kim jungwoo*
Boxing has always been in Kim Jungwoo’s blood. As the only son to former professional boxer Kim Chulho, the young athlete began his boxing career at the tender age of ten. Despite his mother’s strong oppositions, the persistency of his father’s goals for their son was enough to fuel Jungwoo and while many kids his age focused on lollygagging about, Jungwoo inherited his father’s fighting spirit the moment he was born. With his father’s former fame and his mother’s occupation as a florist, the Kim family lived humbly in Bucheon, South Korea before relocating to Seoul, South Korea a year before Jungwoo’s professional debut into boxing. He was only 18 years old when he won a four-round bout against South Korean professional boxer Jihoon “Volcano” Kim. The victory was quoted to be ‘well-deserved for a young boxer who’s highly skilled in the Southpaw stance despite being a right-hander’ by the Korean Times in 2008. Shortly after his victory, Jungwoo was also accepted into Yonsei University as a Business Management major, but soon dropped out after completing his first year to focus heavily on his boxing career. By age 20, Jungwoo made his mark in the boxing world by becoming WBC Junior Welterweight champion after a nine-round KO win. The fight sparked many to reminisce of his father’s previous WBC Super Flyweight competition in 1981 where he came out victorious after a nine-round fight using the same knockout methods. From that alone, fans have come to nickname Jungwoo as ‘Phoenix’ – a nickname many praise as it symbolizes the resurrection of his father’s victories and accomplishments. However, in 2013, Jungwoo lost his WBC championship title after defending it for three years straight. In a fight with Danny Garcia at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Jungwoo was left unconscious after a powerful knockout punch straight to the head in round eight of their twelve-round bout competition. The fight left him with a concussion that pulled him in and out of consciousness for the next several hours and many believed he had suffered from a hemorrhage whilst he lied face down in the ring. Though the fight shook bystanders with concern, many credited Jungwoo with his strength to try and stand just moments after gaining consciousness. Rushed to the E.R, the event subsequently sparked controversy regarding the ringside doctor’s actions, some accusing him on failing to give Jungwoo proper medical attention at the time. Such accusations, however, were dismissed by ringside council shortly afterwards. He was released a week later from the hospital with the warning of not participating in another fight until given the okay by his health care physician. Garcia has stated, “everyone wants to win with a knock out, but no one wants to win this way. I’m praying he recovers quickly and my thoughts are with him and his family.” Three months after the incident and after five years of professional boxing, Jungwoo took the time to call for an early retirement via press conference. He indicated the reason to be: “I’m still young and I want to be able to do more with my life than just boxing. Though boxing is something I’ve known my whole life, I think it is time to try and broaden the world I live in by other means. With that, I’m going to be heading back to university after four years of not being a student in hopes of achieving my bachelor’s degree in Business Management. Will I fight again? I can’t say, but I know once I further myself then anything’s possible. Thank you for supporting me all this time, I won’t let you down in my future endeavors.” Following his press conference, it was confirmed that Jungwoo will return back to his former academic institute; Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea as a sophomore for the class of 2016. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Year: Sophomore. Greek Life: Unaffiliated – off campus housing. Major: Business Management. Minor: Health Science. Clubs/Sports: Music. Culinary. |
stats & facts*
STATISTICS Nicknames: Phoenix Rated at: Light Welterweight Height: 5 ft 11 inches (1.82 m) Nationality:  South KoreanStance: Southpaw (right-handed) ----------------------------------------------------- BOXING RECORD Total fights: 28 Wins: 24 Wins by KO: 18 Losses: 4 Draws: 0 No contests: 0 ----------------------------------------------------- ◇ Throughout his career, Jungwoo has gotten his nose realigned twice; his jaw once, three of his fingers fixated with screws, and has fractured two of his ribs. Though he’ll come to say that as a boxer, he is trained to take hits as they come, he won’t deny the pain he feels on various occasions. The most discomfort he feels is particularly located in his hand, when it’s too cold outside his joints ache with a pain akin to arthritis. ◇ In addition to his injuries, Jungwoo suffers from moderate hearing loss in his right ear. It’s a consequence from a fight that punctured his eardrum in 2011. However, despite the fact that he needs people to repeat things from time to time – his hearing hasn’t worsened to the point where he needs a hearing aid just yet. ◇ Aside from boxing, Jungwoo takes pleasure in the arts. Music and culinary are two of his favorite branches and though he wishes he had more time for the guitar, it doesn’t stop him from learning it. During the holidays, it isn’t strange for people to give him cookbooks as gifts and he treasures each and every one of them like they are his babies. ◇ Before boxing, there was taekwondo. At the age of five, Jungwoo was enrolled in taekwondo lessons – lessons he sought through until he was thirteen years old. He’s a first degree black belt though he claims to not remember any of the stances he was taught. ◇ His favorite movie director is Tim Burton. He finds the creativity Burton puts behind the sets of his films to be unparalleled and admires his sense of thought. ◇ Master at pickup lines. Never mind the fact that he google searches them – that’s a secret no one should ever know. ◇ He has a corgi by the name of Bubblebutt, but he calls him BB for short. If he could, he would swim in a pool full of adorable corgi puppies and be completely content with life. ◇ As a boxer, he admires professional South Korean boxers Kim Dukkoo, Chang Jungkoo, Kim Kisoo, and of course – his father, Kim Chulho. Internationally, he holds a lot of respect for Manny Pacquiao, Akinobu Hiranaka, and Muhammad Ali. ◇ His father owns a training gym called 'Phoenix and the Turtle' in Seoul where he trains youth in self-defense and helps amateur boxers prepare for their fights. Jungwoo helps out whenever he has the time and teaches a class every Saturday for youngsters ages 5-10. Next door to his father's gym is his mother's floral shop where he works front desk every Sunday after church. Due to his parents' entrepreneurship, Jungwoo wishes to gain his business management degree so he's able to help take over officially. |
info*
full name: kim jungwoo age & dob: 23, may 9, 1990 occupation: student, former pro. boxer hometown: bucheon, south korea residing: seoul, south korea status: hooked. family: • father (former pro. boxer) • mother (florist) • elder sister (CeCi fashion editor) OOC band name: SPEED contact: phoenix knockout journal: ~southpawing timezone: pacific standard specifics: random im & scene friendly, 3rd person storybook preferred, adult scenes or fade to black, open to back-plots and organic plots! |