‘My Lovely Boxer’ review: boxing drama lacks knockout blow

In a dingy boxing ring, Estomata – Korea’s answer to Muhammad Ali – playfully faces off against would-be contenders, keen to face off against him in a slew of publicity rounds. As cameras flash and each hopeful gets quickly dismissed, an unassuming figure steps up for her turn. Lee Kwon-sook (played by former I.O.I member Kim So-hye) is the only woman to try her luck so far – and becomes the only opponent to defeat the titan.

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After Kwon-sook leaves Estomata on the floor of the ring, she rises through the ranks of boxing’s amateur levels, before taking gold at the Olympics. She is swiftly becoming the sport’s new star but, on the eve of her big title match against reigning champion Han A-reum (played by Chae Won-bin), she suddenly disappears without a trace. Reporters and fans search for her, but no one has much luck – until sports agent Kim Tae-young (Lee Sang-yeob) needs her to save his fate.

Tae-young has earned himself a reputation for pressuring his clients to retire and he’s doling out the same advice to his former school friend and baseball player Kim Hee-won (Choi Jae-woong). Hee-won, though, won’t accept – his young child is in urgent need of expensive medical treatment and so the sportsman goes down shady roads to get the cash he requires. When Tae-young finds out about his scheme, he takes on Hee-won’s debts as his own and comes up with a new plan – hunt down Lee Kwon-sook, convince her to return to the ring, and make his friend’s corrupt debtors enough money to leave the pair alone.

My Lovely Boxer might be a sports drama, but it feels like athletics is only a loose framework for the series. In the first four episodes, very little action actually takes place in a gym, ring or stadium, the focus far more weighted to the characters’ struggles and strife. That could be forgiven if the scenes it chooses to spend time on helped move the story forward or made you root for one character or another, but they often tread water and don’t do anything to make you care.

If anyone, you’ll be rooting for Kwon-sook after her meeting with – and subsequent harassment by – Tae-young, purely because of how relentless and awful he is to her. After tracking her down, through name changes, house moves and more, he saves her from a blind date where the potential suitor is only interested in her because he too has figured out her real identity. But, rescuing over, Tae-young reveals himself to be just as bad, asking Kwon-sook to help him in his plan. When she declines, he doesn’t give up, but instead stalks her on her morning runs, refusing to leave her alone and turns her life upside down as a final push to get the answer he wants.

The series isn’t unsaveable – as long as, in its upcoming episodes, it gives us reason beyond Tae-young’s creepiness to be invested in Kwon-sook’s plight. Until it does that, though, it’ll remain lacking the knockout blow it could deliver.

My Lovely Boxer airs every Monday and Tuesday on KBS2

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