What If Lewis Had Signed For King?

He fought for Don King. Several of his fights were promoted by Don King.
Contrary to the way Lewis himself portrayed it, he (or his managers) willingly went down the route where Don King would become involved in his career.
Lewis was happy to lend credibility to the WBC and pay them sanctioning fees when Jose Sulaiman was practically Don King's puppet.
They all had mutual interests.

Bowe and Newman were the guys who were more steadfastly staying away from WBC and Don King, rightly or wrongly.
Maybe their motives were wrong but the facts can't be disputed.

I can't remember Holyfield signing with King or giving King a way in until late in his career either.
Lewis and his managers were playing along with WBC and King from 1992 onwards, whether he signed options or not.

 

King promoted the Lewis-Tucker fight (King won the purse bid). Lewis made $9 million to defend against Tucker.

King also promoted the Lewis-Holyfield fights. Lennox Lewis made $8 million for the first Holyfield fight and $15 million for the rematch. King also paid Lewis (the WBC #1 contender) $4 million to step aside so WBC champ Tyson could fight WBA champ Bruce Seldon in a unification. (Then Tyson won the WBA belt and vacated the WBC title.)

King also paid Lewis $1 million (and bought him an SUV) to vacate the IBF belt so Chris Byrd and Holyfield could fight for the vacant strap.

So, considering King gave Lewis $32 million for three fights and paid him a total of $5 million to NOT FIGHT Tyson and Byrd ... I think Lewis did quite well with Don King.

 

Well as an owner of an accounting and financial planning business, my pet peeve is why are fighters required to put 10-15% of their purses into an annuity. In addition to being creditor proof, it would provide them with a pension later in life. One would think the Don King's, Bob Arum's of the sport would have to ability for afford proper financial advisors for their fighters. The cost/benefit of something like this would be huge for the fighters. Or if not the promoter, at least their managers should have some financial planning knowledge that should be part of their credentials.

 

If you are talking about King "controlling" fighter's careers, he did a lot of good for some very mediocre fighters. Many fighters have praised Don King for helping their careers.

Besides, Lewis was willing to play along with the WBC's Jose Sulaimain, who was King's ally.

Perhaps you're trying to say Lennox Lewis was just as shrewd and sneaky and manipulative as Don King, and that might be right.

 

This has always been one of my greatest wishes. Unfortunately it probably won't happen.

I also think it's a bit unfair to expect fighters who most likely grew up dirt poor and didn't complete their schooling to be expected to be savvy with money.