Don King and the 5 Best Promoters in the History of Boxing | Bleacher Report Don King and the 5 Best Promoters in the History of Boxing Use your ← → (arrow) keys to browse the slideshow Al Bello/Getty Images Comments Boxing is not a sport that promotes itself. Without a surefire promoter, the person who lies behind (and in front) of the scenes, many of the greatest fights of all time would never have happened. Sure, many promoters get a bad rap for many purported shady dealings, as well as having their own interests in mind instead of the fighters. Still, the sport would not be the same without such colorful personalities telling us how great a fight is supposed to be. Besides, well, you know who, let’s rate the five best boxing promoters of all time. 5. Frank Warren Warren is arguably the most successful British promoter of all time. His most notable achievements include coordinating the rise of two of the best fighters to come out of the U. K.—Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton. Ricky Hatton retired in July of 2011, his only two losses coming from Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao. Regardless, Warren made Hatton a superstar in his home country.

Although he had disputes with Calzaghe late in his career, Warren still promoted the majority of Calzaghe’s undefeated streak, which eventually set the fighter up for showdowns between boxing greats Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones, Jr. Calzaghe would go on to defeat both men. He has also promoted the careers of notable British fighters Amir Khan, Nigel Benn and Naseem Hamed. 4. Oscar De La Hoya Alex Livesey/Getty Images In 2001, while still being a full time boxer, De La Hoya started his own firm called Golden Boy Promotions. Since then, Golden Boy can honestly boast itself as being one of boxing's few promotional organizations with minimal controversy in its dealings. What’s different about Golden Boy and other organizations is that it is (mostly) run by fighters, men who have actually laced up a pair of gloves and fought other men. Other boxers who helped start Golden Boy include current world champions Bernard Hopkins and Juan Manuel Marquez. The most lucrative fight in boxing history was the 2007 bout between Floyd Mayweather, Jr, and Oscar De La Hoya . Needless to say, Golden Boy was at the helm for that one.

Unlike outspoken promoters Bob Arum and Lou DiBella, De La Hoya’s company has actually maintained a peaceable stance with the sport of MMA. It even entertained a small partnership with the short-lived Affliction organization (Affliction went south in 2009). Time will tell if Golden Boy Promotions will continue being a fighter’s haven or not. Next » 3. Tex Rickard If you don’t know who this man is, then you’re not alone. Well before the days of Don King and Bob Arum, Tex Rickard was the biggest promoter of the early 20th century. In 1910, Rickard promoted the biggest match-up of the time when he was able to coax Jim Jeffries out of retirement to face Jack Johnson for the heavyweight championship. It was deemed “The Fight of the Century.” Jim Jeffries, undefeated in his career, wanted to claim the title back for “ the white race, ” but was soundly defeated by TKO in the 15th round by the African-American Johnson. The symbolic victory was important for African-Americans around the nation.

He was able to create boxing’s first million when he promoted Jack Dempsey’s Heavyweight Title defense against Georges Carpentier in 1921 , which took place in New Jersey. It was also the world’s first title fight that was broadcast over the radio. He passed away in 1929, but not before having forever changed the sport of boxing. Tweet The outspoken founder of the boxing promotion Top Rank lands at the considerable number two spot. Having founded his organization in 1973, Arum has gone on to promote the careers of many of boxing’s most successful figures, including Oscar De La Hoya, Roberto Duran, George Foreman and current pound-for-pound kingpin Manny Pacquiao. As seen by the video (fun starts at the 4 minute mark), Bob Arum is not particularly fond of boxing’s main competitor, MMA, but is still quite the savvy businessman. In the 1980s, Top Rank produced such classics as Marvin Hagler vs. Tommy Hearns and Hagler vs. Leonard. George Foreman also won the World Heavyweight Championship at 45 years of age against Michael Moorer when under Top Rank; he is the oldest boxer to ever do so.

