, whom I would rate #1 at JBW.