Lee Sung-hyun

Lee Sung-hyun (Korean: 이성현; born January 10, 1991) is a South Korean kickboxer who competes in the lightweight, welterweight and middleweight divisions. Known for his speed and sophisticated combinations, Lee debuted in K-1 in March 2009 and further established himself by winning the RISE Korea Super Lightweight Championship in June 2011. He then went on compete regularly for RISE in Japan and had a breakout year in 2013 by winning the K-1 Korea MAX 2013 Tournament and the RISE lightweight title.

As of April 2013, Lee is ranked the #4 lightweight in the world by LiverKick.com.^[1]

Career

Lee Sung-hyun first came to prominence by winning the KMAA Korean Welterweight Championship and debuted in K-1 on March 20, 2009, beating Kim Tae-hwan by unanimous decision at K-1 Award & MAX Korea 2009 in Seoul, South Korea.^[2][3] In his sophomore appearance in the promotion, he took another unanimous decision over Kizaemon Saiga at the K-1 World MAX 2010 in Seoul World Championship Tournament Final 16 on October 3, 2010. After a slow opening round, Lee began to pull ahead in the second as he dropped Saiga twice in quick succession; firstly with a seven strike combination that culminated in a liver punch and then with a left hook and right low kick combo.^[4]

He was then recruited by Krush to compete in the tournament to crown the promotion's inaugural 63 kg/138 lb champion.^[5] At the Krush First Generation King Tournaments ~Round.2~ in Tokyo, Japan on January 9, 2011, he fought Koya Urabe at the quarter-final stage. The bout was scored a draw after the regulation three rounds and so an extension round was needed to decide a winner, after which Urabe was awarded the unanimous decision.^[6][7] Lee returned to his home country and won a four-man tournament in Seoul on June 17, 2011, beating both Son Jun-hyuk and Park Don-fa by unanimous decision to be crowned the RISE Korea Super Lightweight (-65 kg/143.3 lb) Champion.^[8] This further established him as a top prospect in the region and he was soon employed to fight on the main RISE events headquartered in Tokyo. At RISE 85 on November 23, 2011, Lee's momentum was slowed down as he lost in a non-title bout against RISE Super Lightweight Champion Koji Yoshimoto via unanimous decision. Had he not been deducted a point before the start of the fight for missing the contracted weight, he would have gotten a majority draw.^[9][10]

Lee bounced back with an extension round points win over Park Byung-kyu at The Khan 3: New Generation in Seoul on January 15, 2012^[11] before taking on another reigning RISE champion, lightweight titlist Yuki, in a 64 kg/141 lb non-title affair at RISE 88 on June 2, 2012, and winning a majority decision.^[12][13] In the main event of RISE 89 on July 1, 2012, Lee Sung-hyun was able to beat Yuto Watanabe by technical knockout in an extension round. Although he was floored with a spinning back kick in round two, Lee controlled the rest of the bout and earned an extra round in which he dropped Watanabe twice, forcing the referee to call off the bout.^[14] He was scheduled to fight Hiroshi Mizumachi at RISE 90 on October 25, 2012 in a #1 contender's bout for a shot at Yuki's lightweight belt, but Mizumachi pulled out two weeks before with an injury and was replaced by Shohei Asahara.^[15] Lee bettered Asahara on the judges' scorecards and took a unanimous decision.^[16] At the RISE and M-1 Muaythai Challenge co-promoted event ~Infinity I~ on December 2, 2012, he knocked out Buakaw Weerasakreck with a right cross towards the end of the first round in a 63.5 kg/140 lb bout.^[17][18]

