Donald King has promoted some of the most prominent names in boxing, including Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Tomasz Adamek, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Chris Byrd, John Ruiz, Julio César Chávez, Ricardo Mayorga, Andrew Golota, Bernard Hopkins, Félix Trinidad, Roy Jones Jr., Azumah Nelson, and Marco Antonio Barrera. In 1967, King was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for stomping one of his employees to death. He served three years and eleven months in prison. In 1983 he was pardoned by Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes.
About Don King (boxing promoter) in brief
Donald King has promoted some of the most prominent names in boxing, including Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Tomasz Adamek, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Chris Byrd, John Ruiz, Julio César Chávez, Ricardo Mayorga, Andrew Golota, Bernard Hopkins, Félix Trinidad, Roy Jones Jr., Azumah Nelson, and Marco Antonio Barrera. King has been charged with killing two people in incidents 13 years apart. In 1967, King was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for stomping one of his employees to death. He served three years and eleven months in prison. In 1983 he was pardoned by Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes. King was one of boxing’s most successful promoters in the 1970s and 1980s. He has been a controversial figure, partly due to a manslaughter conviction, and civil cases against him. King’s career highlights include, among multiple other enterprises, promoting ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’ and the ‘Thrilla in Manila’ fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. In 1974, King negotiated to. promote a heavyweight championship fight between Ali and George. Foreman in Zaire, popularly known as “The Rumble In the Jungle.’ In 1975, King secured the then-record USD 10 million purse through an arrangement with the government of Zaire for the fight between Chuck Wepner and Muhammad Ali.
Legend has it that Sylvester Stallone saw the fight and was spurred to write the screenplay for Rocky, which won the 1976 Best Picture Oscar. Throughout the decade he compiled an impressive roster of fighters, many of whom would finish their career with Hall of Fame credentials. Fighters including Larry Holmes and Wilfred Beníz, Salvador Benítez, Wilfredz, Gózo Gómez, and Alexis Argümez would all fight under the Don King Productions promotional banner in the 1980s and 1990s. For the next two decades, King continued to be among boxing’s most successful boxing promoters. In the 1990s and 2000s, he was also busy expanding his boxing empire. He ran an illegal bookmaking operation out of the basement of a record store on Kinsman Road in Cleveland, Ohio, and was charged with. killing two men in incidents 14 years apart in 1954 and 1967. He was convicted in 1967 of second degree murder for the second killing after he was found guilty of stomping to death an employee, Sam Garrett, who owed him USD 600. King solidified his position as one of. boxing’s preeminent promoters the following year with the third fight between. Ali and Frazier in the Philippines, which King deemed the \”Thrillas in Manila\”. King was able to secure a then- Record USD 1.3 million purse for the bout.
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