I always figured King screwed McClellan out of his purse, I remember Gerald's family being up in arms etc; and it was another shameful black eye to the sport. But reading an old Boxing News (January 26 1996) I was wrong as King put forward his entire financial dealing concerning McClellan's purse and expenses for the Benn fight. McClellan's father also confirmed King (and his then partner Frank Warren) payed out everything he/they should of, and considerable more ($320,000). The purse and other payments by DKP INC (Don King Productions), to or on behalf of McClellan (in American Dollars) went: Training expenses: 50,215.37 Gross pay (less deductions): 200,000.00 Less Deductions: WBC Sanction: fee (6,000.00) BBB of C sanction fee: (4,000.00) Payment to ESJEEB-per judgement in case CL 94-3541 Gerald McClellan, deft DKP garnishee, Palm Beach County Circuit Court, Florida: (119,279.35) Payment to Trainer Stanley Johnson: (5,000.00) Payment to Trainer Donnie Penelt: (2,500.00) Net purse paid by DKP to Gerald McClellan (Linda Shorter): 62,920.75 Gerald McClellan Sept 18 1995: 25,000.00 Emmett McClellan (father) Sept 18 1995: 5,000.00 Heathrow Air Ambulance (London to University Michigan Hospital): 90,443.25 Cash payment to family (Father, Aunt (Linda Shorter), Sister (Stacey), Common Law Wife (Angie Brown): 25,260.00 Hotel expenses in London (family): 34,226.49 Family Transportation: 21,728.45 Angie Brown: 2,500.00 Total paid direct by DKP to or on behalf of McClellan: $476, 974.58 Unaid [sp] medical bills to be paid by DKP: 31,519.44 Grand Total: 508,494.00 After being shown this information, Gerald's sister, Lisa, retracted her remarks about King. And although King is not everyone's cup of tea, I think this proves he did at least what was expected of him concerning McClellan.
The problem is that Mclellans fight purse was most likely grossly undervalued compared to what King made and what the fighter should have made if the total monies King was getting off the promotion was made public. If Gerald signed the contract so be it, but Im sure King made millions off of that fight and had a prearranged fight purse contract setup with King, no matter who Gerald fought, meaning King said you will fight on this date and then again on this date and you will make this much each fight regardless of the opponent and the magnitude of the fight. King was also very good at nickel and diming his fighters and over charging them for fight related expenses, training expenses, cell phones, hotel charges, etc etc.
You are talking about something that is not in King's control, (McClellan's negotiation of his DKP contract). King paid (in this instance) above and beyond what he was contracted to. And the court case aside; $17,500 seems pretty reasonable deductions for the fight, considering Senor Suliman had to have his 3%... King of course made money on the fight, he is a (good?) Promoter, and that is what he is supposed to do...
I wouldn't be suprised if the fight purse given was prior to DK taking 1000s in 'expenses' and cutting Gerald a much lower cheque. I've heard it reported GMAN only got low 5figures for this fight after 'expenses'
Depends on how you want to look at it. Mclellan was convinced by Don King to be managed by his son or someone on Kings payroll. So right there you have a conflict of interest. How can someone negotiate fairly on your behalf if they work for the person they are negotiating with? You are talking about fighters, who in most cases are not the greatest businessmen. Did King do his job as a promoter? Of course, but was he and Geralds management looking out for the best interest of Mclellan? Hell no! Im of the thinking that it wasnt entirely Mclellans fault for signing a shitty contract, just as I dont see it fair that old people are bamboozled out of their life savings by con artists. On top of that, if King made millions which Im sure he did, he still had the balls to deduct all the medical related bills out of Geralds cut. Believe me King is no saint, or even fair, thats why he has no fighters and no fighters want to work with him, because there are too many good managers and promoters who are willing to work fairly for a lot less. Sure King would promise the most, even put it in writing, but once he whacked up all the fight related expenses and deductions, the fighter was left with far less. If the fighter is supposed to make roughly 50-60% of his entire purse minus trainer, manager and training related fees, and hes in reality getting 7-10 which has been the norm with King fighters, King is only looking out for one person and thats Don King. Sure the manager on Kings payroll gets his 20%, but hes only a puppet to funnel the money back to King, who paid the guy a salary. Same goes for the trainers and everyone else that normally got a percentage cut of the purse. It was all a big scam by King, thats why he always wanted his fighters to be promoted and managed by him. If it wasnt Monarch Management (Carl King), it was Mike Tyson Enterprises or some other BS name, but everyone down the line answered to and were controlled by Don King.
I've just checked the figures. Didn't Benn make 2mill? If so McClellan got well and truly shafted. Were the medical expenses unpaid? Surely he should have had insurance?
He was insured I believe to a point by the WBC; what they (the McClellan family) should of done with hindsight is stay in Britain, thus McClellan would of got free health care for longer...
I think most know of King's loop hole jumping by getting Carl to manage some of his (DK's) fighters. But in this instance, King was not in the wrong, he went the extra mile and was up front and transparent, which I concede is normally an oxymoron. That is what surprised me...
I remember Ricardo Mayorga signing a contract with Don King to fight Felix Trinidad, Shane Mosley, Fernando Vargas and Oscar De La Hoya. Serious, all those names were on the contract and the contract was for peanuts. King made millions off of all of those fights and Mayorgas short paydays were whacked up by Don and Carl King's expense reports. Mayorga of course now hates Don King and has tried to sue him and break free of him. There is not one fighter that parts ways with Don King on good terms besides the Trinidad's maybe who used their own manager and lawyer to represent them. If a fighter should have made 2 million and instead he made 200K, thats as much of a travesty of anything that Kings been accused of in this instance. Its easy to be transparent and show your books in a case like this, but had the lawyers asked King to show what he was paid total by Warren (and what Mclellans purse should have been a precentage of), he would have had cried racism.
I can see where TBooze is coming from here, but you can bet your bottom dollar that whatever King money forked out, its a fraction of what he made on him
