Anatomy of a Masterclass: Khaokor Galaxy-Sung Kil-Moon II
Photo by Damrong, Khaokor next to his brother Khaosai
As fans of combat sports, we all have different tastes. While some might prefer the gritty, “just bleed” types of fights like the Gatti-Ward trilogy, others prefer back and forth chess matches such as Hearns-Leonard II. For my money though, nothing is better than watching a masterclass, a legendary fighter putting on an unforgettable performance against another elite fighter. The most impressive masterclass I have ever witnessed was the second clash between Khaokor Galaxy and Sung kil-Moon, for the WBA Bantamweight Championship of the world.
Galaxy, the younger brother of Khaosai Galaxy, was originally trained to be a muay thai kickboxer. Whereas his much more famous brother was known for being one of the hardest hitters of his generation, Khaokor Galaxy was a much more refined fighter, with brilliant defensive tendencies.
Moon on the other hand, might be one of the crudest boxers to ever hold gold. Yet, that didn’t stop him from winning at both the pro and amateur levels as he became the first South Korean to ever win amateur gold at the AIBA World Amateur Boxing Championships and won the WBA Bantamweight Championship in only his sixth professional contest.
Moon’s game was characterised by his physical traits more than anything. Granite chinned and iron fisted, Moon was content to rush at opponents while throwing wild hooks until his opponents could no longer stand with him.
Almost every entry of Moon consisted of these alternating wide angled hooks. Once Moon was able to get on the inside, Moon used hooks and uppercuts to finish his opponents.
The first fight between Galaxy and Moon was nothing like their second affair. As the fight starts, Galaxy throws out soft flickering jabs at a distance, while using his lead arm to frame, while outside of range. Whenever the frame is not present, Moon attempts to throw a lead hook to close distance between the two fighters.
Since Galaxy is staying out of the boxing range of his opponent, Moon’s only prerogative is to back Galaxy to the ropes and cut off the ring, in order to land any meaningful offense.
In each one of these exchanges, Moon places his lead foot on the outside of Galaxy’s lead foot. The purpose of this is it prevents Galaxy from circling to his right, where his lead hand will protect him from Moon. Therefore Moon forces Galaxy to circle to the left, which makes Galaxy take on a square stance, nullifying any offensive attacks from Galaxy and leaving Galaxy open to Moon’s devastating hooks.
Moon’s ring cutting presented numerous issues for Galaxy, as Galaxy was put in a purely defensive position. To counter this, Galaxy used Moon’s sloppy entrances to enter the infight and turn Moon, distancing himself from the ropes.
Not wanting to exchange in the pocket with Moon, Galaxy uses a variety of tactics to close the distance between himself and Moon. Galaxy is able to use Moon’s physicality and recklessness against him, as Moon puts up no defense to the turn, putting himself in a much less advantageous position.
Despite being the more technical and defensively sound fighter, Galaxy chose to slug it out with the fearsome Moon in back and forth pocket exchanges throughout the rest of the fight.
While Galaxy was able to get the better of a number of these exchanges, the physicality and aggression of Moon carried him to a technical decision victory over the legendary Thai.
Following the defeat, Galaxy rattled off five straight victories to receive a shot at the WBA Bantamweight Championship against the only man to ever defeat him. Their rematch was set at the famous Rajadamnern Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand for July 9th, 1989.
Rather than allowing Moon to take the lead, as he did in the first fight, Galaxy seizes the opening minute of the fight by jabbing with Moon, forcing Moon to go on the defensive. Knowing that his best chance to win the fight was to be on the front foot, Moon attempts to implement the same strategy he used in the first fight against Galaxy, but to no avail.
In their first encounter, Moon sought to obtain the outside angle in regards to foot position on each of their lead sides. When Moon pressures, Galaxy L-steps to his lead side, maintaining the outside position. Even as Moon backs Galaxy into the ropes, Galaxy maintains the outside lead foot position, so that when Moon charges, Galaxy can pivot out of danger.
Confident in his ability to avoid the exchanges that cost him the first fight, Galaxy was much more aggressive in the opening frame. Galaxy altered his foot position as he moved in to set up various strikes, while using his lead arm to create a frame on Moon’s lead side.
