George Foreman's '73-'74 World Tour

Lunny · Jan 16, 2012

slip&counter said: ↑

Mobutu put up the moolah, but it was a British company led by a couple of big boxing fans that got him to do it. Where DK came in was getting the fighters signatures. DK gets too much credit for that event. He played a big part, yes. But not as big as people think.
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Aaah, I get ya. So whoever's plan it was it was still all about the country paying up to have it there.

My dinner with Conteh said: ↑

John Daly, of the Hemdale Film Coproration, was part of the consortium that wanted it staged in Zaire, as was Don King. Obviously President Mobutu was keen for his country to stage such a contest.

Jamaica holding the George-Joe hiding was down to the highest bidder, with the other main option being the Houston Astrodome. With the Roman fight, a Japanese promoter, whose name escapes me, won the bid for Foreman to defend against Roman instead of a potential Bugner fight at Earls Court- more cash + easier contest (well, a bit easier, this was only Joe Bugner after all). :yep
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Cheers, much appreciated. Interesting stuff.

Lunny · Jan 16, 2012

Conn said: ↑

i don't think Don King even had much power in boxing until Zaire.
and, yes, it was an American satellite broadcasters called Video Techniques Inc. and a british-based film company called Hemdale that did the promotion. King was a front man, he liased with the fighters and he fit the all-black theme of the fight

he may have been involved in Foreman's earlier title fights but only as a peripheral character.
he couldn't have dicatated anything like the countries to stage fights in.
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Thanks, so not so much Don but people paying for the fights to be in their countries to put them on the map.

Just found this on Jamaica:

Gate proceeds were $370,000 with another 3 million earned from television coverage. Foreman was guaranteed 20% of the gate and Frazier 42%. When asked about a rematch, Foreman, displaying poise and a sense of celebrity for which he would later become well known, simply stated "I don't know how long I'll be the champion * we only borrow the title you know...." Having been tremendously welcomed by the Jamaican people (who were not happy with Frazier, the man who had defeated Ali) Big George said he'd be happy to defend his title in Jamaica * a statement that must have set the heart of Jamaican businessman and fight promoter extraordinaire Lucien Chen, owner of Track Price Plus, who had guaranteed the promotion of this fight, racing. Chen had hoped to make Kingston into a fight centre. Sadly, this was never realised due to the high cost of financing such events, made even more difficult today by the devaluation of the Jamaican dollar and the skyrocketing purses of title fights. (Lennox Lewis was made something close to US$20 million for his most recent fight in Atlanta).

Today, however, Chen is extremely proud of his efforts at bringing the Frazier-Foreman fight to Jamaica. No stranger to title fight promotion, Chen had promoted a few other title fights prior to the 1973 one. In fact, he was the first to organise the staging of a title fight in the West Indies with the Bunny Grant vs. Percy Hales and Hayles vs. Carlos Fernandez fights, both held in the 1960s. Chen got involved in the Frazier-Foreman project at the urging of then Prime Minister Michael Manley and his brother, Douglas. He negotiated but at a cost. Chen still remembers the tag of US$300,000 as too steep. US$300,000 was higher than had ever been paid for the matchmaking of the fight alone). The enigmatic Chen also recalls with a smile how his odds and those of Vegas differed. Jamaicans seemed to favour the underdog Foreman, whose punches in training alone, Chen said, "sounded like tornadoes" and whose build was larger and heavier than the Champ Frazier. So with Vegas odds at 8-1, Chen gave odds at 4-1, much to the consternation of famed odds-maker Jimmy the Greek. In the end, however, the promoters lost a good deal of money and the fight itself was memorable for being a whirlwind * many who arrived a few minutes late wound up missing the less than two minute title fight
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So Chen wanting to make Kingston into a fight centre and then realising it wasn't economically viable.

MMJoe · Feb 3, 2012

Lunny said: ↑

I'd appreciate that.

Just reading Four Kings (finally got round to buying it) and the author talks about how the promoters for Dempsey vs Gibbons convinced all the local businesses in Shelby, Montana to pay for the fight. Convinced them it would put them on the map. In actual fact it bankrupted them but the promoters got their dough.

Don Kings Shelbying world tour?
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True story

ThinBlack · Oct 7, 2012

Surprising George didn't make Jerry Quarry his opponent instead of Roman.

Stevie G · Oct 8, 2012

Longhhorn71 said: ↑

Biggest mistake George ever made was taking the Ali Fight in Zaire instead of a fight in the air conditioned Astrodome in his home town.
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Based on that criteria,I'm sure that Muhammad Ali would have loved the fight to have been staged in Louisville.

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