With a limited amount of sleep and some extra strong coffee, I got showered and ready for our Hulk's crew trek way out to Moon Gyung city to watch some live boxing. But before we left Cheonan, one of our Hulkies bought me a coffee, a much-needed second coffee to get me through the long 2.5hr ride.
As soon as we arrived at the stadium where the fights were being held, I spotted my friend, Danbi -- Korea's much loved female pro champion boxer who is as humble as she is super sweet and super talented. She was warming up for her fight so we quickly exchanged hugs and then I and my crew headed to the bleachers to sit.
Another Korean pro female champion I am very familiar with, Choi Hyuni, was also fighting. Hyun Mi is originally from North Korea so you can image the extreme interest in her story and how she escaped North Korea with her family. She's made quite a name for herself in the south here and fans absolutely love her. Unlike Danbi though, she isn't as humble and laid back. She loves the spotlight and is crazy about her fans. Good for her though, I mean she made herself, came from rags to riches, and has become Korea's highest paid female boxer. She might even kill the men here in turns of money raked in via sponsors and fans. I read on the internet a while back about how fans gathered money together to give to her. It was something like thirty thousand dollars, amazing. I know most people may say she is milking her whole North Korean story but so be it. She is a female boxer and if they only knew how little us boxers get paid and what stereotypes and social norms we as women constantly go against to fight here in Korea. Don't kid yourself though, the male Korean boxers have a super hard time here too, especially when it comes to making a decent income and expectations that come attached to that. There are plenty of reasons why the average boxer here in Korea is university age. They have the school holidays to fight, the parents to financially support them, and their youth to allow them to juggle school and training.
But back to Hyunmi..
Props to her for being able to work the situation in her favor and make the most out of her situation. I only wish that Danbi did the same. She is such a talented boxer but sometimes I think she is too humble and too reserved. With the exception of photos I or other people have tagged her in on Facebook or KakaoStory, you will never see her posting a picture of her boxing career. She doesn't even so much as post any fight win shots so you can bet her posting any training pics are totally obsolete. A part of me thinks she is doing Korean boxer a bit of a disservice and more so when it comes to female boxing in general. She has so much talent, so much success, and she should be celebrating it, giving it due recognition, and using it to kind of shed some light on female boxing and boxing in Korea. Korea has some super talented boxers but they are supported as much as they are in the States and in Canada. Their profession is not considered a true profession by Korean norms and consequently they aren't supported and promoted enough by the sponsors and organizations that could be, should be and would be if the mind set of Korea and those connected with the boxing community were different. You have to have an edge to make it financially and publically in Korean boxing and Hyunmi's strongest selling point is that she is originally from North Korea. Danbi's selling point is that she is a very successful female world champion boxer and she has fought outside of Korea, a simple fact that is strangely enough not true for most Korean boxers. I know the fans love both these ladies and so they should but Danbi's exit out of the stadium was a very quiet one as supposed to Hyunmi's one where kids chased her to ask for her signature and the paparazzi and fans all circled her waiting to get a picture with her. I wish this scene was the reality for both these fighters. It'd be awesome if it were true for all too.
I haven't been in a Korean ring for quite some time now, it's long overdue, but I still have my share of fans who message me, spot me at the live fights and ask to take a picture with me. It was definitely flattering for Hyunmi to spot me among the crowd of people hovering over her and to call me over for a picture together. I took many shots with Danbi too and it was super sweet to have her father ask me to pose with her for several shots. I got asked for a shot with a fan while waiting in the bathroom for one of our Hulkies and one man in the crowd approached me about my boxing. I definitely got a lot of TV camera action but I think that also had to due to the fact that me and one of our Hulkies were having too much fun dancing in our seats during the round rest time.
Korean boxing, it's a hard sell to the masses, the media and the fans but there is definitely a lot of gifted and talented boxers here with amazing stories to tell. I only wish they were given the chance to tell their story and were given the due respect and support. This ain't soccer, a much-favoured team sport here in Korea where the players get juicy paychecks. This is an individual sport where the fighters fight way more than just the fight in the ring. It is never just a fight in the ring they have to contend with and it never is just a sport -- this is boxing in Korea.
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