With this, he earned a rematch with Yuki and a shot at the RISE Lightweight (-63 kg/138.9 lb) Championship in the main event of the RISE 91/M-1 ~Infinity II~ co-promotion on January 6, 2013.^[19] The fight went very much like their first encounter, where Lee used his advantage in speed and combinations to score on Yuki, particularly with low kicks that damaged the more powerful striker and led to a stoppage in round four and captured Lee the title^[20] as well as the #4 place in the world lightweight rankings.^[21] He then moved up to -70 kg/154 lb and returned to K-1 after a two-year absence to compete in the K-1 Korea MAX 2013 eight man tournament in Seoul on February 2, 2013. Drawn against Shingo Garyu in the quarter-finals, he scored a low kick knockdown over his Japanese opponent in round two before completely taking over in three. Lee dropped him again with a right cross after hurting him with a body shot and at times simply teed off on Garyu who was content to block punches with his face. Having won by unanimous decision, he then went up against Zheng Zhao Yu in the semis and won via TKO with a front kick to the body in the second round after forcing a standing eight count earlier. Pongthong Jetsada awaited him in the final, and Lee outpointed the Thai to win a unanimous decision and take the tournament crown.^[22] He remained at -70 kg/154 lb for his next outing as he made his Glory debut against Yoshihiro Sato at Glory 8: Tokyo - 2013 65kg Slam on May 3, 2013. Giving up 12 cm/4 inches in height, Lee lost to Sato by unanimous decision in a close match.^[23][24][25] Lee dropped to 65 kg/143 lb to fight RISE's super lightweight title holder Yasuomi Soda in a non-championship bout at RISE 94 on July 19, 2013. Soda was shown a yellow card after low blowing Lee twice in round one but stormed back to win a majority decision and stop Lee's five-fight winning streak in the promotion.^[26][27] Having qualified for the tournament with his K-1 Korea win, Lee beat Charles François by unanimous decision after scoring a first round knockdown at the K-1 World MAX 2013 World Championship Tournament Final 16 in Majorca, Spain on September 14, 2013.^{[28][29][30][31][32]}

He took a split decision over Elam Ngor at the K-1 World MAX 2013 World Championship Tournament Quarter Finals - Part 2 in Gran Canaria, Spain on January 11, 2014 in a close, technical affair where Ngor landed a few low blows.^[33][34] At the K-1 World MAX 2013 World Championship Tournament Final 4 in Baku, Azerbaijan on February 23, 2014, he lost to Buakaw Banchamek by UD in the semi-finals.^[35][36] He is expected to face Hiroaki Suzuki at -65 kg/143 lb at Shootboxing 2014: Act 3 in Tokyo on June 21, 2014.^[37]

Lee was initially set to fight Andrei Kulebin at the K-1 World MAX 2013 World Championship Tournament Final in Pattaya, Thailand on July 26, 2014.^[38] The event was postponed due to the 2014 Thai coup d'état, however.^[39]

Championships and awards

Kickboxing

• K-1
  • K-1 Korea MAX 2013 Tournament Championship
• Korean Martial Arts Association
  • KMAA Korean Welterweight Championship
• RISE
  • RISE Korea Super Lightweight (-65 kg/143.3 lb) Championship
  • RISE Lightweight (-63 kg/138.9 lb) Championship

