Don King: The greatest and most controversial boxing promoter in the world, next on his agenda- Mayweather vs. Pacquiao
Don King, the boxing promoter with the shock of electrified white hair, has been one of the most famous and controversial promoters the sport has ever seen. He has set up fights for some of the biggest boxers in the sport today, names like Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield, and Mike Tyson and now he is looking to work with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
He has a very colourful history stretching back to when he was running a gambling operation to killing someone, to then setting up what has become the biggest boxing promotion company in America. King is one of the most controversial yet also the most fascinating names in boxing today.
Don King’s story starts off in poverty. His parents were raising him and his five siblings in Cleveland and his father worked in a steel plant. When Don was 10 years old, his dad was killed in an explosion at the plant and the family moved to a middle class neighbourhood. Soon Don got into gambling and set himself up in a numbers racket as he grew older. It was around this time that he had his first run in with the law. He shot someone who was trying to rob one of his gambling houses. The death was termed as justifiable homicide and King was saved from any jail time.
His gambling business continued to grow until 13 years after the first shooting, King shot a gambling associate again and this time was awarded three years in prison. When he emerged from jail, he started to become interested in boxing and somehow convinced Muhammad Ali to fight in an exhibition match with the proceeds going to a local hospital. The fight raised a lot of money and it got King’s brain working. He decided to get into boxing promotion full time and in 1974, set up Don King Promotions.
The first big fight of Don’s career was also one of the biggest fights that had ever taken place in the boxing world. The fight was called ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ and it featured George Foreman defending his title against Muhammad Ali. The fight took place in Zaire and got both boxers an unprecedented $5 million payout. King must have also earned a substantial amount of money from the deal because it launched his lucrative business empire. The fight also literally put Zaire on the map. The next big fight of Don’s career was Muhammad Ali and Joe Fraizer’s third outing in the ring and it was held in the Philippines and was aptly titled ‘The Thrilla in Manila.’
The most interesting aspect of King is the fact that he is one of the most persuasive men that boxing has ever seen. Just a quick recap of his achievements saw him convince one of the greatest boxers at the time, Muhammad Ali, to fight in a charity match to save a hospital right out of his stint in prison. He persuaded the president of a third world nation, Zaire, to almost bankrupt his nation to promote a boxing match and he convinced some of the world’s best boxers to sign with him.
Over the years though, King has been plagued by court cases and legal suits brought on him by the boxers he has represented in the past. Even Muhammad Ali felt he was short-changed in a fight and sued King. It is estimated that King has spent almost $30 million defending himself in courts over the years. The money seems to have paid off because most of the cases were either settled out of court or dropped. Over the years, he has been tried for tax evasion, insurance fraud and many claims by boxers that he had swindled them. He managed to come out clean every time but it has put a black mark on his career.
The boxing world has been going crazy with talks of Don King trying to sign Floyd Mayweather to his stable and then get him to fight against Manny Pacquiao, in what is being billed as the greatest and richest boxing match of all time. In true King style, he is Wining and Dining the young boxer, to try to get him to agree to the fight and in the process the promoter will probably get a fat pay check as well.
We will have to wait and see what happens to the hotly anticipated Mayweather vs. Pacquiao match up and whether it takes place or not. We can be sure that it will get a lot more interesting now that the world’s best boxing promoter is involved.
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