The famous American-based boxing promoter mostly known as Don King is born in the year 1931. Donald King is his real name. He is rightly known for his work in historic boxing matchups. He has always been in controversy for various reasons. The controversy arose for the manslaughter conviction which later was pardoned. He is also convicted of various other civil cases.
Don King is best known for The Rumble in the Jungle and the Thrilla in Manila. In his career as a boxing promoter, King has raised names and put forward many potential boxers. Many boxers convicted him in the case of defrauding them. But mostly the lawsuits seemed to be settled out of the court. He won two Hall of fame awards for his work in 1997 and 2008.
How did he set up his career?
Donald King put his step into the boxing world after he successfully convinced Muhammad Ali to take part in a charity exhibition for the cause of a local hospital situated in Cleveland and took the help of singer Lloyd Price. In his early days, he formed a partnership with another local boxing promoter whose name was Don Elbaum. Elbaum already possessed a stable clan of fighters in Cleveland and had years of experience in boxing games. In the year 1974, Donald King successfully negotiated to take forward a heavyweight championship fight. The fight was to take place between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in location Zaire. This championship was popularly known as “The Rumble in the Jungle”. The fight between them was a much interesting event.
King as a boxing promoter solidified his position in the year 1977. It happened with the third fight that took place between Ali and Joe Frazier in Manila. This King named the “Thrilla in Manila. Throughout the decade he kept on promoting various other fights. Fighters he promoted include Larry Holmes, Roberto Durán, Wilfred Benítez, Wilfredo Gómez, Salvador Sánchez, and Alexis Argüello. They all fought under the promotional banner named Don King Productions in the 1970s.
What controversies followed him?
It seems like Donald King is quite a much controversial personality. He has been sued by many boxers whom he promoted under various convictions. The most common conviction is that of pursuing money from these boxers. He laundered almost all the money on their part. He is also a part of two murder cases. The initial one was a justifiable homicide. He shot a person dead from the back who was to steal his gambling house.
The second case for which he spent three years and 11 months imprisonment was that he killed an employee by stomping him to death. The employee owed King some money too. Finally, in the year 1983, he was pardoned.
Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali, Terry Norris, and many such boxers filed lawsuits against him for defrauding them. They all claimed Donald King gobbling up the money of their fights. Many lawsuits were not even taken to court and were solved outside.
The net worth of Donald King
This successful and famous boxing promoter as of the latest resources has a net amount of $150 million.
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