…and Choi Hong-man is a potato.
I don’t know if The Korea Times’ Kim Tong-hyung is a good writer, but this piece on Choi Hong-man is mighty fine. After all, it is hard to go wrong with a piece that starts like this:
Bumbling South Korean kickboxer Choi Hong-man has always walked the thin line between comedy and tragedy, but he now seems ripe for a push over the cliff in either direction.
Nice. I did a blog post on Choi at Flying Yangban a year ago two years ago in which I said I thought he was just too slow and inexperienced to win the championship anytime soon. He has progessed little since then.
Choi’s performance against french veteran Jerome LeBanner in the K-1 finals showed that that he is still not ready for prime time.
I’m down on Choi but Kim is absolutely merciless:
Among the biggest fighters in the world at 2.18 meters and 160 kilograms, Choi, a former folk wrestling champion, is good at being tall but not much else, a walking eyesore of an athlete who fights with the skills and grace of a potato.
There is more were that came from, so hit the link and enjoy.
9 Comments
I watched the fight and thought Choi did pretty well for being so big and awkward, but he was not good enough. The French guy was just too good. Anyway, I think Choi did better in this fight than he did in the last one he “supposedly” won. One thing he did do wrong was let the French guy get away from him too easily.
I noticed that one of the Korean announcers of the fight was also nitpicking Choi’s fighting skills for some reason. He seems to be losing Korean support.
I think it is still too early to write off Choi. He just needs more experience and some new tricks that take full advantage of his size and strength. Even without a powerful punch, he could still be pushing his opponents around the ring like rag dolls, which would eventually wear them down.
I am curious to see what he will be like in a year or two.
All this negative publicity does not bode well for Choi’s eagerly anticipated singer debut next month.
Kim is a great writer. But beyond being humorous, his criticism goes beyond the standards of even a sports journalist. In particular, his continuously negative articles about Park Chan-ho over the past year have been over the line in their callousness. The implication is that Park is some kind of asshole who deserves to be ridiculed because he can’t pitch as well as his glory days. Lot’s of athletes rise and fall, some never rise at all. Kim’s writing often strikes me as uncaring and cheap.
A sports writing god, I think not.
mjw,
Perhaps the god of the sports writing netherworld? Maybe the Pluto of sports writers?
Maybe it’s because I was a boxing fan before I started watching K-1, but I can’t forgive Choi for still not having learned the art of the stiff jab.
World’s biggest rapper? Someone should send the writer a copy of Shaquille O’Neal’s god-awful, dreadful album.
Oh my…Fedor Emelianenko vs Choi Hong Man…even if it’s an insult to the sport, I’d love to see that fight.
# 6, Why do you Dis him?
Choi’s only hope is to refine the “hard knee to the balls” move that he pulled off a time or two in his rematch with Mighty-Mo. It was the only reason he was able to edge by Mighty-Mo, who beat Choi down in their previous fight. Guys like Mighty-Mo are much more exciting to watch, especially when they aren’t holding back tears for having their testicles launched up into their stomach.
Andy,
If you like boxing, then your sportswriter god status has to go to ESPN’s Dan Rafael. The man is KNOWS boxing, is terrifically prolific, and is a great read to boot.