So who could outdo such a man? Click next to find out. 1. Don King Was it ever a question? The bling. The smile. The hair. Yes, Don King is undoubtedly the most recognizable boxing promoter of all time, which in turn makes him the best as well. Don’t believe me? Look at his resume. The man orchestrated “The Rumble in the Jungle,” the amazing heavyweight matchup between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. He also boasts “The Thrilla in Manila.” This was just in the 1970’s. He later went on to sign Mike Tyson, arguably the biggest fighting sensation of the last 25 years. Other notable names include Mexican superstar Julio Cesar Chavez and Roy Jones, Jr. Of course, there is always a bit of controversy surrounding the man and the occasional “fixed” fight, much of it warranted, but let’s not focus on the bad, ok people? Give credit where credit is due, as the man has undoubtedly left a tremendous mark (for better or worse) on the sport of boxing. Don King is still Don King even as boxing passes him by | AL.com Don King is still Don King even as boxing passes him by Don King comments Don King wants you to listen.

The 83-year old boxing legend is in Birmingham, Alabama -- a state he's never visited before -- promoting Eric Molina, a little-known fighter vying for the WBC heavyweight championship on Saturday. His trademark electric hair, the kind that somehow shot straight up, is gone, but he still has plenty of flags to wave around. He's in typical Don King garb: American flag tie, American flag jacket and buttons galore, including one of President Barack Obama. "Only in America," as King loves to say. The press conference is over, but King is still at the podium trying to hype up one of his other fighters. King captured the room's attendance earlier like only he can, launching into a nine-minute monologue that touched on everything from George W. Bush to hieroglyphics. But now the show is over, and while King keeps talking into the microphone, no one seems to be listening. ** Out of all the amazing things King has done, the most impressive is his longevity. He's been involved in the boxing world in some capacity for more than 40 years though he is now relegated to the periphery.

The former promoter of boxing's biggest names -- Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, to name a few -- now works with fighters like Molina and Bermane Stiverne. King's career has long been associated with controversy -- many of his biggest clients eventually sued him -- but here he is in Birmingham, turning on the charm and continuing one of the longest hustles in sports. King has long been the master of the spin, and that's no different on this day. He has that innate ability to tell you everything and nothing in the same sentence, quoting the Constitution, Bible verses and famous politicians like George Washington in one on-going stream of consciousness. Even at 83, King still weaves through ideas and rhymes so quickly you wonder how you possibly got from Point A to Point B. You ask him a question about boxing and before you know it, King is basically quoting Whitney Houston and telling you the children are our future. Consider King's response to a question about his first visit to Alabama, the birthplace of his mother. "You never forget from where you come, but the idea of how the things happened, the way of life and the things people chose to do would be absolutely incorrect.

But to them it was correct because that's what they believe. So what you have to is be able to enlighten, inspire and let God step into the plan to find out who, what, when and how with others. The only way you can judge a man is 'Judge not yet he be judged unless I walk in your shoes'. If I'm going to see something that you see, I need to borrow your eyeballs. It's all about 'R-E-S-P-E-C-T' respect, you have to be able to respect whatever it is what you are doing, respect for human beings and humanity and dealing with it. For the betterment of this great nation called America." The ideas of enlightening and inspiring the people permeate most of King's comments on this day. He believes that's what boxing boils down to: Being able to enlighten, inspire and motivate the American public. He thinks Deontay Wilder, the undefeated heavyweight champion his fighter faces Saturday, has that ability. If his press conference performance counts for anything, King's guy Molina doesn't have it. ** King has seen the rise and the fall of boxing.

He was right in the middle of its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s, and no one understood the power of marketing better than him. Those iconic fights that stand the test of time -- "Rumble in the Jungle" and the "Thrilla in Manila" -- don't happen without King. But just as King's power has waned, so has the American interest in boxing. The public has largely gravitated to other, less violent sports in the last two decades. The heavyweight division has done little to move the needle in the United States since the Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield days though King believes "as heavyweights go, so goes boxing." The recent bright spot for the sport was the long-awaited Floyd Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao fight. While the fight might have disappointed the average fan for its lack of action, it generated a stunning amount of money for everyone involved. Mayweather, who won the fight, is expected to get a more than $200 million cut of the fight revenue. Naturally, King takes credit. "I feel very good about the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight because that's the fruit of the tree that I planted," he said.

