You may remember Don King for his seemingly electrified Afro, for his vociferous gift of gab, or for his lifelong devotion to braggadocio. Or, you may remember him for the famous boxing matches he was responsible for promoting: the “Rumble in the Jungle” with George Foreman and Muhammad Ali, and the “Thrilla in Manila” with Ali and Joe Frazier.

With his contractual relationships with the top boxers of the era, King all but ruled the sport in the 1970’s and 80’s. “King’s impact on American life extended far beyond boxing. He was Black and from the streets. Rather than hide his background, he forced America to accept him as he was. He was the first Black man to dominate a major industry in the United States. We’re not talking about an athlete, singer or movie star who made his mark by entertaining people. We’re talking about commerce and economic control.

“King was larger than boxing. Over the years, he met with Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Vladimir Putin, Leonid Brezhnev, two Popes (John Paul II and Benedict XVI), Tony Blair, Fidel Castro, Ferdinand Marcos and eight US Presidents.”(Thomas Hauser, The Guardian, June 14, 2023)

He also met with an unending stream of lawyers, prosecutors and judges. Seems as though just about every boxer he ever represented ended up suing him. Mike Tyson was quoted on ESPN Classic as saying “He did more bad to black fighters than any white promoter ever in the history of boxing.”

“In 1998, Tyson sued King for $100 million, claiming that King had been skimming money from the fighter for years. Tyson also alleged that King made him sign contracts while he was in jail, never giving him the opportunity to seek a lawyer’s advice on the matter.” (Amber Petty, grunge.com, Oct. 6, 2021)

“Former heavyweight champion Tim Witherspoon was involved in bitter litigation with King, ending in an out-of-court settlement. Witherspoon was promised $550,000 for his 1986 title bout with Frank Bruno but ended up with a little over $90,000. King contended that he had funnelled numerous purse advances to Witherspoon and that, in fact, the fighter got everything that was due to him. (Boxing News Online, Oct. 4, 2024)

The AP carried this story (May 9, 2003): 

“Attorneys for (Lennox) Lewis filed suit in a New York court Thursday seeking up to $385 million for what they said was a plot by King to snatch Tyson away from his current promoters and get the former champion to fight for him again. The suit claims King cost Lewis $10 million by keeping Tyson off of a June 21 fight card in Los Angeles and another $25 million by stopping him from signing a deal for an eventual rematch between the two fighters. The suit alleges that King threatened the life of Tyson’s friend and adviser, Los Angeles agent Jeff Wald, and conspired with a female friend of Tyson’s to keep him sequestered in a New York hotel last month, preventing him from signing the Lewis contract.”

Another AP story (Dec. 14, 2003 by Jim Litke) had the detail of a suit against King by former middleweight champion Terry Norris. Norris, “who suffered brain damage from all the punches absorbed over the course of his career, was broke at the end of it – despite fighting for millions in purses.” King settled that one for $7.5 million.

“In 1984, King was indicted on 23 counts of federal tax evasion in connection with alleged skimming of more than $1 million from Don King Productions. He was cleared of all charges, though one of his vice-presidents went to prison, by a jury that had, by the end, fallen in love with him. ‘I don’t think I realized it until after, when the jurors went up and asked him for his autograph,’ says Roanne L. Mann, the federal prosecutor for the case.”  (Miami Herald, Oct. 22, 1993)

King was quoted by the Philadelphia Inquirer (Bill  Lyon, Oct. 15, 1995) as boasting “They’ve all tried to bring me down. The IRS, the KGB, the FBI, Interpol … and ain’t none of them laid a glove on me yet. I tell you, Don King is God’s child.”  

King got in on the legal action himself when he sued ESPN in 2005. “King filed a $2.5 million defamation suit against ESPN for the sports network’s portrayal of him in the SportsCentury series. The profile, which aired in May 2004, referred to King as a ‘snake-oil salesman’ and ‘shameless huckster.’ King disputes the claims he shortchanged Ali and Larry Holmes and funds owed to a hospital from a charity event. ESPN also claims he threatened to kill two people.” (Jeff Hawkins, Northwest Herald, Woodstock, Ill., April 15, 2005) That suit was summarily dismissed by a Florida court.

