Choi defends title against odds

By Cho Mu-hyun

World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight champion Choi Hyun-mi defended her title for a fifth time against Sainamdoy Pitaklongen at the National University of Technology in Seoul, Saturday,

The 21-year-old overwhelmed the Thai challenger and landed a right in the fifth round that caused her opponent to lose balance and eventually won by TKO.

The former North Korean defector had a difficult time finding a sponsor and promoter prior to the bout, and almost lost the belt because of the WBA regulation that requires the champion to defend the title within six months after a fourth defense, which Choi successfully made in April.

Her father managed to delay the deadline until Dec. 29 and secured the 1.2 billion won promotional fee thanks to a contribution by an anonymous corporation.

“I only heard of the threat to the title after the fight. Father believes that an athlete must focus on athletics and didn’t tell me anything about it,” she was quoted as saying on YTN. “Many people are showing interest in me after the win. I hope they show continuous interest in women’s boxing.”

Choi said she plans to participate in next year’s World Boxing Council (WBC) championship.

She suffered further problems in May, when rumors of match-rigging harassed her and almost ruined her reputation as a boxer, but they were proven to be unfounded.

Born in Pyongyang on Nov. 7, 1990, the 170 centimeter-tall Choi showed promise in several sports but chose boxing following a suggestion by her school coach and joined the prestigious Kim Chul-joo Educational School’s boxing program in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Her training was halted when her father, then a mineral trader, decided to defect from North Korea and moved himself and his family through Vietnam to South Korea.

With her father unable to find a decent job and government subsidies insufficient to support the family, Choi started boxing again in 2006 to earn money, competing in amateur tournaments. She won 16 times and lost only once, showing the potential to become the champion that she is now.

She made her professional debut in 2008, when the Beijing Olympics chose not to include women’s boxing. She became the WBA featherweight champion in October of the same year, defeating Yan Xu-chan of China for the vacant title.

The 21-year-old defended the title three times prior to the match against Pitaklongen, fighting Japan’s Tenku Tsubasa and Argentina’s Claudia Andrea Lopez in 2009, and through a third round knockout against Sandy Tsagouris of Canada in 2010.