"It's making fighters worth something when everybody was just trying to exploit them, and they were at the bottom rung of the ladder and they would pay them anything yet they were the attraction. Things were perverted. The attraction is the most important. When you've got an attraction you know, you can promote that excitement. "It's still the highest-paid sport to an athlete in the history of the world. That's what I had to turn it around from the lowest and not being paid to plant the tree that's bearing the fruit where a man makes $200 million in one night." There is tremendous irony in those comments, given boxers have repeatedly accused King of financially exploiting them. He paid Tyson $14 million to settle a $100 million lawsuit and famously gave Ali a briefcase filled with $50,000 in cash to end litigation. Yet, he was instrumental in boosting the fight paydays. He set multiple records throughout his career for the multi-million dollar purses he negotiated for his fighters. With his savvy negotiating power, he earned millions for himself and at one point had an estimated net worth of more than $100 million.

King was a master at drumming up interest, slapping on a name for the fight and watching the dollars roll in. "Money is the answer to all things," he says during the fight press conference. Those days are over: Molina will make only $250,000 on Saturday. Regional Scoreboard © 2013 STATS LLC. All rights reserved. Active Discussions Don King | American boxing promoter | Britannica.com American boxing promoter Edward Futch Don King, in full Donald King (born August 20, 1931, Cleveland , Ohio , U.S.), American boxing promoter known for his flamboyant manner and outrageous hair styled to stand straight up. He first came to prominence with his promotion of the 1974 “ Rumble in the Jungle ” bout between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Don King. DMI/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images While growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, King considered becoming a lawyer. To finance his college education, he became a numbers runner (i.e., a courier of illegal betting slips), and in a short time he was one of the leading racketeers in Cleveland.

King attended Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University) in Cleveland for a year but quit to concentrate on his numbers business. After being cleared of a 1954 murder charge, which a judge found to be justifiable homicide , King was sentenced to prison in 1967 on a manslaughter charge for beating a man to death. Paroled in 1971, King entered the business of boxing. The next year he persuaded Muhammad Ali to compete in a benefit exhibition to raise money for a Cleveland hospital. Buoyed by this success, and with Ali’s encouragement, King became a full-time promoter with the 1974 Ali-Foreman fight. King promised the boxers $5 million each for the fight. When financial backers proved difficult to enlist, King sought out Zaire’s dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko , who agreed to put up the money from his country’s treasury. Mobutu saw the match as a way of generating positive publicity about Zaire. The televised bout was a huge ratings success, and King’s career was launched.

King staged seven of Ali’s title bouts, including the legendary “Thrilla in Manila”—the 1975 fight between Ali and Joe Frazier that was viewed by more than a million people worldwide and earned Ali $6 million. He also promoted the fights of such pugilists as Sugar Ray Leonard , Leon Spinks , Roberto Durán , Julio César Chávez , Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield , and Felix Trinidad. However, a number of boxers, including Tyson and Trinidad, felt defrauded by King and filed lawsuits against him. King’s financial success continued into the 1980s and ’90s. In 1983 he promoted 12 world championship bouts; in 1994 he promoted 47 such bouts. King was heavily criticized, however, for a business strategy that resulted in his control over many of the top boxers, especially in the lucrative heavyweight division. King used a contractual clause that required a boxer who wished to challenge a fighter belonging to King to agree to be promoted by King in the future should he win. Thus, no matter which boxer won, King represented the winner.

Those who were unwilling to sign contracts with this obligatory clause found it very difficult to obtain fights, especially title fights, with boxers who were promoted by King. Britannica Stories Richest Boxing Promoters of 2016 Top 5 Richest Boxing Promoters Top 5 Richest Boxing Promoters Boxing 3) Don King – Net Worth: $150 Million American businessman Donald “Don” King is well-known for his boxing promotions. At the peak of his career, he promoted boxing stalwarts like Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Evander Holyfield, Julio Cesar Chavez, Felix Trinidad, Andrew Golota, Marco Antonio Barrera and Roy Jones Jr. King is considered one of most successful boxing promoter of all-time. Photo Credit: OLIVER LANG/AFP Don King's last stand: Once the ruler of boxing, aging promoter now barely hangs on in changing sport - Bad Left Hook Bad Left Hook New, 65 comments Don King was once the biggest power player in boxing, a bullhorn of a man, loud, brash, and aggressive.

