Choi Hyun-mi (Korean: 최현미; born November 7, 1990) is a South Korean female professional boxer. She is a two-weight world champion, having held the WBA female super-featherweight title from 2013 to 2023 and previously the WBA female featherweight title from 2008 to 2013.[1]
Biography
At age 13, Choi was asked to prepare to compete in the 2008 Olympics as a member of the North Korean team; eventually the International Olympic Committee decided against including women's boxing in the competition.[3] In 2004 her father, a successful businessman in North Korea, fled the country, followed by his family, who traveled first through China, then were smuggled through Vietnam before settling in South Korea, where Choi's promoters advertised her as the "Defector Girl Boxer".[3]
Choi entered the amateur ranks in South Korea in 2006, winning five domestic titles before turning professional.[3] In her pro-debut on October 11, 2008, Choi won the vacant WBA female featherweight World championship by beating Xu Chunyan of China.[3]
Choi won the vacant interim WBA female super-flyweight title thanks to a unanimous decision win over Emiko Raika from Japan on 15 August 2013.[4] She was subsequently upgraded to full champion status.[5][6]
She won the vacant WBF female super-featherweight World title on 21 May 2016, defeating South Africa's Unathi Myekeni by unanimous decision.[7]
In December 2023, the WBA made Choi "Champion in Recess" after she filed a medical exemption and was ruled unfit to defend her title by the sanctioning body’s annual convention in Orlando, Florida, USA.[5]
After 22 fights unbeaten spanning almost 16 years, Choi suffered the first defeat of her professional boxing career on 27 April 2024, losing to Canada's Jessica Camara by split decision in a contest for the vacant WBA female lightweight Gold title at Ajou University, Suwon, South Korea.[8][9]
