Still a stiffneck! Don King at 91: “The boxing king who rose from the favelas”

On January 21, a WBA/NABA gold heavyweight title fight took place in Miami, Florida, U.S.A. There were three fights that night, each with a belt with various letters under it, not just WBA. Even the most seasoned boxing journalist could not figure out what the titles were.

In the WBA/CA middleweight title fight that took place two fights before the main event, the Colombian fighter, who had won all ten of his fights with nine KOs, was defeated by a questionable decision.

The box office for the event was handled by Don King Productions. The company is headed by Don King, who is now 91 years old.
Before the fight, King reiterated, “I organized this fight for the sake of freedom and peace in Ukraine.

Born August 20, 1931, in Cleveland, Ohio, King opened an illegal gambling parlor in a local favela and made a modest fortune; in December 1954, he shot and killed a robber who broke into his store; in April 1966, he assaulted and killed a former employee who borrowed $600 but did not return it. In April 1966, he assaulted and killed a former subordinate who owed him $600 but did not return it. Although he was convicted of self-defense the first time, he was sentenced to prison for the second murder and became a resident behind bars for almost four years.

While in prison, he heard Muhammad Ali’s fights on the radio and decided to enter the boxing world, saying, “This is the only way for a black man to succeed! King was released from prison at the end of September 1971 and contacted Muhammad Ali through all possible channels to secure a place in the ring for an exhibition match in August of the following year.

He promises to be in the ring for an exhibition match in August of the following year. The doctors who work there and the majority of the patients are black.

He made a persuasive overture.

Muhammad Ali, the strongest and most brilliant man in boxing history, became a gold medalist at the 1960 Rome Olympics and turned pro. Three and a half years after his debut, he won the world heavyweight title and successfully defended it nine times, but was stripped of the belt when he refused to be drafted into the Vietnam War. 3 years and 7 months blanked, he returned to the ring after the Supreme Court ruled that the Vietnam War was a barren war. However, he was uncrowned at the time.

Ali’s anti-war and anti-American appeal was so popular that he broke the exhibition match box-office record ($81,000. ($81,000, or $575,132 in today’s value = approximately 74 million yen). However, despite the success of the show, King only paid $15,000 to the hospital as support money, and it has been revealed that he paid out fight money to the fighters.

King, who had gotten a taste for the sport, became the best boxer in boxing as an entertainer, promoting heavyweight world title fights centering on Ali. He continued to put together cards that captivated fans, and on October 30, 1974, Zaire (now the Republic of Congo) was named the host country for the Muhammad Ali vs. George Foreman fight, which was televised worldwide by satellite. The third fight between Ali and Joe Frazier, held in the Philippines on October 1 of the following year, was truly a world heavyweight title match on the scale of the Olympics. King had the skills to stage such an out-of-the-box event.

King described himself as “Only in America. Whereas Bob Allam, who handled Ryota Murata and Naoya Inoue’s fights in the U.S., was an intellectual who studied law at Harvard Law School, King was a man who had risen to the top from the streets of poverty.

A black fighter deserves a black promoter like me.

He would tell young fighters on the rise, “I ‘ll take care of you. I’ ll make sure you succeed. Since both champions and challengers had management contracts with most of the top fighters, no matter who won or lost, King never suffered any financial loss.

Mike Tyson, who missed the Los Angeles Olympics and made his professional debut in March 1985, was as talented as Ali: arrested 51 times between the ages of 9 and 12, Tyson left juvenile detention at age 13 and was adopted by Cus D’Amato, who trained him as a gifted fighter.

While D’Amato, a famous scholar who had produced two world champions in the past, was still alive, he was able to eliminate the good guys. However, after D’Amato’s death, King approached Tyson and seduced him with his words. Even though no one talked about the importance of training or concentrated on boxing, the promoters were enriched as long as Tyson got into the ring.

Between Ali’s departure from the ring and the arrival of the Tyson era, Tim Withaspoon, a two-time world heavyweight champion (WBC in 1984 and WBA in 1986), was pressed by King to just sign a blank piece of paper. When he refused, he was threatened that if he disobeyed him, he would never be allowed in the ring again for a world title match.

When he reluctantly signed his name to the paper, he was relentlessly pinned down for fight money. On one occasion, 90% of the amount announced to the media was exploited.

Losing his motivation to fight, Withaspoon gave up his WBC title in his first defense and his WBA belt in his second defense, even though he was a talented fighter. When he began his legal battle against King, he received messages of “breathing room ” and spent shell casings.

We asked Withaspoon about the Don King show on January 21.

　The “Fight for Peace in Ukraine,” huh? As usual, ……. You’re not working any big matches, but you’re still entertaining in Florida, where I live. What can I say, you’re a doer. I don’t think he’s ever going to have to eat again, but he’s still willing to work. That kind of greed and good public speaking skills must be what got him to where he is. Even if it’s a belt I’ve never heard of, like WBA/NABA Gold, “title match” has a nice ring to it. He sacrificed a lot of fighters, including me. In boxing, being strong is not enough to succeed. It is not at all unusual for a fighter to lose a fight by a mysterious decision. I hope the Colombian fighter does not rot.

Boxing is the only way to make money,” Withaspoon, who continued to fight until he was 45 years old and had four children, said on the verge of retirement.

A boxer is like a racehorse. If you win, they put a ribbon around your neck. But when you’re done, you’re done. I may have been world champion, but I was just a slave.

It will soon be 20 years since his last fight. Looking back on his time in the ring, Witherspoon said, “A lot of boxers can do anything they want to do.

Many boxers don’t have anything else to do. I don’t think it’s the same with this Colombian fighter. The promoters make more money in this world than the people who fight with physical injuries. It’s that kind of business. Even if it’s just two or three fights a year, it’s amazing that he’s still working at his age.

Don King is 91 years old. Retirement is still a long way off.