By Lee Kyutae
Cerritos resident and UC Irvine graduate Daniel Kim will make his long-awaited professional boxing debut on Friday night at Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula.
The 23-year old Korean American Junior Welterweight is scheduled to fight four rounds against Cory Muldrew (0-3) from Phoenix, Arizona. Both weighed in at 142 pounds on Thursday.
Orange County-based boxing promoter Roy Englebrecht appears to have high hopes for the 2012 Southern California Blue & Gold champion. Kim joins a trio of undefeated fighters promoted by Englebrecht – Alexander Flores (13-0), Dwain Victorian (2-0), and Curtis Millender (3-0 in MMA).
Kim began boxing in 2010, but is very athletic and intelligent, according to his trainer Alan Kemp. After all, he was a basketball team captain at Whitney High school.
His parents are against him fighting after graduating with a B.A. in psychology and social behavior, but he says, “Growing up, I was left with a strong impression that pursuing a future as an athlete was impossible or a waste of time. Professionally boxing as a Korean American allows me to challenge these cultural and social sentiments while proudly representing Korean and other Asian Americans in a domain where we are vastly underrepresented and often taken lightly.”
The co-main event of the night will be an International Female Boxers Association (IFBA) Junior Flyweight (108 pounds) vacant title match between Amaris Quintana (La Mesa/6-1-2, 1KO) and Sindy Amador (Riverside/10-1, 1KO). Korean American former IFBA champion and 3-time kickboxing world champion Kim Messer will be in attendance to supervise the title match.