I Walk in His Shadow: Ray Mancini vs Duk-Koo Kim (Graphic)

Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini. His father's son. His dad Lenny (also known as Boom Boom) fought with the sort of face first ferocity that put asses in the seats. But in 1941, on the verge of his title shot, he was drafted into the Army. He returned home to Youngstown, Ohio in 1944 20lbs heavier after taking 8 pieces of German shrapnel. He tried to continue his career against larger fighters which led to inevitably poor results. He retired having never won the title.

Ray idolized his dad, wanted to make him proud, never wanted to be anything but a fighter. He wasn't the most talented, nor the fastest, but not an ounce of quit resided in his 135lb frame. He became an icon to his native Youngstown, Ohio. Like so many other Rust Belt cities Youngstown was limping along through the 1970's and 80's. Ray seemed poised for super stardom, but he came here knowing he was in for a fight. Even if nobody else did.

Duk Koo Kim of South Korea was an unknown quantity to many boxing writers. Many immediately wrote him off as having no chance vs Ray. But Ray knew. Watched the films. Saw a guy who never took a step back, which is to say, a man after Ray's own heart. He was relentless, indomitable and more motivated than ever with his first son on the way. For the first time in his life Duk ( pronounced Duke) had just enough to live for, to be ready to die for it.

From the get go, violence abounds. Both men jog out of their corner, and both throw left hands. Duk's a piercing straight, Ray with the short chopping check hook to pivot off the line of attack. Ray spamming his way through every type of punch that exists in boxing, Duk using his sense of distance to avoid taking any of them cleanly. Working in a hard left hook to the body from the left hander, which might the most painful punch that exists in boxing. If Duk wants to be able to keep up with Ray's considerable volume, body punching is the best way to put some leaks in your opponents gas tank.

Duk comes pressing forward, just as Ray suspected he would. A war broke out 30 seconds into the fight. Ray showing off crackling arsenal, uppercutting off the hook twice before changing it up and tripling up on his left hook. Also note how the first shot goes to the body this brings down Duk's hands for the next two hooks. But Duk fought like a guy with a gun to his back. Nowhere to go but Forward.

Duk Koo Kim couldn't be happier. I like to think at this moment at the beginning of round 2, Duk knew that whatever the outcome of his first title fight, it would be legendary. He throws his arms up, soaking, bathing in the moment. Before ultimately remembering that, "Well, I've got a job to do" as he batters Ray with a vicious 3 punch combo before falling into the clinch to deny Ray any chance to put a halt to his unerring enthusiasm.

It was sublime. A ballet of skill and stubbornness. Duk constantly shifting forward and throwing both hands with reckless abandon, Ray taking as good as he is giving finding that left hook on the jaw of Kim over and over. When you land that hook you knock your opponent off the line of attack, forcing them to turn and reset before they can continue attacking.

Round after round Ray Mancini would charge out of his corner and catch Duk with something big, here again it was that nasty left hook. Duk would respond in the most maddeningly human way possible. He would swing wild with both hands as he came forward. Up close Ray mauled him on the inside, still working that double left hook and uppercutting with the right. Duk just waded through it all.

But given just the slightest bit of distance, Duk would come roaring right back with that rifle of a straight left. His wider swings (as opposed to Ray's tighter hooks) give him just a bit of extra reach when he needs it to land that long right hook. The more Duk boxed the better he looked. When ever you have two fighters who are able to dominate from different ranges (Ray up close, Duk at distance) more often then not it ends in either a quick knockout for one or the other.

Or it ends up like this. Duk just could not resist obliging Ray in the war he wanted. It is savage, brutal and absolutely enthralling watch. Just 6 rounds in the fight was already a shoe-in for fight of the year in 1982. Boxing unlike most other sports is not a game. It is a fight. Every clean shot takes something from you, that you can never get back. Since 1900 an average of 10 boxers die every year. 80 percent of those from head and neck injuries. To quote the great warrior-poet DMX "THIS IS NOT, A FUCKING, GAME."

What boxing is, in moments like these, is a maddening and atavistic celebration of just how humans got to the top of the food chain. Thoughts and tools aside, we are built for stamina and durability above all else. Early humans hunted bigger and stronger animals by simply following them until they dropped dead because they couldn't run any more. Duk Koo Kim and Ray Mancini are two of the finest specimens of human endurance I've ever watched. I fear for hostile aliens on our technological level.

