{"id":23197,"date":"2022-06-08T19:11:37","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T19:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=23197"},"modified":"2022-06-08T19:11:37","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T19:11:37","slug":"don-king-90-still-pulling-rabbits-out-of-his-electrified-hair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2022\/06\/08\/don-king-90-still-pulling-rabbits-out-of-his-electrified-hair\/","title":{"rendered":"Don King, 90, still pulling rabbits out of his electrified hair"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the venerable age of 90 but with the ebullience of a huckster Don King is still pulling rabbits out of his electrified hair.<\/p>\n

It is 50 years since King walked out of prison and persuaded Muhammad Ali to take part in an exhibition match for a hospital charity in Cleveland, Ohio.<\/p>\n

He will mark that half century here this Saturday night by putting on his umpteenth world title fight. One which gives London\u2019s Daniel Dubois an unexpected opportunity to win a version of the world heavyweight championship.<\/p>\n

The wheel of fortune has turned full circle. It is back to a small hall.<\/p>\n

The numbers have dwindled. Ticket prices are down from thousands of dollars for the privilege of watching The Greatest face his mightiest rivals to a hundred bucks at ringside to see Dubois challenge Trevor Bryan for the WBA \u2018regular\u2019 heavyweight title.<\/p>\n

The most flamboyant showman since fabled circus masters Barnum and Bailey is still beavering away in his ring with all the old verve and enthusiasm. Urging Bryan to make public mockery of Dubois for \u2018quitting on his knee because Joe Joyce hurt his little eye.\u2019<\/p>\n

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\"Boxing<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Boxing promoter Don King is overseeing another world title fight this weekend, as Trevor Bryan fights against London’s Daniel Dubois<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
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\"King<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

King is a legendary figure in the world of boxing – he promoted Mike Tyson but the duo endured a turbulent relationship<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Never mind that our Daniel\u2019s orbital socket had sustained multiple fractures and his career might have been over now had he carried on boxing that night.<\/p>\n

Not to worry if he fires up Dubois to end his man\u2019s unbeaten record because grudge fights sell.<\/p>\n

\u2018Yowza, Yowza, Yowza.\u2019<\/p>\n

The show must go on. For King it started when he stopped killing people and started letting others do the fighting for him.<\/p>\n

Cleared on the grounds of justifiable homicide for shooting in the back a would be robber of his ill-gotten gains from a numbers racket, then given a state\u2019s pardon after serving three years and 11 months for voluntary manslaughter after stamping to death a man in debt to him for six hundred dollars, King vowed: \u2018I\u2019m going to make money instead of going back inside the penitentiary. It was hell in there.\u2019<\/p>\n

Within two years of their benevolent hospital visit he fascinated Ali with his vision of the most spectacular landmark in boxing history: The Rumble In The Jungle.<\/p>\n

King convinced Ali and George Foreman to sign blank pieces of paper by promising them five million dollars each for that 1974 fight in Zaire. Then tempted the president of the-then Republic of Congo to foot the bill, which he had no other way of paying.<\/p>\n

\u2018You never get what you deserve,\u2019 he said by way of explanation for his brinkmanship, \u2018you get what you negotiate.\u2019<\/p>\n

A vast throng of jubilant Africans and a battery of world-wide television cameras bore mass witness to the founding of this King\u2019s empire, as Ali soaked up all Foreman\u2019s massive blows for almost eight rounds before knocking Big George flat.<\/p>\n

\n
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\"Ahead<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Ahead of Saturday night’s fight between\u00a0Bryan and Dubois (pictured), King has been taunting the Londoner about his defeat by Joe Joyce and his ‘hurt little eye’<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"But<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

But King is a clever promotor and will fire up a grudge match because he knows that will sell<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

There are enough mementoes and artefacts crammed into King\u2019s Florida offices to fill a museum. \u2018Only in America\u2019 became the catch-phrase for his rise from the ghetto via prison to fame and wealth. Although not only in America. After Zaire came the Thrilla in Manila, as he discovered another exotic venue for the epic third fight between Ali and Joe Frazier.<\/p>\n

The hundreds of millions to come \u2013 not least from his turbulent relationship with Mike Tyson \u2013 flowed not only in the US but from around the world.<\/p>\n

