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5'7" featherweight Hyun-mi Choi was
born on November 7,1990 in Pyongyang, North Korea. She showed early
talent in sports,
particularly track, but was persuaded to try boxing by her
school's coach. Unusually tall for a North Korean
girl, she was invited in 2003 to join the boxing program at
Kim
Chui-joo Educational
University. At age 13, she was the youngest
in a program
intended to prepare North Koreans for the hoped-for
introduction of women's
boxing at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
Her
life changed completely in February 2004, when her father Choi
Young-choon,
who
worked for a trading company that exported to China and Japan,
visited China on business. During the trip,
he arranged
for their mother, Hyun-mi and her older brother to cross the
border to join him there.
The family never returned to North Korea but instead went to South
Korea
via Vietnam as defectors.
Once in
South Korea, Hyun-mi returned to boxing at a school for promising
athletes. Starting In 2006 she won several amateur
tournaments
and compiled
a 16-1 record. When women's boxing was not included
in the
2008 Olympics, Hyun-mi turned pro so that she could earn more prize
money from boxing to
supplement her
family income. Her father had been unable to get work
in South Korea and the family lived on special
subsidies
given to refugees from the
North.
She made her pro debut on June
26,
2008 at the Grace Sports Center in Yunnan, China. She weighed
in
at 126 lbs and TKO'd fellow pro debuter Zhang Juan Juan (5'3", 123½
lbs) of China in the third round of a scheduled 8-round bout for the
PABA Featherweight Junior title.
On October 11, 2008
at the Gymnasium in Jinan Gun, South Korea, Hyun-mi Choi (124¾
lbs) won a ten-round unanimous (98-92,96-94,97-93) decision over Chun-Yan Xu (126 lbs) of
China for the vacant WBA Featherweight title. Choi outlasted her
Chinese opponent who was the first to tire in the ten-rounder, so that
Choi controlled the later rounds. This was only the second
pro
fight for either boxer, as Xu fell to 1-1 (0 KO's). At just under 18
years of age, Choi became the youngest world champion in WBA history.
On
May 30, 2009 at the National Univ. of Technology in Seoul,
South
Korea, Hyun-mi Choi (125¾ lbs) defended the WBA Featherweight title
with a split (96-94,96-96,94-96) draw over Hyo-Min Kim (5′ 5½,125¾ lbs)
of Incheon, South Korea. Kim moved her record to 2-0-1 (1 KO)
with the result.
On November 21, 2009 at
Sungkyunkwan
University in Suwon City, South Korea, Hyun-mi Choi (126 lbs) won a
ten-round unanimous (97-92,96-94,100-92) decision over Mutsumi
Maedo, aka Tenku Tsubasa (5'4",124¾ lbs) of Tokyo, Japan
defending the WBA Featherweight title. Choi knocked Maedo/Tsubasa down
twice (see photo)
in the fight. The loss dropped Maedo's record to 12-4
(5 KO's).
On
April 30, 2010 at Sungkyunkwan University in Suwon City, South Korea,
Hyun-mi Choi (126 lbs) won a hard fought ten-round split
(93-98,96-95,96-95) decision over interim champion Claudia Andrea Lopez
(123½ lbs) of Trelew, Argentina defending the WBA Featherweight
title. Choi initially
had some trouble against the Argentinean southpaw, but she
turned the bout her way with a knockdown punch in the
fifth round. "I
took on the left hander for the first time. It was very difficult,"
the battle-worn Choi said,
nursing a black eye. "I've
trained six hours every day for the past two months." Lopez
fell to 14-5 (3 KO's) with the loss.
On April 29, 2011 at Chungei
Temple in Yesan Gun, South Korea, Hyun-Mi Choi (126 lbs) TKO'd Sandy Tsagouris (126 lbs) of
Brampton, Ontario, Canada at 1:39 in the third round of a scheduled
ten-rounder for the WBA Featherweight title. Tsagouris, who had last
fought in November 2009, fell to 10-2-0 (4 KO's) while Choi
improved to 5-0-1 (2 KO's).
Choi
is studying sports science at Sungkyunkwan University. Her
ambition is to win all of the world featherweight titles and then begin
a career in South Korea's entertainment industry. "I
fight for fame and success, I'm going to make everyone recognize my
name" she told New York Times contributor Choe Sang-Hun in
2008, adding
that "Boxing is
my way to prove that my parents made the right decision."
Other Hyun-mi Choi links
- Video
- North Korean defector becomes Star Boxer in South Korea
- Photo
of Choi after defeating Mutsumi Maedo for the WBA title
- Photo
of Maedo on the canvas in the third round
To check out fight reports, complete up-to-date boxing records, with
huge digital photos you can go to
the WBAN Records
Member Site
Page
last updated: Saturday, April 30, 2011
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