Nov. 13, 1982

Before his fight against WBA lightweight champion Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, 23-year-old South Korean Duk Koo Kim taped a sign on his hotel room wall: "Kill or be killed."

Today's fight in Las Vegas is a war, with both fighters dishing out incredible punishment. In the 13th round, Mancini unleashes a 39-punch sequence, but Kim finishes the round. Early in the 14th, two thunderous right hands to Kim's head drop the challenger, who somehow gets off the canvas before the count of 10. Referee Richard Greene ends the fight anyway.

Moments later, Kim collapses, and he's carried from the Caesars Palace ring on a stretcher. He undergoes 2 1/2 hours of surgery to relieve a blood clot in his brain. He will never regain consciousness and he will die five days later.

"It was murderous," says Mancini's manager, Dave Wolf, immediately after the fight, unaware at the time that the comment would soon take on a macabre ring.