I was delving back in my mind to 1993, the year I started following boxing seriously and was reminded indirectly from another thread about South Korean super flyweight, Sun Kil Moon. I say strange case because he started life as a bantamweight and won a world title there in only his 7th fight before dropping down to super fly and then won another world championship, beat one of the best fighters in that division's history (Gilberto Roman). He made 9 straight defenses until he lost in an upset in November 93 and never fought again. A career that only last 6 and a half years and 22 fights, but a two-weight world champion over 4 years of it and then a very sudden retirement. How do people view him as a fighter?
controversial Comes to mind. i remember him as a face first brawler who cut easily and got quite a few questionable decisions. like when he fought Richardson.
He was world amateur champ, iron chin, sandbag fists, struggled with movers a bit. He was a madman, so there were a fair few head clashes in his fights. Beat Khaokor Galaxy for WBA bantam title. Khaokor was the more skilled of the Galaxy brothers, though nowhere near as hard a puncher as Khaosai. Moon’s longtime trainer died around their rematch, and Khaokor brutalised Moon in one of the most impressive bantam title performances I’ve ever seen. Then he dropped to super fly and won the WBC (lineal) title when he beat Nana Konadu. A lot of people don’t seem to know that Konadu had taken the last of Roman’s prime from him in a one-sided beating. Moon and Konadu fought twice, the first was an incredible shootout stopped due to a head clash, the second Konadu didn’t seem to want to go through that again and capitulated in a really weird performance where he just let Moon beat him up. I ranked him 4th in my top 10 super flyweights. Here it is https://www.boxingmonthly.com/stories/the-top-ten-super-flyweights-of-all-time-no-4-and-no-3/
In reverse order: https://www.boxingmonthly.com/stories/the-top-ten-super-flyweights-of-all-time-no-10-and-no-9/ https://www.boxingmonthly.com/stories/the-top-ten-super-flyweights-of-all-time-no-8-and-no-7/ http://www.boxingmonthly.com/stories/the-top-ten-super-flyweights-of-all-time-no-6-and-no-5/ https://www.boxingmonthly.com/stories/the-top-ten-super-flyweights-of-all-time-no-4-and-no-3/ https://www.boxingmonthly.com/stories/the-top-ten-super-flyweights-of-all-time-no-2-and-no-1/
Thx you. Terrific. Roman is so underrated by the casual fan. I followed Jiro closely in the 80s and saw Laciers march to greatness. To have both scalps on 1 belt is mighty impressive.
Some lesser seen amateur footage of Moon from my youtube channel... This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected
Looking at those amateur bouts, in the forums opinion how "complete" of a fighter was Moon, before turning professional? Was he a nearly complete product towards the end of his amateur career? Was he a fighter that was, or very nearly so, a complete fighter from the very beginning of his professional career, much like a Nazarov or a Arbachakov?
Interesting you mention Nazarov and Arbachakov as they both retired after one defeat and never even hinted at comebacks, much like Moon.
Nazarov = awful eye injury Arbachakov = hand injuries Moon = Rumoured to be brain damaged for years but actually he’s in great health!