After decades of bad business dealings and too many infamous stories, King has in the recent years been reduced to a third-rate promoter, lagging sorely behind his peers. Rec Marc Serota St. Louis light heavyweight Ryan Coyne has unfortunately had to learn the hard way what too many fighters have also had to learn in recent years: Don King, once the ruling promoter of the sport of boxing, is now little more than a sideshow, and far from a man with the power of Bob Arum's Top Rank, or the Richard Schaefer and Oscar De La Hoya-led Golden Boy Promotions. Coyne, now 30, has been promoted by King for a few years, at least in theory. Really, though, he's been forced to promote his own cards most of the time, while King fails to secure fights for him. Other fighters over the last decade or so have experienced these same problems, and most of them have left King at the first chance they got, including Devon Alexander, Cornelius Bundrage, and Juan Diaz, among several others.

Coyne was scheduled to receive his first world title shot late last year, when he was to face Nathan Cleverly on a Golden Boy-promoted show, with the fight airing on Showtime. Instead, King blocked the fight from happening , leading to Coyne being replaced by Shawn Hawk. Whether or not you think Coyne (21-0, 9 KO) really deserved a world title shot isn't even the point. He was getting an opportunity, and then the man who was supposedly looking out for his career put a stop to it. Recently, Bernard Hopkins loudly spoke of ending King's career when he beat Tavoris Cloud in March, and Hopkins, a former King fighter himself, who had a very public and nasty split with the promoter, went ahead and beat Cloud. Much of the media, particularly those who don't regularly follow boxing that closely but reported on Hopkins' endless great story, bought into it -- as King's last really notable fighter, Cloud losing his world title and his "0" essentially put King down and likely out. Of course, Don will be around as long as he wants to be, and he's promoting this Friday night's ShoBox card from the Treasure Island in Vegas.

King has spoken glowingly about this venue before, but it's a mark of the entire situation that King has to be so thrilled to have a second-tier (at best) Vegas venue host his "bigger" shows. In reality, King hasn't promoted a big show in a long time. While Arum has had Manny Pacquiao, and Golden Boy has run with Floyd Mayweather's events, the biggest fights King has been associated with were led by others, with King's fighters usually in more of an "opponent" role. When Arum and King buried the hatchet to promote a 2011 card in Vegas, King served washed-up veteran Ricardo Mayorga to Miguel Cotto for a rehab fight. Cotto made $1 million on the Nevada commission purse report that night. Mayorga was paid a $50,000 purse, and after fees and debts were taken out, Mayorga's reported takeaway money was less than $15,000. This was a Showtime pay-per-view event.

Even if you suspect that Mayorga made more money off the books (again, I've seen reported purses of $1, and I'm not missing any numbers), he wasn't paid much given that he was fighting a top talent, and still had at least a little name value of his own. The fall of the heavyweights has had a huge impact on King. But more than that, the sport has simply changed, and he hasn't been able to keep up. Coyne told BoxingScene.com that he doesn't consider King his promoter anymore, and says his act has grown stale. He also feels he's being set up in this fight against Marcus Oliveira (24-0-1, 19 KO), another fighter he says has been "trapped in the Don King dungeon." "Don King is not my promoter. I'm not really sure who or what he promotes anymore. Last time I was browsing the net I saw him carrying on about the Iron Chef or some other incoherent garbage. He bids on fights, signs contracts, and never follows through on them. His hustle is tired. Professional promotional outfits don't conduct business in that manner.

