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| From left, Yuh Myung-woo, singer Kim Jang-hoon and Chang Jung-koo pose as they announce the March 1 Dokdo boxing match, Wednesday. / Yonhap |
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Two hero boxers, who ruefully recollect the good old days of boxing in the 1980s, lament the downfall of the sport here. Like other concerned boxers, the two hall of famers ― Chang Jung-koo, 53, and Yuh Myung-woo, 52 ― are mulling ways to bring back the good old days of boxing in Korea.
In the entertainment industry, there's a concerned rock star who has spearheaded a variety of patriotic projects to turn international attention to Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo to disseminate the unwavering truth -- they are Korean territory, not a part of Japan, as the neighbor claimed.
The two groups of people realized their ends can be met if they team up for a historic bout between the two boxing legends on the islets on a symbolic day.
The Chang-Yuh Dokdo bout is slated for the earliest clear day in March. The two sides decided not to set the date because of unpredictable weather on the islets and agreed to hold the historic match on the earliest weather permitting day.
March was chosen because of the March 1st independence movement in 1919 when Korea was under brutal Japanese colonial rule. Koreans from all walks of life poured out into the streets to launch peaceful rallies and call for independence. Japan reacted to the peaceful rallies with a brutal crackdown and tortured those who initiated the nationwide event. The popular protests later inspired other Asian countries which were also under colonial rule to stand up peacefully against their colonial masters.
Chang, a former WBC light flyweight champion, held his world through 15 successive fights, a record broken by Yuh, a former WBA flyweight champion having successfully defended his title 17 times.
With 11 other foreign legendary boxers, Chang and Yuh, who are considered the two greatest Korean boxers, were inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2012.
The two heroes are iconic sport personalities who wrote a new chapter for Korean boxing in the 1980s. Families and relatives gathered around in front of television sets when their matches aired. Boxing was the most popular sport at that time. But its decline became evident in the 1990s as the Korean Baseball Organization league began to replace boxing as a popular sport.
Boxing has since become a forgotten sport, worrying those involved. Several ideas have been proposed to revive the past glory of boxing. The Chang-Yuh bout was proposed earlier in order to bring public attention back to the sport. But it was not realized as the two heroes remained reluctant to answer the call.
Their much-anticipated bout was finally set recently after Chang and Yuh accepted singer Kim's call to have it on Dokdo in March. The star boxers changed their minds after hearing an explanation from the patriotic singer.
In an interview, Yuh said he accepted the offer because he felt the bout could return public attention to boxing, and hoped that in the long run the match could help bring back the "good old days."
"I know people are going through tough times because of the unfortunate things that are happening in the country," he said. "I want to help the public build hope and optimism amid the frustrating reality through the meaningful match."
Kim, meanwhile, hopes that the Chang-Yuh match can encourage citizens to think of the meaning of the easternmost volcanic islets on the occasion of the historic independence movement about a century ago.
The Dokdo bout is his patriotism project for this year.
In 2012, the singer, who is a self-proclaimed "defender of Dokdo," and dozens of amateur athletes, swam into the East Sea to reach Dokdo in a swimming relay which drew attention from several global media outlets.
That year he also fundraised and donated $100,000 to put up a Visit Korea billboard sign featuring Dokdo in the East Sea as its background in Times Square, New York, to raise international awareness of Korea's sovereignty over the territory.
His last year Dokdo project was a go match with guru Lee Se-dol who made international headlines for his five-game match against Google DeepMind's artificial intelligence AlphaGo. AlphaGo won 4-1.
In June, Kim and Lee played the go game on Dokdo and as expected Lee won. The two donated 15 million won to help those who were in need as they had promised before the match. Kim sought to use the go guru's international influence to disseminate Korea's sovereignty on the islets.
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