Teenager Choi Hyun-mi, struggling to make a new life in South Korea after fleeing North Korea with her parents, literally fought her way to the top.
Choi, who switched from amateur to professional boxing to support her family, is now the World Boxing Association (WBA) women’s featherweight champion — still deeply in love with the sport she took up in Pyongyang at age 13.
“I think I was born to box,” said Choi, now 19, recalling how she switched from track after a school boxing coach persuaded her to visit the gym.
PHOTO: AFP
Fellow 13-year-olds were working up a sweat punching bags, but to Choi their efforts looked beautiful. She then had to win over her parents, who were firmly opposed to a daughter in the ring.
“So I recorded a video of me defeating other fighters and showed it to my parents after practising for three months secretly,” Choi said.
They swung behind her and Choi was asked to train for the 2008 Olympics as a possible member of the North Korean squad. Olympics organizers eventually decided to exclude women boxers.
In 2004 her life changed dramatically when her wealthy businessman father Choi Chul-soo decided to flee to South Korea.
“I was too young to understand what it took, and what it meant. But I said yes because I longed for a new environment,” she said.
The high-risk escape was carefully disguised as a family trip to China. They traveled on to Vietnam before finally settling in South Korea.
“I literally thought I would live in a three-story building where there was a swimming pool. I imagined living like a princess, wearing dresses. But the reality was different,” Choi said.
At first she was thrilled about the fact that she could study like others and live a normal life. But she started to get angry when she could not match the school grades she achieved in North Korea, and decided to seek success in the ring.
Choi made an explosive debut as an amateur, claiming five titles and 16 victories. She turned professional so the prize money could support her needy family, who were living on state aid paid to North Korean refugees.
“I felt the need to help my family and make up for their never-ending support and love,” Choi said.
She secured a third-round technical knockout in her professional debut in June 2008. And in only her second professional bout in 2008 she defeated China’s Xu Chunyan to claim the WBA world title.
“Frankly speaking, I don’t remember how I felt or what I thought,” Choi said. “Everything was just passing before me like a panorama.”
The win at age 17 made her the youngest world champion of either sex in the history of South Korean boxing. She has defended her title twice.
The champion says she is hooked on what she calls “the most beautiful physical art.”
“If you win and your hand goes up, you get this sudden excitement. It is like an addiction. Boxing is everything in my life. It is my stepping stone,” she said.
Promoters once advertised Choi as “Defector Girl Boxer” while she is known as “The Technical Boxer” or “Beauty Boxer” to her fans.
“I prefer ‘beauty boxer,’” she said, laughing.
But Choi’s favorite nickname is “Million Dollar Baby,” after the 2004 Oscar-winning movie about an underdog female fighter who turns professional.
“It means I am worth a million dollars, or more. I like that,” Choi joked.
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