South Korean Yuh Myung-woo, who defended his WBA light-flyweight title a record 17 consecutive times, is to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and Museum next year alongside Arturo “Thunder” Gatti and Virgil Hill.
“I think this honor will be a great leap forward not only for myself, but also for boxing in Korea,” the 48-year-old Yuh said by telephone yesterday.
Yuh won the world light flyweight (49kg) title for the first time in 1985 by beating the US’ Joey Olivo in Daegu, South Korea. He made 17 defenses on home turf before fighting Japan’s Hiroki Ioka in Osaka in December 1991.
Ioka took the title on a split decision, handing Yuh his one and only defeat as a professional.
The South Korean would wait almost a year for his revenge, returning to the ring the following November against the same opponent at the same venue, but this time defeating Ioka to reclaim his title.
Looking back over his career, Yuh recalled two magical moments.
“When I won the first world championship title and when I reclaimed the title from Hiroki Ioka of Japan,” he said. “I started boxing when I was in the first grade in middle school with the aim of becoming world champion, so it was a dream-come-true moment.”
Yuh made one more title defense, dominating Japan’s Yuichi Hosono for 12 rounds in July 1993, before hanging up his gloves that same year with a record of 38-1.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
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