Yul Woo Lee

The Korean scene of the 1980's was incredibly active, exciting and packed. It was full of great fighters, like Jung Koo Chang, Myung Woo Yuh and Sung Kil Moon. It developed a number of fighters who are now long forgotten and their career's have sadly been overlooked and ignored by modern day fans. Among those was 2 weight world champion Yul Woo Lee (19-3, 10), who had a very short career, with less than 5 years separating his debut and final bout, but he would fit a lot into his career before retiring at the age of just 23!
 
Born in 1967 in Okchun, Lee was the youngest of 9 siblings and he began boxing in high school. 
 
Despite picking up boxing at high school little is known about Lee's amateur credentials, if he had any, though suspicion is that if he did have any it was very limited given that would make his professional debut at the age of 18 in 4 round bouts.

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After debuting in July 1985 Lee would be incredibly active in December, scoring 3 wins in 6 days, from December 5th to December 10th, to end the year 4-0 (1). He would build on his record in 1986, scoring 4 more wins. Those wins saw him progress beyond 4 round bouts and move into 8 rounders, proving that he had the stamina to go the longer distance with a win against Keun Soo Choi. Despite moving up to longer bouts Lee was still fighting novices.
 
In 1987 Lee would score a further 5 wins, his busiest year in the ring. This would be the year where he really began to show his potential, scoring notable wins over future OPBF Flyweight champion Romy Navarrete, who he stopped in 7 rounds, future world title challenger Julio Gudino, who he beat with a 10 round decision, and former world champion Amado Ursua, who he stopped in 5 bouts. Those 3 wins were huge in pushing Lee into the rankings and moving him towards a world title fight.
 
Sadly for Lee 1988 wouldn't be as successful of a year. He would fight 4 times during the year, though would suffer his first defeat that May, losing a decision to Miguel Mercedes in May at Super Flyweight. It's worth noting that after his win here Mercedes would go on to fight for the WBO Flyweight title, the following year. Aside from the loss to Mercedes Lee would win his other 3 bouts, becoming the first man to stop Filipino Roger de Rama and also stopped former Korean Flyweight champion Hun-Kook Chae.
 
Having notched a couple of wins following the loss to Mercedes the Korean youngster was 16-1 (9), and at the age of 22 he was still a relative boxing baby. He would then get a career defining bout, against the then WBC Light Flyweight champion German Torres. Torres had won the title 3 months earlier, defeating Soon Jung Kang, and had been a notable name in Korea following his trilogy with Jung Koo Chang, as well as a bout with Dong Young Hwang. In fact this was Torres's 7th bout in "The Land of the Morning Calm" and Lee would surprisingly stop the Mexican veteran in the 9th round, doing what the legendary Jung Koo Chang had failed to do in 3 fights with Torres. 
 
Sadly for Lee his reign was a short one, losing in his first defense just months after winning the title. In fair to Lee however he didn't get an easy first defense, instead facing legendary Mexican Humberto Gonzalez in a thrilling war. Gonzalez, who was then 24-0 (20), made for a sensational fight with Lee with the two men trading bombs at close range in what was one of the most intense, exciting and action packed bouts of the year. Despite being a great fight Lee would lose the decision with the judges favouring Gonzalez with scores of 115-113, 116-113 and 117-114.
 
Following his title loss Lee would move up in weight, fighting his very next fight at Super Flyweight. His return to the ring would see him defeat former WBC Flyweight champion Yong Kang Kim, who would later go on to claim the WBA Flyweight title. Lee would take a close decision, dropping Kim en route to the win.
 
Following the win over Kang we would then see Lee drop down in weight, to fight at Flyweight and challenge WBA champion Jesus Rojas. Rojas had won the belt 6 months earlier, against Fidel Bassa, but would go on to lose a razor thin decision to Lee in what was an incredibly close to call bout. The judges from the US, Patricia Morse Jarman and Japan, Masakazu Uchida, scored it to Lee, whilst Mexican judge Hector Hernandez Vilchis had Rojas winning. Although the judges were split all 3 score cards were close, with Jarman's 116-113 in favour of Lee being the widest card either way.
 
Having become a 2-weight champion in 21 bouts Lee would make his international debut in his first defense of the Flyweight title, travelling to Japan to take on Leopard Tamakuma. Tamakuma would prove to be too good, too strong and would stop a tired and swollen Lee in the 10th round. By the time of the stoppage Lee was a long way behind and had looked exhausted,, beaten and like a man who had given his all.
 
Lee would retire after having lost the belt to Tamakuma , despite only being 23 years old. His career could have given his much more given his age, though the swelling damage he received against Tamakuma suggesting that it was the right time to retire.
 
Following his retirement Lee would set up a boxing school in Daejeon, which he would run for a number of years as he looked to keep the sport alive in Korea, realising it was on a downward swing.
 
Sadly Lee would be diagnosed with cancer of the pancreas in the early 00's and pass away in 2009, at the age of 42, following a 5 year battle. Following his death he was described as "a man who really loved boxing, a man who lived a life full of boxing spirit". Korean boxing is certainly a lesser place now due to his death, though he would likely have loved the recent growth in the country's boxing scene
 
Sadly footage of Lee's wins are hard to come by, though his loss to Gonzalez is a great example of his exciting style, a style that lead to him getting the fantastic nickname of "Hot Pepper".