Today, August 20th, Don King turns the ripe old age of 94. Yes, 94! The way he’s going, the former numbers runner from Cleveland who, as he said himself numerous times “came up the hard way in a hard place,” will live to the age of 100. King seemed indestructible when he really was the king of boxing (promotional-wise, as well as influence-wise), and love him or hate him, it cannot be denied that the Gods have shined on King the gift of a long, long life.
King, who famously listened to the epic ‘Fight of the Century’ between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier while he was in prison – put there for stomping to death a man who owed him $600 – would be Ali’s big-time promoter just over three years later. Rapid progress indeed, and King would show he had astonishing levels of endurance, with him still in the game (at a lower level) today.
From Prison Walls To Boxing’s Mountaintop
King once said he was, as young man, led to believe there would be a “mountain top I could reach, where I could sit and rest.” But King was either unable to find the settling place, or he was unwilling to go there after all; instead preferring to keep working, working, working.
Arguably the most polarising figure in all of boxing, King has people who hate him, and he also has people who say they owe him a great debt. Heavyweight warrior Chuck Wepner, for an example of the folks who fall into the latter category, has nothing bad to say about King, and ‘The Real-Life Rocky’ goes as far to say the fighters who moan and groan about King are “cry babies.”
King, Wepner insists, always paid him his full money and he always delivered when it came to promising him big fights. And when we look back, it’s another of King’s noted accomplishments indeed that he managed to get Ali, who had just shocked the world and George Foreman, to defend against a “bleeder” like Wepner and see the fight turn a profit (not a huge profit, and King was in deep with some gangster types as a result of his making the March ’75 fight, but on Don went).
The Hustler Who Gave Boxing Its Greatest Nights
Speaking of big fights, what are King’s biggest hits? King promoted everywhere, and over the course of five decades, this as he pretty much covered all eight (original) weight divisions. And King sure had some amazing talent to work with; fighting talent that either wanted to work with him or had no other choice.
King’s biggest, indeed proudest moment will always be the unforgettable ‘Rumble in the Jungle,’ the fight between Ali and Foreman that was dubbed by King as “From Slaveship to Championship.’ Had that immensely brave and unexpected venture failed, nobody would be talking about Don King today.
King also promoted, or co-promoted: Ali-Frazier III: ‘The Thrilla in Manila.’ And also, on a sadder note (for Ali, but a financially beneficial note for King), Larry Holmes-Ali.
King didn’t waste much time in zeroing in on a peaking Mike Tyson, this a decade or so after Ali was worn out and Foreman had found religion. King promoted Holmes in-between, and the king of hustlers then persuaded an ageing Holmes to return and fight Tyson. Larry was the victim the same way Ali had been.
King, wanting and getting “control,” would work with the following greats: Wilfred Benitez, Salvador Sanchez, Wilfredo Gomez, Azumah Nelson, Julio Cesar Chavez, Roberto Duran, Felix Trinidad, Roy Jones Jr, Christy Martin (yet another string to King’s bow being his risky move to promote female fighters).
King sold-out arenas (to the tune of over 132,000 at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico when it comes to the Chavez-Greg Haugen fight), and he always left the place with a bigger bundle than any fighter he promoted (although not on paper). King was also taken to court numerous times during his ever so long heyday, but King always left the courtroom smiling (at least in public).
94 and Still Standing: The King Won’t Leave the Ring
King is still here, he is still smiling, and it’s about 50-50 as far as who is happy about it and who isn’t. But as King once said himself: “If Don King didn’t exist, you’d have to invent him!”
Love him or loathe him, you cannot deny the fact that King made a huge impact on the sport, and he sure did give us some great fights/cards/events for our money.
Bottom line question: did Don King do more good for boxing than he did bad?