Kim Ki-soo

Kim Ki-soo

File:Kim Ki-soo 1968.jpg Kim Ki-soo c. 1968
Personal information
Born	(1939-09-17)17 September 1939 Pukchong, South Hamgyong, Korea (today in North Korea)
Died	Seoul, South Korea
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	67 kg (148 lb)
Korean name
Hangul	김기수
Hanja	金基洙
Revised Romanization	Gim Gi-su
McCune–Reischauer	Kim Kisu
Sport
Sport	Boxing
Medal record Representing South Korea Asian Games Tokyo 1958 Welterweight

Kim Ki-soo (17 September 1939 – 10 June 1997) was a South Korean southpaw boxer at middleweight. He was South Korea's first world boxing champion.

Amateur career

Kim graduated from Kyung Hee University's College of Physical Education. He competed in boxing at the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, where he earned the gold medal of the welterweight division by defeating Soren Pirjanian of Iran, on points, in the final. He went on to represent South Korea as a welterweight at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, where he defeated Henry Perry (Ireland) on points, but then lost to Nino Benvenuti (Italy) on points.

Professional career

Kim turned professional in 1961 and captured the World, WBC, and WBA light middleweight title when he upset Nino Benvenuti by split decision in 1966. He defended the belt twice before losing it to Sandro Mazzinghi in 1968 by split decision. He retired the following year.

Later life

After his retirement, Kim worked as a boxing coach. He later started his own company, and was successful in business. He died of liver cancer on 10 June 1997, at the age of 58. He was survived by his wife Jeong Ha-ja (鄭夏子), two sons, and two daughters.

References

Preceded by Nino Benvenuti

World Light Middleweight Champion 25 Jun 1966 – 26 May 1968

Succeeded by Sandro Mazzinghi