Things can never improve when one party refuses to treat the other like a human being, so of course not. Make no mistake, this fight is a setup. He doesn't want this legal spat anymore than I do. It's pointless with nothing to gain. King wants to see me get beat, but a setup blows up in your face when you send the hitman back to the boss in a duffle bag. I'm well aware of the factors at play here and I'm coming to wreck plans." King's purse bid defaults are quickly becoming one of boxing's running jokes. His absurd $1.1 million bid on a Chris Arreola-Bermane Stiverne fight shocked the boxing community, at least for a few seconds, before everyone realized he would default on that bid, and that it would fall back to Arreola's promoter, Dan Goossen, who bid a more sensible $550,000. King called it a "super fight." And then, to the surprise of no one, he failed to put the fight together, and it went to Goossen.

King's last hope for a top fighter is probably Angelo Santana, a 24-year-old lightweight, a Cuban southpaw with power and skills. Santana is in the ShoBox main event on Friday, and he looks like he has a real future. But can a promotional company be built around a Cuban lightweight? Probably not. (Sorry, 50 Cent.) And what's more, if Santana is going to actually become a player in the sport, the reality is that he'll need to get away from King. King, now little more than an exuberant collector of miniature flags, will never be the promoter he once was. His public persona is now about all he has -- when the cameras are off, he still reeks of the same shady boxing promoter the world grew, for whatever reason, to embrace and love, despite the destruction he has left in his wake. Only now, he's less powerful. Don King once ruled the sport, and ruled it when it was a far bigger deal than it is today. Now 81 years old, he is a relic. While longtime sworn rival Arum has adapted and changed with the times, King has fallen by the wayside.

He is not only lagging behind the big two of Top Rank and Golden Boy, but also Lou DiBella, Gary Shaw, Dan Goossen, and others, as well. And that's just counting American promoters. Globally, King probably isn't in the top 25 of boxing promoters anymore. Don King will never promote another truly major fight. Occasionally in recent years, someone would remark that King could "save" boxing with one of his glamorous events. His pay-per-view cards from his prime years blow away the undercard fare we are offered now. Those fans, though, hadn't watched for a while, obviously. King can't even make a fight as big as the first fight on one of his old pay-per-views. He tries desperately to sell his fights as events, speaking of Tavoris Cloud-Gabriel Campillo as if it were more than an undercard bout on Dan Goossen's show. He said the rematch of that bout -- which Cloud, King's fighter, stole via terrible judging -- could be held in a stadium in Florida, Cloud's native state, in front of 100,000 people.

It was just talk, and it was just King squawking as he loves to do, but it's become less chuckle-worthy and more sad as time has wore on. King's entire schedule of fights in a calendar year now don't draw nearly 100,000 fans combined. He'll stick around. He'll pop up for colorful quotes now and then; whether or not they make any real sense is hardly the point at all anymore. He'll wave his little flags, and at times, he will appear as though he's still truly part of the boxing landscape. He'll sometimes promote a boxing card, crowing about the great facilities at an also-ran Vegas casino, or some arena in Florida that he's papered to make it appear that someone actually cared to see the fights. And now, as he wearily sits upon a ragged throne in the decimated ruins of what once was boxing's biggest empire, it is truly clear that Don King is finished. Only the caricature bordering on self-parody remains.

Bad_Left_Hook_minimal Don King Net Worth | Celebrity Net Worth Celebrity Net Worth Don King net worth: $150 Million Don King Net Worth: Don King is an American businessman most famous for his boxing promotions who has a net worth of $150 million dollars. Don King earned his net worth as one of the most successful and famous boxing promoters of all time. King is also particularly well known for his hairstyle and flamboyant personality. At the peak of his career, Don King has promoted some of boxing's biggest superstars including Muhammad Ali , Mike Tyson , George Foreman , Evander Holyfield, Larry Holmes, Julio César Chávez, Andrew Golota, Félix Trinidad, Roy Jones Jr. and Marco Antonio Barrera. He was the promoter behind Muhammad Ali's most famous fights, the "Rumble in the Jungle" and the "Thrilla in Manila". Don King was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and after dropping out of Kent State University, he ran an illegal bookmaking operation. He was arrested and charged with the killing of two men in separate incidents. In the first incident King was accused of shooting Hillary Brown in the back and while he was attempting to rob one of King's gambling houses.

