Boxing question. Okay, I am not a troll. I don't know much about boxing. But can someone explain Don King?

Question

Boxing question. Okay, I am not a troll. I don't know much about boxing. But can someone explain Don King?

Answer 1

He is a parasite which has grown for years upon the sport of professional boxing.  Promoters are actually necessary.  Someone has to hire the hall, put out the publicity, negotiate with the fighters' managers as to how much money each will receive, negotiate with the TV networks, etc.  What is different with Don King is that he works by contract packages, getting boxers to commit to him for an extended time, with the threat being that if not, they will not be able to meet any of the other fighters who are already under contract to him.  That can put a major roadblock in a contender's career path.  Don King is not the only one to work this way.  Bob Arum has done some of that, as have others.  But Don King is the largest promoter in the USA, so he has been more in a postion to do it, more often and to more fighters.

Answer 2

He is a "promoter" = "pimp" = thief. I mean he is a dirt bag. Sorry can't help it. He "promotes" fights and takes a substantial cut of the money.

Answer 3

Just a puppet these days.Once he was the real deal and running the business back in the 1970's but with PPV, and 80's marketing etc. different sorts of businessmen moved into the sport and pushed him out.

He was still kept on as a spokesman/scape goat for the sport. People still think he runs it, which suits the big investors fine.



Compared to historical promoters even when he was the real deal he was probably only a 6 out of 10.

In the old days old time promoters were able to make the heavyweight boxer the most famous guy on the planet, despite no TV or airplane travel.

Kings and queens and even Wyatt Earp turned up to see matches.

Look up Tex rickard if you want to see what a real great boxing promoter looks like....

Answer 4

Sweet heart, he's as bad as he looks. I think he just hangs in for the money and to irritate the decent people,who likes boxing. and he invented ugly, in looks and actions. Man would I love to give him a new hair do..LOL.

Answer 5

ok thanks for telling us your not a troll b/c I wouldn't have known otherwise.

Don King is most likely boxing most well known promoters. he has been around the sport of boxing for a long time. I'm not really sure why some people who have answered this question have anything negative to say about him. perhaps I am misinformed but I would ask them what exactly did he do that was so bad?

Answer 6

He was a famous fight promoter...

Answer 7

Don King is THE exploiter of fighters.  At least that would be my simple explanation.

Answer 8

Don King = boxing promoter with extremely bad hair!!!  His practices and treatment of boxers just as bad as his hair!

Answer 9

I don't think anyone on the planet can explain Don King.  Don is the only guy I know of that owns his own satellite.  Don is probably the most successful boxing promoter in the history of the sport, he ushered in the pay per view era with the first closed circuit broad cast of a boxing match (Ali/Frazier) and was responsible for some of the biggest fights in boxing history.  Ali/Forman in Zaire, and countless others.  Don was on a first name basis with Satan (played by Al Pachino, Don played himself) in a Hollywood movie, and according to some of the fighters he signed, in real life as well.  Rumored? Public record?  Don is reported by some to have did time for murdering a guy in Cleveland or so I have been told, I never actually took the time to verify Don's criminal record, I don't want to anger Don, so I tread lightly here.  Most believe Don is of African American decent, but the reality is his roots are in Palermo.  Believe me, Don Vito Corleone or Tony Soprano have nothing on Don King.  Whether he is a "Don" or a "King", both or neither, he is quite possibly the most influential single entity in boxing to never have laced up the gloves professionally.

How do you explain someone like that?  He PAYS tens of millions of dollars in income tax, and brags that the check won't bounce, and you know what, it don't.  He actually has the ability to alter the perception of reality, and countless judges failed to accurately see what was happening directly in front of them, just because Don King told them what they actually saw really didn't happen.  I think he might be the last Jedi, cause he certainly has been know to use the "force" on occasion when his fighter was getting the short end of a fight.  I am not saying Don fixed fights or unduly influenced judges on behalf of his fighters, ...... well yeah, in fact I am.  Julio Cesar Chavez lost all twelve rounds against Pernell Whitaker, but a nod from Don made it a draw.  DeLa Hoya won seven of twelve against Tito, and even Bob Arum couldn't stop Don from looking across at the scorekeepers table and tilting reality towards his fighter.  It actually took the world three days to be sure Buster Douglas really KOed Mike Tyson just because Don forgot to nod at the judges and they didn't know what to do when Mike got flattened in Japan.

One thing is certain, there is only one Don King, and there never will be another.  Love him or hate him, the man has power in boxing circles.