Hong Man Choi - Truth About Tumour

The tumor in the head of Choi Hong Man, (26) nicknamed the “Techno Goliath,” has sparked a controversy. Choi was supposed to fight Brock Lesnar (30, USA), a WWE wrestler–turned-K1 fighter at the K-1: Dynamite USA championship that was due to be held at the Los Angeles Coliseum on June 2. However, Choi was denied a license for medical reasons by the California Athletic Commission after it found a tumor in his head. They also found blood stains on it.

Choi is strongly protesting against the move. Jeong Yeon-soo, the CEO of the Korean branch office of FEG, the organizer of K-1, said, “He knew about the tumor. It’s not that big. Most giants have this disease. It wasn’t a problem when he fought in Korea or Japan.”

Jeong said, “The MRI test on Choi Hong Man didn’t go well. There was no MRI equipment that fit the size of his head, so he had to do an external MRI. The low definition of the image caused the blood stains to appear.”

He went on to say that when he had an MRI scan at two other hospitals in California, the results came out fine. Nonetheless, the California Athletic Commission did not look at them.

Jeong said, “Lesnar had medical check-ups from hospitals not designated by the California Athletic Commission and passed his physical. So not accepting Choi’s is discrimination.” He said that he might file suit or seek all measures necessary to overturn the decision.

“The Fight Network,” a web site about all fight sports, wrote on May 28 that instead of Choi, Kim Min Soo (32), a silver medalist in Judo in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, was granted approval to fight.

Source: english.donga.com