Corruption and financial issues at the grassroots. They used to run that sheet at the Asian Games but the emergence of the central Asian countries post Soviet break up challenged their dominance. K-1 in the early 00's. K-Pop
A shame really... You do see amateurs with potential pop up from time to time and see university clubs but nothing like before. Wish the scene would get bigger. Also, boxing is not seen as something glamorous (anywhere really) and is a country that puts an incredible pressure on the young people to get a good education and job. That’s plus corruption and all that like already mentioned...
South Korea has 3 (yes, 3) national bodies. Making it near impossible for good opponents to be consistently matched. Also, massive economic prosperity
This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected These two are very much boxers at heart though.
Im half Korean and it’s very disappointing but it’s very clear why the sport is dead. Simply put, there is no money in Boxing. There are no investors, gyms, trainers etc. on top of that, Korean kids nowadays are spoiled as fuk with the luxuries, nobody wants to take punches to the face for a living. Few years back, Ji Hoon Kim was brutalizing foes on ESPN. I was hoping he’d make it somewhere but he ran into Lenny Zappa and got wrecked. This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected
Boxing is straight up dead here. A youngster I was locked up with who took boxing serious told me some things about the landscape of Korean boxing. (Korean jail) A boxer named shin jong hoon, who made some noise in the early 2010's (ranked 1 in the world leading up to the summer olympics in 2012 in his weight class) had many offers to go pro, but he is making 100k per fight as an amateur so he doesn't want to risk going pro. Also Korea is ridiculously trendy (SHEEPS. The amount of millenials getting tattoos is ridiculous. Tattoos were always looked down upon in Korean society but now its a trend) and they tend to be super naive when it comes to the media. The mainstream media has MMA fighters all the time on shows, never ever a boxer. Pacquiao came as a guest on Korea's most popular variety show and legit no one gave a ****. Honestly it would just take 1 handsome (no homo) semi decent pro boxer on a world level to come on a few tv shows and boxing would be big again. Korea is THAT trendy (biters if you want to be mean. Hell, the biggest corporations in Korea never really innovates, they bite other companies tech and tweak it a bit) anything covered on the media receives stupid hype and everyone is on the train.
GGG is half Korean himself but doesn't seem to acknowledge it. Boxing is just not a popular sport in South Korea, and it's a damn shame. South Korea produced some really solid fighters back in the 80s. Sung Kil Moon, Myung Woo Yuh, Baek In-chul, and of course Jung Koo Chang.
Are you Korean ? Yep Korea dont give a sht about Pacman bruh. He is too short and fugly to them. Korea wants a boxer that looks like a Kpop idol.
2 of the best Korean boxers. I only wish they produce more like them. This content is protected This content is protected