The case was determined to be justifiable homicide. However. the second case led to a conviction of second degree murder and King was sentenced to four years for killing an employee named Sam Garrett, who owed him $600. Eventually King was able to secure a full pardon for his crimes. In 1974, King negotiated a then-record $10 million purse through an arrangement with the Zaire government for a heavyweight championship fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. The fight was popularly known as "The Rumble in the Jungle". Outside of boxing, he also managed the Jackson's' 1984 Victory Tour. ESPN Classic - Only in America Only in America By Mike Puma Special to ESPN.com "I found out that someone I believed was my surrogate father, my brother, my blood figure turns out to be the true Uncle Tom, the true nigger, the true sellout. He did more bad to black fighters than any white promoter ever in the history of boxing," Mike Tyson says on ESPN Classic's SportsCentury profile on Don King. His electric hair and fast-talk have made him one of the world's most recognizable figures. Yet Don King is more than merely a circus clown for boxing.

His promotional skills are largely responsible for having made the sport a financial giant, for better or worse. Heavyweight champs Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson all worked under King at some point in their careers. King helped make them rich while doing the same for himself; his net worth is estimated at more than $100 million. With his wealth have come accusations of hitting below the belt. Many fighters, most notably Tyson, have claimed King defrauded them of millions. King has also faced indictments on tax evasion and insurance fraud, but has never been found guilty. He has also denied allegations of fixing fights and rankings (to ensure more of his fighters get title shots). "Forget death and taxes. The only sure thing is that, win or lose, Don King is counting the money," wrote Jack Newfield, who authored King's biography, Only in America: The Life and Crimes of Don King. King, who has turned at least 90 fighters into millionaires, has a different view. "When I came into boxing, when it was more out of control, no fighters got an opportunity to fight," King said.

"I came in; everybody got an opportunity to make a living in America." The promoter of more than 500 world championship fights, King was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1997. The New York Times listed him among the 100 African-Americans who helped shape the country's history during the 20th century. "He has the most brilliant business mind I have ever encountered," said Seth Abraham, former president of HBO Sports. "Don King is formidable in his sleep." The fifth of Clarence and Hattie King's six children, he was born Aug. 20, 1931 in Cleveland. When Don was 10 years old, his father died in a steel plant explosion. Hattie used the insurance money to move the family to a middle-class neighborhood. She earned a living by baking pies and selling roasted peanuts. Don and his brothers inserted a number into each bag of peanuts as a gimmick to promote sales and gambling. After one year of classes at Case Western Reserve University, King abandoned dreams of getting a college degree and became involved in gambling, controlling a numbers racket in Cleveland's ghetto.

In 1954 he killed a man who tried to rob one of his gambling houses. The shooting was ruled a justifiable homicide, sparing King a prison sentence. He wasn't so fortunate 13 years later, when he was found guilty of second-degree murder for killing a gambling associate who owed him $600. The charge was later reduced to manslaughter and King served 3 years and 11 months in Marion Correctional Institution in Ohio. He was released in September 1971. King's career as a promoter was soon born. It started in 1972, when King convinced Ali to fight an exhibition match in Cleveland to raise funds for a local hospital in financial trouble. The match grossed more than $80,000, piquing King's interest in the business of boxing. Two years later King founded Don King Productions and arranged for Foreman to defend his heavyweight title against Ali in Zaire, guaranteeing the fighters an unprecedented $5 million apiece. "The Rumble in the Jungle," as it became known, started King's financial empire. The following year King promoted "The Thriller in Manila," the third of the three fights between Ali and Joe Frazier.