Sure it's got it dirty parts, the referee had to warn both men through out the fight. About low blows, about head butts and about hitting as the ref tried to call a break here. But it is rarely ever truly personal or dirty. Aside from a few well known usual suspects, like Tyson, Holyfield and Hopkins, it is far more often the chaotic nature of human combat. Things happen in there. On occasion the worst of things happen in there.

But the best of things happen in there as well. These two professional fighters, had never met before the weigh in. Didn't speak the same language. Spent their lives a world apart, physically and culturally. But by round 7 a mutual respect had formed. More important then the crowd, or the title belt, or the millions of dollars at stake. These two realized that the man in front of him, was the same as the man standing in his shoes. A mirror image on the inside, if not the outside. Kindred spirits in their humanity.

In every great fight there comes a moment where it stops being fun to watch. This was it for me. Duk on the ropes getting flurried on by Ray, despite showing some good defensive head movement. You start to wonder in these moments. What is the limit? How bad could a human being possibly want to win a fight? It starts getting into very dark territory. Duk actually foreshadowed just how dark it can get.

I'm going to tell you now, that Duk Koo Kim would die due to injuries sustained from this fight. In his hotel room, found after his trainer had to clear out Kim's belongings, was a lampshade. Duk had written 살거나 죽다 on it in sharpie. This roughly translates into English as either "Live or Die" or "Kill or Be Killed". Either way it is a chilling look into the mindset of a man willing to commit suicide by fist, before he let himself or his growing family down.

The pair clash heads unintentionally. But the intention does nothing to to lessen the violence of it. After 11 rounds of war it was the only thing hard enough to actually cause Duk to take a knee. Duk immediately looks badly shaken by it as he his legs give out beneath him.

Sensing his moment had come Ray banged away with all he had, but even still Duk Koo Kim. Badly rocked and on wobbly legs, came forward.

More than that he came back. Still popping out the straight left hand before ducking under a counter jab. He clamps down on Ray's venomous left hand with an overhook and works in a pair of uppercuts as the ref tries to break them.

This moment made me cringe. Not the fight itself but the split screen of 140lb champion Aaron Pryor watching it live with his young daughter. They had no idea a man just like her father would lose his life. I can;t imagine having to answer some of the questions she would asking in the coming days and weeks. Pryor was also known for getting into knockdown drag out wars.

Yet again Ray just goes all in. He threw 45 unanswered punches. Hurtful, powerful, Nasty, nasty punches. I would not have complained if it had been stopped here, Duk would still be alive of it had been stopped here. But in defense of the referee Duk is still defending himself fairly well with his high guard defense and head movement. He is doing things that denote a an intelligent defense, even attempts to clinch several times. It's a serious grey area, and I suspect there is no real way to make it black and white.

And Duk Koo Kim, never gave up. Not on himself, not on his career, not only the life he hoped to provide to his wife and unborn son. His body battered, his brain developing the fatal blood clot that would end his life, but his soul and spirit fixated only on victory. Victory at any cost. He held absolutely nothing back, for he had nothing more left to give.

He is dead in this moment. Weather his body knew it or not he would never be a human being again. And he still got up. He got up from the punch that killed him in less than 10 seconds. That is how badly Duk wanted to win. It is tragic of course, heartbreaking for all involved. Though Duk would die, he would die as a human being. He would die as a man. Perhaps most importantly to Duk Koo Kim himself, he would die on his goddamn feet.

In a cruel twist of fate Ray Mancini on the very cusp of his ascension to legend, would have it all ripped away. He had magazine covers, endorsements and celebrity friends before the fight. All those things disappeared afterward. Nobody wants to associate with a death. It's bad for business. Ray went into a long depression upon hearing that Duk, his respected opponent, lost the second fight of his life.

Just moments later Duk Koo Kim would collapse. It is important see this sickening image. Nobody likes to see it, but it is the reality of the sport. Duk sacrificed himself at the twin altars of boxing and providing for his family. In the coming months boxing would try to reform. 15 round fights were reduced to 12. An extra day between the weigh in and fight would allow boxers to rehydrate after a grueling weight cut. But as I said before, things happen in there. Sometimes bad things. Sometimes horrific things. Sometimes things that make you question yourself. But ultimately what happens in there is the reality of the human condition. People die at work everyday. Coal Miners, loggers, soldiers. We all make our own choices. We all live with them. We all die with them. We aren't all legends.