Don King - thoughts?

King is an exceptionally bright, tremendously hard working man ... he is self made in the truest sense of the word. He came from nothing and dominated a sport, smashing racial barriers and rewriting the game ... however mostly forgotten today is how ruthless he was in the 70's, 80's and 90's, how many rules he broke, how many people he robbed blindly and how many lives he crushed ... a very complex figure, extremely talented but not exactly someone to praise for his ethics ... then again, in the fight game very few are ...

 

Ultimately, boxing fell out of the mainstream during the watch of King and Arum. It's not a terrific legacy that the sport became a niche interest under the movers and shakers overseeing boxing during the 1980s and 1990s. Frazier and Holmes say they aren't sure who their modern successors are. Has this happened in the past with former HW Champions now being able to identify modern titleholders?

 

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is he really that "great" as a promoter, as is accepted around here?

He came in (on my understanding) when boxing was huge through Ali and its great history. He did well for a while, but then he was largely responsible, as the main promoter for allowing fractured title belts, and promoting a situation where a fighter would need to take no chances when learning and on the up and be presented as undefeated when challenging for a title. Because he had to always have the champion, he allowed the fractured organisations to grow on his belief (which is absolute rubbish) that a paper title would make fighters more marketable.

obviously he made a lot of money, but who wouldnt if they were lucky enough to stumble into his situation. I would say this is more good luck than good management, though he has done a few things right. Eventually, he, as the main promoter and with a virtual monopoly, he has been largely responsible for putting us in the position we are now, and he has lead the sport to the stage where we are now.

 

That is the thing about people who think Don King was a positive force.

They see the few good things that happened.

They are blind to the universe of things that didn't happen!

 

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Yes, a Don King mugshot.

 

A dirty, rotten low-down ******* who mistreated his fighters. He was someone that the sport of boxing definitely could have done without, regardless of the fights that he promoted.

 

Scum Bag

 

Boxing has too many parasites to count. But King seemed to eat up other parasites, and organize the fighters. This allowed the fans to see some top level fights. King was pretty much out of top options by the 2000's. But in the 70's, 80's, and 90's he and Bob Arum were the top two power brokers in the sport. As much as I hate to say it, Don King made boxing relevant by keeping the publics interest.

 

Don King only ever did things that were good for Don King, not the sport of boxing, not the fighters and certainly not the fans!

 

I think Don's "evilness" is overrated.

Fighters signed with him because they wanted to, not because they had to. And most of the ones who complain the most made more money with King than they ever did or would have without him.

I've asked this before: Can anyone pinpoint for me a timeline for when King stopped being the most important promotional force in the sport. He all but controlled boxing for at least a couple of decades, then he suddenly wasn't terribly relevant. How and why did this happen?

 

:deal


Will smile when the **** drops dead.

 

The greatest self-promoter since P.T. Barnum. At one time could sell sand to the Arabs.

Also a bully and a manipulater, loathsome + greedy with the morals of a rattlesnake.

Not a nice individual

 

Didn't the man get away with murder?

 

Fighters signed with him because if they didnt, they would be froze out of the picture. Some reckoned that a small amount of something is better than a whole lot of nothing.

With respect, have you read jack neufields book on King? His 'evilness' is most certainly not overated. A complete **** of a person for what he did to people

 

I detest Don King, Boxing would have evolved even without him, strip away all the crap & all he truly cared about was himself, not the welfare of his boxers...

**** Don King & everything about him.....When hes dead i'l happily take a **** on his grave.....Take that however you want it....I hope hes reading this :good