Soon, King gained control of most of boxing's biggest names. As the first big-name black promoter in the business, King landed most of boxing's top African-American talent. "I never got a fighter because I'm black," King said. "Every fighter, including Mike Tyson, came to me after they've been screwed by other promoters." But loyalty has never been one of King's virtues. At least once he arrived at a fight with one boxer and left with the other. Even Ali wasn't exempt from King's tactics: Ali was reportedly shortchanged $1.2 million by King for his comeback fight against Holmes in 1980. Ali sued, but King paid him $50,000 to drop the lawsuit. In 1981, King became the first promoter to guarantee a fighter $10 million. That went to Leonard in his first fight against Roberto Duran. King was charged with tax evasion in 1985, but was cleared; his secretary was convicted and served four months in prison. King's reputation as a swindler swelled in the 1980s with accusations by several boxers that King ripped them off.

Tim Witherspoon, who became heavyweight champion under King, reportedly received an out-of-court settlement worth more than $1 million. Holmes was another fighter with whom King had differences over money. "[King] looks black, lives white and thinks green," Holmes said. Outside the courtroom, King continued to make history. He promoted Julio Cesar Chavez's fight against Greg Haugen in Mexico City in 1993 that drew 132,000 fans. The next year King promoted a record 47 world championship bouts. But King's biggest victories continued to come in court. In 1995, he beat a nine-count indictment on insurance fraud; Lloyd's of London claimed King had illegally collected $350,000 for a canceled Chavez fight. The trial ended in a hung jury. That same year, Newfield's no-holds barred biography was published. It painted an unflattering picture of the promoter. King's image wasn't helped by the 1995 fight between Tyson and Peter McNeeley - Tyson's first fight after being released from prison for raping a beauty pageant contestant.

King was accused of distorting the WBC, WBA and IBF ratings to make McNeeley a top 10 contender. Tyson flattened McNeely in 89 seconds. King later admitted McNeeley served as a glorified punching bag for Tyson. "It was a happening, an event," King said. "It was not meant to be a championship fight." Then came two unforgettable Tyson-Holyfield fights promoted by King. The first, in November 1996, shattered all pay-per-view records for a fight - it was seen in 1.6 million homes. Holyfield won. The rematch a year later was staged before a crowd of 16,331 in Las Vegas, which produced a record gate of $14.2 million. Tyson was disqualified for biting Holyfield's ears. In 1998, Tyson brought a $100-million breach of trust lawsuit against King, claiming he had been ripped off by the promoter. The suit is still pending. In June 1999, the FBI searched King's office in Florida as part of an investigation to determine if the IBF fixed fights for kickbacks and sold ratings.

"I don't want to have a combat with the FBI unless I'm going to be able to promote them in Madison Square Garden," said King, who emerged unscathed. Only fitting for a man grandiose in every way, King estimates he's spent upwards of $30 million defending himself in court over the years. "Don King is a hip exploiter, an intelligent flesh peddler," wrote Newfield. "He knows which fighters to steal, how to exploit anyone's vice, vanity or insecurity and make a profit for himself." As long as boxing has Don King, it has an identity. | Sports on Earth Over the past four decades, Don King has helped crown boxing's greatest legends, including Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Mike Tyson. (Getty Images) By Iron Mike Gallego Bermane Stiverne knocked out Chris Arreola on Saturday, winning the WBC heavyweight title belt vacated by retired champion Vitali Klitschko. This victory makes Stiverne the heavyweight champion in the eyes of approximately 0.0 percent of the boxing press, all of whom continue to recognize Vitali's brother, Wladimir, as the true heavyweight champion of the world.

But the fight did get boxing writers talking. No, it wasn't because of Stiverne's powerful punches or ability to withstand a sustained assault. It's because Stiverne's promoter, Don King, has a heavyweight titleholder for the first time in nearly a decade . Don King. Did merely reading that name send a chill down your spine? Did you involuntarily reach for your hip pocket to make sure your wallet was still there? You could hardly be blamed for reacting that way. Don King, now 82 years old, is probably boxing's most recognizable figure beyond Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson -- two men whose legends he helped create -- and most of what you know about him probably isn't very flattering. But this isn't an article about that. If you want an objective biography of Don King, I recommend the superlative HBO film, Don King: Only In America. This is not an objective biography of Don King. This is an article about why you -- yes, you -- should appreciate Don King. Don King is an icon. Stop and think about that for a moment. Don King is a goddamned icon. There are many celebrities in our society, but icons are few and far between.