A different side of King emerges around Christmastime when for several years he has organized turkey giveaways for needy folks in South Florida, where he lives. And, despite his disreputable business practices, he has received his share of accolades for his influence on boxing. In 2013 he was inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame. Just last year he was inducted into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame. This a result of his promoting Christy Martin, perhaps the most notable of female boxers.

In 2006, Atlantic City named a street after him. This despite the fact that he was barred by the State of New Jersey from promoting in the casinos there. Apparently he had given away some turkeys in AC as well. In Cleveland, where King was born, the city council considered naming a street after him as well. But the controversy that consideration created killed the plan. Turns out that very street is where King stomped an employee to death in 1966. (He was convicted of manslaughter and served four years in prison before being pardoned by Ohio Governor James Rhodes.)

It should not come as a surprise that King has had a long relationship with Donald Trump. Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times wrote (June 18, 2024): “For more than three decades, the boxing promoter Don King and Donald J. Trump have shared an enduring friendship and some defining surface similarities: an unmissable hairdo and a self-regarding gumption that became a kind of superpower, a trail of beleaguered creditors and an unswerving conviction that more is more.”

During the 2016 Presidential campaign the editorial writers at the Newark (N.J.) Star Ledger (Sept. 24, 2016) expounded on the comparison:

“So Donald Trump embraced King on Wednesday, presenting him as a paragon of the African-American virtue, even though King is reviled by almost everyone in the black community who ever had the misfortune of doing business with him. King was chosen to introduce Trump at a minority outreach event, and after wandering into a thicket of incoherent blather for a few minutes, he dropped the N-word while making a tortuous point about the inequities faced by blacks, and how they should better ‘assimilate’ rather than ‘alienate.’ If Trump brought King aboard to expand his insight into the black community, he’s going to be disappointed because King’s primary expertise is in corruption, greed and blind hairdressers. If that sounds like something Trump would say, it’s not an accident, because Trump and King are kindred spirits ‘the ebony and ivory of con men,’ as one blogger put it.

They share a need for self-promotion, a lovable rogue appeal that is charismatic to some but repellent to most, an unapologetic love of money and a compulsion for screwing their business partners.”

King is now 94. He still lives in South Florida. His wife of 50 years, Henrietta, died in 2010. There are two constants to the Don King story: boxing promotion and lawsuits.

Just last year, news of a $3 billion legal action appeared in Fortune. (Amanda Getut, Jan. 5, 2025)

“Controversial boxing promoter Don King and his Florida-based production company are being sued by BYD Sports and CEO Cecil Miller in a civil challenge alleging fraud, defamation, breach of contract, and other allegations, according to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Plaintiffs are seeking damages of $3 billion. 

According to the complaint and court documents detailing their interactions, King allegedly encouraged Miller to pursue a 50th anniversary matchup called Rumble in the Jungle 2 in Africa, which Miller did despite the lack of a formal agreement in place. After setting in motion the groundwork for a star-studded series of boxing matches in Nigeria—replete with a wish list for musical events with artists such as John Legend, Alicia Keys, and Wyclef Jean—King allegedly bailed when Miller asked him to help promote the event and disavowed Miller before the events could be finalized.”

Two months later Sports Illustrated (Lewis Watson, March 11, 2025) reported on a foreclosure action involving King’s headquarters. “93-year-old boxing promoter Don King has been named in a $5.35 million foreclosure lawsuit over his headquarters complex that ‘Don King Productions’ operates out of Deerfield Beach, Florida, USA. 

“There have been missing payments since August 2024 meaning the borrower (King) went into default and now owes $5.35 million plus interest accrued, as well as fees.”

King skirted that one by selling the property a few months later for more than what was owed.

As for promoting boxing, King is still at it, though neither the fighters nor the matches bear any resemblance to those during his heyday. The current state of affairs was described by Thomas Hauser of The Guardian (June 14, 2023) after a press conference promoting a Miami fight involving a past-his-prime King client.

“King was wearing black slacks and a conservative gray sport jacket festooned with ribbons and pins. His famed ‘Only in America’ jacket was nowhere in sight. There was a time when King had a nobility about him. Watching him at the May press conference was sad. He looked old (which he is) and rambled (which was not uncommon during his years in the spotlight). But King’s monologues are less entertaining now than they were in the past. This one was a disjointed sermon about Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Putin and Ukraine.”

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(Newspaper and wire service stories that do not include links were accessed on newspapers.com)

See also Whatever Happened To?

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