Kickboxing record

Kickboxing record

54 wins (16 KOs), 9 losses, 1 draw Date Result Opponent Event Location Method Round Time 2016-08-20 Loss Jomthong Chuwattana Kunlun Fight 50 – World MAX 2016 Final 16 Jinan, China Decision (unanimous) 3 3:00 2016-03-25 Win Chris Ngimbi Kunlun Fight 40 – World MAX 2016 Group F Tournament Final Tongling, China Decision 3 3:00 Qualified to Kunlun Fight 2016 70kg World MAX Tournament Final 16.[40] 2016-03-25 Win Zhang Chunyu Kunlun Fight 40 – World MAX 2016 Group F Tournament Semi Finals Tongling, China TKO 3 2016-01-09 Win Gu Hui Kunlun Fight 36 Shanghai, China Decision 3 3:00 2015-11-14 Win Mohan Dragon MKF Ultimate Victor 2015 Incheon, South Korea Decision (unanimous) 3 3:00 2014-10-11 Win Andrei Kulebin K-1 World MAX 2014 World Championship Tournament Final Pattaya, Thailand Extension round decision 4 3:00 2014-06-21 Win Hiroaki Suzuki Shootboxing 2014: Act 3 Tokyo, Japan Decision 5 3:00 2014-03-31 Win Meng Guodong Kunlun Fight 3 Harbin, China KO 2 2:00 2014-02-23 Loss Buakaw Banchamek K-1 World MAX 2013 World Championship Tournament Final 4, Semi Finals Baku, Azerbaijan Decision (unanimous) 3 3:00 2014-01-11 Win Elam Ngor K-1 World MAX 2013 World Championship Tournament Quarter Finals - Part 2, Quarter Finals Gran Canaria, Spain Decision (split) 3 3:00 2013-09-14 Win Charles François K-1 World MAX 2013 World Championship Tournament Final 16, First Round Majorca, Spain Decision (unanimous) 3 3:00 2013-07-19 Loss Yasuomi Soda RISE 94 Tokyo, Japan Decision (majority) 3 3:00 2013-05-03 Loss Yoshihiro Sato Glory 8: Tokyo Tokyo, Japan Decision (unanimous) 3 3:00 2013-02-02 Win Pongthong Jetsada K-1 Korea MAX 2013, Final Seoul, South Korea Decision (unanimous) 3 3:00 Wins the K-1 Korea MAX 2013 Tournament Championship. 2013-02-02 Win Zheng Zhaoyu K-1 Korea MAX 2013, Semi Finals Seoul, South Korea TKO (left front kick to the body) 2 2:04 2013-02-02 Win Shingo Garyu K-1 Korea MAX 2013, Quarter Finals Seoul, South Korea Decision (unanimous) 3 3:00 2013-01-06 Win Yuki RISE 91/M-1 ~Infinity II~ Tokyo, Japan KO (low kicks) 4 1:58 Wins the RISE Lightweight (-63 kg/138.9 lb) Championship. 2012-12-02 Win Buakaw Weerasakreck RISE/M-1 ~Infinity I~ Tokyo, Japan KO (right cross) 1 2:58 2012-10-25 Win Shohei Asahara RISE 90 Tokyo, Japan Decision (unanimous) 3 3:00 2012-07-01 Win Yuto Watanabe RISE 89 Tokyo, Japan TKO (right cross) 4 1:29 2012-06-02 Win Yuki RISE 88 Tokyo, Japan Decision (majority) 3 3:00 2012-01-15 Win Park Byung-kyu The Khan 3: New Generation Seoul, South Korea Extension round decision (unanimous) 4 3:00 2011-11-23 Loss Koji Yoshimoto RISE 85 Tokyo, Japan Decision (unanimous) 3 3:00 2011-06-17 Win Park Don-fa RISE Korea, Final Seoul, South Korea Decision (unanimous) 3 3:00 Wins the RISE Korea Super Lightweight (-65 kg/143.3 lb) Championship. 2011-06-17 Win Son Jun-hyuk RISE Korea, Semi Finals Seoul, South Korea Decision (unanimous) 3 3:00 2011-01-09 Loss Koya Urabe Krush First Generation King Tournaments ~Round.2~, Quarter Finals Tokyo, Japan Extension round decision (unanimous) 4 3:00 2010-10-03 Win Kizaemon Saiga K-1 World MAX 2010 in Seoul World Championship Tournament Final 16 Seoul, South Korea Decision (unanimous) 3 3:00 2010-00-00 Win Kwon Min-seok RISE Korea Seoul, South Korea Decision 3 3:00 2009-03-20 Win Kim Tae-hwan K-1 Award & MAX Korea 2009 Seoul, South Korea Decision (unanimous) 3 3:00 Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw/No contest   Notes

External links

• Official Glory profile

References