On The Simpsons, there was Lucius Sweet. Rocky V had George Washington Duke. The Great White Hype had the Reverend Fred Sultan. They're all Don King, and no one in the audience needs to be told they are Don King (though The Simpsons, to be safe, explained that Sweet was "as rich and famous as Don King, and looks exactly like him too"). Think about how few people in our society have been represented that way. Hell, think about how few people in our society could be represented that way. The hair. The sparkle in his eye. The shameless, endless recitation of hyperbole merged with malapropism. Only in America. It's all exclusively the realm of Don King. We know and recognize Don King in a way we don't know most of our political leaders, rock stars or royalty. Don King came from nothing. Nothing. He was an anonymous, poor, black college dropout with a lengthy rap sheet that included two killings 13 years apart, although he only served abbreviated time for one (the other was ruled "justifiable homicide" ).

He stole the biggest star in the world, Muhammad Ali, from the biggest promoter in the game, Bob Arum -- a Harvard-educated lawyer who served under Bobby Kennedy in the Justice Department. Then he put his stamp on Ali's legacy. The Rumble in the Jungle. The Thrilla in Manila. Under King's watch, Ali was transformed from a militant draft dodger to the biggest sensation that sports has ever known, and likely will ever know. Ali was only King's entrée into the sport. By the end of the 1970s, King had locked down virtually all of the black American heavyweights -- which, at the time, meant that King owned boxing. In 1982, King promoted the Larry Holmes-Gerry Cooney title fight at Caesar's Palace, pitting the undefeated black heavyweight champion against a gutty white Irish contender. King is sometimes villainized for the manner in which he used race to promote the fight , but the charge is misguided. Don King was only exploiting openly the passions that many fight fans preferred to keep hidden, something white promoters have done for years without attracting similar criticism.

In any event, the promotion worked: A fight between a quiet, unpopular champion and a solid but unremarkable contender became the highest-grossing fight in boxing history. In the mid-1980s, King unearthed the most profitable treasure of his career -- a young slugger from Brooklyn fighting out of the Catskills, named "Iron" Mike Tyson. Years later, Tyson would bemoan his time with King and the two men would spend years engaged in a war of words in and out of courtrooms. But, at the time, their partnership seemed fated -- a coupling that would first escalate and then ultimately devour both parties, like Romeo and Juliet in literature or Castillo and Corrales in the ring. Under King's careful stewardship, Tyson exploded into a sports and entertainment supernova. Kid Dynamite. The youngest heavyweight champion in history. The baddest man on the planet. And King? Well, King became insanely rich and powerful through his association with Tyson. Yes, Tyson would eventually sue King , accusing him of embezzling millions of his hard-earned dollars.

Yes, Tyson would invoke Kingian levels of hyperbole in describing his former promoter as "a wretched, slimy, reptilian mother---ker." But so what? It's boxing. Ugly fights between promoters and their ex-charges are par for the course. Bob Arum -- the same Arum whom King relieved of Ali -- developed Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather into the two biggest box office draws of the 21st century, only to find himself embattled in similar litigation and shouting matches outside the ring with both men. (Those battles did more than anything else to prevent the long-desired showdown between Mayweather and Arum's biggest star, Manny Pacquiao -- who, incidentally, only joined Arum's stable after he found himself in litigation with his prior promoter). The ugliest war of words in recent years involved boxing's reigning elder statesman, Bernard Hopkins, and his former promoter, Lou DiBella. Hopkins loudly claimed DiBella was corrupt, which ultimately resulted in DiBella being awarded $610,000 in a libel lawsuit .

But the nastiest statement Hopkins made was never litigated in court: Before his fight with DiBella's fighter Jermain Taylor, Hopkins mocked the suicide of DiBella's brother , a fact he'd learned in confidence when the two men were still friendly. Compared to those around them, the relationship between Tyson and King seems shockingly functional. Related Articles

Question: American Don King is well-known as a promoter of which sport?
Answer: Boxing