\u2018Martin Luther King took us to the mountain top,\u2019 he said of the struggle to overthrow slavery and racial prejudice. \u2018I want to take us to the bank.\u2019<\/p>\n

There would be legal actions from fighters claiming he had taken much of their money with him. Even so, many returned to the fold of King\u2019s patronage and friendship.<\/p>\n

Investigations followed into his alleged links with organised crime, which came to nothing.<\/p>\n

King celebrates every success \u2013 be they achieved by his fighters between the ropes or in court \u2013 by presiding over sumptuous banquets in keeping with his enormous appetite.<\/p>\n

When Iron Mike Tyson suffered the Upset Of All Time at the fists of James Buster Douglas he went from protesting in vain against the result to hosting a veritable feast in his penthouse suite.<\/p>\n

The tables were laden with mountains of beef, haunches of lamb, piles of chicken legs, shoals of lobster, crab and shrimp, sushi galore\u2026..and every other delicacy you can think of.<\/p>\n

A second earthquake that night in Tokyo \u2013 a real one which set those city skyscrapers swaying \u2013 sent the tons of food splattering across the floor. King\u2019s reaction? He summoned the manager and ordered: \u2018The same again.\u2019<\/p>\n

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\"King<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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King (left) was a key figure behind Muhamed Ali’s career, helping to create some of his most memorable fights that are fondly remembered today<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
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\"King<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

King is a huge character for boxing and his brinkmanship has helped to deliver some of the sport’s finest moments<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The man is as huge as his personality. The eating is prodigious yet the heart seemingly still beating as loud and clear as when he began this odyssey.<\/p>\n

Bryan versus Dubois is his latest of more than 500 world title fights among thousands of promotions\u2026\u2026and counting.<\/p>\n

When he staged Frazier versus Foreman in Kingston Jamaica he held exclusive contracts on both men but chose to accompany Smokin\u2019 Joe into the ring. After Foreman inflicted six downs in a crushing victory King walked to the other corner proclaiming: \u2018I came in with the world champion and I\u2019m going out with the world champion.\u2019<\/p>\n

Might we see the same if Dubois defeats Bryan in the 6,200 seat confines of the Casino Miami arena? Not likely. Not since the English challenger is contracted to Frank Warren, who King sued once in London\u2019s High Court but who he describes now as \u2018my friend of honour, dignity and integrity.\u2019<\/p>\n

That he may be. Although unlike Muhammad and George, Frank is not in the habit of signing blank pieces of paper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the venerable age of 90 but with the ebullience of a huckster Don King is still pulling rabbits out of his electrified hair. It is 50 years since King walked out of prison and persuaded Muhammad Ali to take part in an exhibition match for a hospital charity in Cleveland, Ohio. He will mark […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":23198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3295],"tags":[7994,9951,7358,11941,10855,5810,6331,7241,6373,1279,9331,596,10823,10507,7080,7234,6725,9309,7079,7280,7712,3015,8123,6159,5321,6496,1444,5731,6825,2792,10454,3684,5502,12791,11341,11128,8126,12309,6283,203,9683,5612,7078,12371,9534,11973,12114,7980,3805,10390,8306,6353,9030,7465,12524,1705,7081,6348,10885,11622,12790,3954,36,7560,594,7082],"class_list":["post-23197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-sport","tag-africans","tag-age","tag-bank","tag-bill","tag-blows","tag-boxing","tag-casino","tag-charity","tag-chicken","tag-circle","tag-city","tag-congo","tag-counting","tag-court","tag-daniel-dubois","tag-death","tag-debt","tag-dollars","tag-don-king","tag-earthquake","tag-english","tag-epic","tag-eye","tag-fire","tag-florida","tag-food","tag-hell","tag-high-court","tag-hospital","tag-jamaica","tag-killing","tag-london","tag-luther","tag-manager","tag-manslaughter","tag-masters","tag-match","tag-men","tag-miami","tag-mike-tyson","tag-millions","tag-money","tag-muhammad-ali","tag-museum","tag-ohio","tag-one","tag-organised-crime","tag-overthrow","tag-president","tag-prices","tag-prison","tag-slavery","tag-success","tag-sued","tag-ticket","tag-tokyo","tag-trevor-bryan","tag-us","tag-victory","tag-vision","tag-weekend","tag-will","tag-world","tag-world-champion","tag-who","tag-world-title"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}