When pressuring Moon, Galaxy takes the inside lead foot position to create an optimal angle to land his jab, forcing Moon to cover up. As Moon is not coming forward, Galaxy L-steps so that his lead foot is now on the outside of Moon. This created a straight line between Galaxy’s rear hand and the center of Moon’s head, an optimal angle. As they reset, Moon takes the outside lead foot position. To prevent Moon from being able to land with his usual entry, a series of wide hooks, Galaxy uses his lead arm to make a frame, directly on Moon’s lead shoulder. This prevents Moon from having the space to use a lead hook, so he is forced to employ a rear hook, one that due to the abundance of space between the two fighters, is effortlessly batted away by Galaxy. Since Moon is forced to switch stances due to the rear hook, Galaxy is given a wide area to circle out to on his lead side.
Galaxy once again takes the outside lead foot position, as Moon attempts to close the distance. Due to the lack of prior success, Moon attempts to change the timing on his hook as he takes a deep first step while throwing his lead hook. However, Galaxy’s frame prevents Moon from landing, as Galaxy side steps to create a dominant angle, stopping any followup offense from Moon in that exchange.
The combination of maintaining the outside foot position, and Galaxy’s southpaw lead frame made it almost impossible for Moon to enact any of his usual offense on Galaxy. When Galaxy held the outside foot position, Moon was no longer able to herd Galaxy towards Galaxy’s rear side, as Galaxy’s lead foot was no longer blocked by Moon, allowing for a simple pivot to disrupt Moon’s ability to exchange in layers with Galaxy. However, when Moon was able to obtain the outside foot position, Galaxy’s frame inhibited Moon’s ability to throw anything from the lead side, which forced Moon to throw rear hooks to enter exchanges. This created an avenue for Galaxy to escape exchanges due to the forced stance switch.
Once his defense was established, Galaxy was eager to implement his best offense from the outside lead foot position.
When he obtains the outside lead position, Galaxy throws a cross, as his rear shoulder is directly in line with Moon. Moon is able to deflect most of the shot as he covers up, yet Galaxy follows up with a left hook to the body, which is left defenseless. As he throws the hook, Galaxy steps his lead foot past Moon and pivots, leaving nobody home for Moon’s desperate counter.
Following a series of attacks similar to the one above, the desperation in Moon is evident as he charges hard after Galaxy anytime Galaxy does not have the outside lead foot position. Unfortunately for Moon, Galaxy has a solution for this.
For what seems like the first time all fight, Galaxy is not in a prime defensive position as his stance is somewhat squared with Moon stalking him on the ropes. However, when Moon throws his usual hook, Galaxy pivots out to his right while using his rear side hand as frame. Even though Moon is able to connect, the frame of Galaxy allows him to turn Moon as Moon attempts to throw a follow up hook, which is slipped by Galaxy. Following this exchange, Moon once again charges Galaxy, as he has the lead outside foot position. As Moon changes levels and shifts, Galaxy uses his lead side to frame, except this time, he places the frame on the rear side of Moon, directing the momentum of Moon’s charge past him, as he slips the incoming right hook.
By maintaining the outside lead foot position on Moon, Galaxy was able to avoid the most dangerous part of the fight, pocket exchanges, for the most part, and pick off Moon at range or in the infight.
Taking the outside angle with his lead foot, the rear side of Galaxy’s body is directly in line with Moon’s center line, making crosses and rear uppercuts especially dangerous for Moon. Following a few shots, Moon forces the infight to stop the onslaught. Since he has the outside lead foot position, Galaxy’s lead hand is on the outside of Moon’s guard, allowing Galaxy to obtain a single collar tie on both of their lead sides. After ending the exchange, due to the collar tie, Galaxy resets and throws a 1-2 at Moon while once again having the outside foot position on Moon. As Moon once again tries to close the distance, Galaxy initiates an infight to avoid a pocket exchange, obtaining the single collar tie, which he uses to throw Moon off balance as he pivots.
Due to the relative crudeness of Moon’s style, and Galaxy’s masterful defense, Moon is forced to endure one of the most one sided beatings in a championship bout in the history of boxing.
During both of these sequences, Galaxy never once cedes outside foot position to Moon, while staying out of the pocket, forcing Moon to cover up until Galaxy comes too close.
Here Galaxy constantly takes little steps back to maintain proper distance between himself and Moon to avoid a pocket exchange. Once in the pocket, Galaxy uses a jab to create the frame on Moon’s lead side, negating any opportunity for Moon to land a lead hook. As Moon charges once more, Galaxy stands his ground and uses his elbow to make a frame on Moon’s lead side, before punishing him to the body, as his lead frame prevents Moon from using his own lead hand.
Khaokor Galaxy - Sung kil-Moon II is one of the most interesting masterclasses in the history of combat sports. By making a basic adjustment, Khaokor Galaxy went from losing his undefeated record and WBA Bantamweight Championship, to putting on one of the most legendary performances in the history of boxing.