Pictured: Hwang Kil Kim


The first boxing card in South Korea since January 19 took place Sunday. In the main event, former WBA Asia lightweight champion Hwang Kil Kim knocked out Jae Duk Bae in the first round.

On January 20, a day after cards had been held in Seoul and in Busan, the first case of COVID-19 was reported in South Korea. On the same day, the first case of the disease was confirmed in the United States. At first, the virus slowly spread in both countries but both would soon experience sharp rises in cases and fatalities.

South Korea responded by the widespread use of masks, social distancing, necessary restrictions on non-essential activities, self-quarantining, and most importantly, testing and contact tracing. Within weeks, South Korea was able to contain the coronavirus without resorting to a lockdown. The nation of approximately 51.3 million people has had 10,738 confirmed cases with 243 related deaths. In contrast, the United States, with a population of roughly 330 million, was slow to react and now has over 975,000 confirmed cases with over 55,000 deaths.

South Koreans are confident that they can slowly return to normalcy and have relaxed some restrictions. One of the results of that was the Korean Boxing Commission permitting Hannam Promotion to present the three-bout card at the Legend Boxing Gym in Gimpo yesterday. Besides the Kim-Bae match, Woo Hyun Ma knocked out winless Kyung Min Kim in the first round and unbeaten prospect Hyun Jin Kim stopped winless Sung Han Lee in the fourth frame.


Welterweight Bout-
Hwang Kil Kim (12-2, 6 KOs)
KO-1 2:19
Jae Duk Bae (4-7, 2 KOs)
- Both former WBA Asia lightweight champion Kim and Bae weighed in at 141.

Light Heavyweight Bout-
Woo Hyun Ma (1-1, 1 KO)
KO-1 0:48
Kyung Min Kim (0-3-1, 0 KOs)
- Both fighters weighed in at 168 3/4, the lightest either has weighed for a professional match.

Heavyweight Bout-
Hyun Jin Kim (2-0-1, 2 KOs)
TKO-4 1:35
Sung Han Lee (0-4)
- Kim is now 2-0 versus Lee.