Hi Yong Choi

During the 1980's and 1990's the many top Korean fighters had short but intense careers. Fighters like Sung Kil Moon and Byun Jung Il are two great examples of being fighters who were fast tracked and left a clear mark in the history books, Moon more so than Byun. Another in a similar vein was Hi Yong Choi (19-2, 8), who like Moon and Byun was a notable amateur and also had a short but notable professional career, achieving more than most would be aware of.

Born in Busan in 1965 Choi was a natural and would leave a real mark on the Korean amateur scene. He was a 2-time national champion, winning in 1983 and 1984, and he would also take a bronze medal at the 1983 World Junior Championships in Santo Domingo, losing to Rafael Ramos in the semi-final after beating Glen Sutherland in the quarter-final.

Following his amateur escapades Choi would turn professional in 1987, at the age of 21. Unsurprisingly he was moved quickly and after making his debut, in July 1987 he was on a very rapid climb to the top. His second professional bout would be an 8 rounder, less than a month after his debut, and his third bout a 10 rounder, just 5 months after his debut.

Despite only stopping 1 of his first 3 opponents it was clear that Choi was a special fighter, with a lot of potential, and his team fully know that had a fantastic prospect on their hands. They didn't want to just have a special fighter though, and instead they wanted a special champion, and in just his 4th professional bout they put him in his first title fight, an OPBF Minimumweight title bout against Sam Joong Lee. Although the title was vacant Lee was no push over, he had won the Korean title 6 months earlier, was 14-2 and, 16 months after facing Choi, would challenge for a world title. Despite the gulf in experience Choi would win a decision over Lee, taking the OPBF title just 9 months after his debut.

Having been rushed to a title Choi's team allowed him time to develop with the belt around his waist. His first defense would come 6 months after his title win, and would see him defeat Armando Tenoria and Kom Sorthanikul. Although Choi was taken the distance by Tenoria he did stop Sorthanikul in 5 rounds, an impressive feat given that Fahlan Sakkreerin and Ratanapol Sor Vorapin both went the distance with him.

Rather than continuing to defend the title Choi would then begin taking part in bouts above the Minimumweight limit, rather than boil himself down to defend the regional title. These over the limit bouts saw him fighting opponents well below himself, and he would stop Hitoshi Taniuchi, Diego Onglao and Roger Gamayot whilst awaiting for a world title bout. Despite the fact they were, for all intents, stay busy fights for Choi the bout with Taniuchi did give him a chance to fight on a world title card, as Chan Mok Park challenged the then WBA Featherweight champion Antonio Esparragoza, losing a competitive unanimous decision to the big punching Venezuelan. Incidentally Esparragoza would lose the belt the following year to Young Kyun Park.

Having moved his record to 9-0 (5) Choi would get his first world title fight, and would take on experienced foe Bong Jun Kim, a fellow Korean and the then WBA champion. Despite only being 26 Kim was a real veteran by this point, with a 23-5-3 (10) record and had 5 defenses of the WBA belt, as well as a notable win earlier in his career against Hideyuki Ohashi. Despite the huge gulf in experience Choi would do enough to take a close but clear decision win over Kim, to claim the world title in just his 10th bout.

Choi would make his first defense against Filipino challenger Sugar Ray Mike, in what turned out to be a very 1-sided bout. The gutsy Filipino went the 12 rounds, but, at best, only won 2 in what was a very clear win for Choi. That defense would then lead to a rematch between Choi and Kim with Kim looking to reclaim the WBA Minimumweight title. This time around Choi would go on to take a very clear decision over his countryman, who would later move up in weight and unsuccessfully challenge Hiroki Ioka at Light Flyweight.

Choi's third defense saw him scoring a 10th round TKO win over Japanese challenger Yuichi Hosono and then he followed that up with a 3rd round stoppage win over Filipino challenger Rommel Lawas.

With 4 defenses under his belt Choi left Korean soil for the first time as a professional and travelled to Tokyo, to fight at the Kokugikan against former WBC champion Hideyuki Ohashi. The bout with Ohashi was an interesting contest between two highly skilled little men, but it was Ohashi who would shine, taking a clear decision to become a 2-time world champion. Choi certainly had his moments, but didn't look his self and was regularly coming off second best. Whether it was the weight loss, or being in Japan is unclear but following this loss he took over a year out of the ring before returning in late 1993 above the Light Flyweight limit.

After a trio of low key wins Choi had gotten himself back into championship shape and would challenge WBA Light Flyweight Leo Gamez in February 1995. Gamez had been a regular in Korea, earlier in his career winning the WBA Minimumweight title there in 1988 before suffering losses to Myung Woo Yuh, twice, and Yong Kang Kim, but hadn't fought there in over 3 years. Through much of the fight Choi would be too busy, too active and too aggressive for Gamez, who had moments but was all too often pinned on the ropes with Choi boring in and letting his shots fly in what was a really rough bout. This wasn't pretty, by any stretch of the imagination, but was a clear win for the Korean who had become a 2-weight champion with a clear but competitive decision.

In his first defense of the WBA Light Flyweight title Choi travelled to Osaka, Japan, to take on the unbeaten Keiji Yamaguchi. With a record of 18-0 and with the crowd well on his side Yamaguchi seemed to have the momentum coming into the bout, and managed to come incredibly close to claiming the title, which Choi retained via split decision. Yamaguchi had started really well, despite being in agony for a few moments from a headclash late in the opening round, but as the bout went on Choi's would begin to have more and more success, picking his moments well. Going in to the final round there was little to split the two men, and they both seemed to know it as we had a wild final 3 minutes, with Yamaguchi screaming at Choi mid-way through a pulsating 3 minute marred with headclashes and incredible anger from Yamaguchi, who had been badly cut.

Sadly for Choi his reign would come to an end 4 months later, as he travelled to Miami and lost a decision to Carlos Murillo. The bout was a rare Light Flyweight world title bout on US soil, and shown on US TV. In the end Murillo managed to work himself into a comfortable lead with Choi needing to try and stage a late fight back. In the end Murillo took a clear decision.

Following the loss to Murillo Choi would retire, with a record of 19-2 (8). Although he fought just 21 fights he would compete in 9 world title bouts in less than 9 years. His career was certainly entertaining, and although he was an excellent amateur his bouts regularly turned into fights, with heads and elbows regularly becoming a feature of his bouts.