Tae-Jin Moon vs. Rocky Lockridge: 1984 WBA Title Fight
Tae-Jin Moon was a South Korean professional boxer whose career included a WBA super-featherweight title challenge against Rocky Lockridge in 1984. The championship contest took place at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, Alaska, on June 12 and ended with Lockridge retaining his belt by an eleventh-round stoppage.
Career and championship record
Moon’s recorded professional career began in July 1977. His early schedule was centered on South Korea, with repeated appearances in Seoul and Yesan. A 1979 meeting with Hyo Sung Kim ended in a draw. His first listed overseas assignment came against Rodolfo Gonzalez in Los Angeles in July 1981, when he lost on points.
He returned to winning results at home, including a points victory over Rod Sequenan in April 1982 and a knockout win over Albert Duldulao in Seoul in April 1983. A further points victory against Yoshimitsu Asato in Daegu preceded the Alaska title opportunity. UPI’s February 1984 WBC rankings placed Moon second among junior-lightweight contenders, documenting his standing before the championship challenge.
Lockridge had won the WBA championship from Roger Mayweather earlier in 1984. His meeting with Moon was scheduled for fifteen rounds. The contemporary UPI report described the champion controlling the action, hurting Moon with a right hand in round eight and forcing him onto the ropes during the ninth. The ending came thirty-one seconds into the eleventh round. Moon’s record afterward was reported as 21 wins, two defeats and one draw.
The championship defeat did not end Moon’s professional career. His later ledger includes a points loss to fellow Korean Hwan Kil Yuh in November 1985. He returned to competition in 1989 and recorded two victories over former world champion Rolando Navarrete in the Philippines, the first by knockout in Quezon City in October 1989 and the second by technical knockout in Manila in July 1990.
His final listed appearance was a stoppage defeat against Miguel Angel Gonzalez in March 1991. The compiled ledger totals twenty-seven victories, four defeats and one draw. The Navarrete victories therefore belong to a later phase of a career that continued several years beyond Moon’s best-known championship appearance in Anchorage.
Sources
Additional sources: https://boxerlist.com/en/boxer/tae-jin-moon/7255; https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/02/28/Boxing-RatingsNEWLNWorld-Boxing-Council-through-Feb-21-1984/5028446792400/
Sources: https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2116613/m1/6/; https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/WBA_Super_Featherweight_Title_Fights
