Don King is perhaps one of the best-known promoters in all of boxing. Known for his eccentric personality and time spent working with the very best in the sport, King’s career began with far more humble beginnings, and a huge stroke of luck.
Don King promoted some of the most thrilling nights in all of boxing – from ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’ where George Foreman was stopped by Muhammad Ali, to ‘The Thrilla in Manila’, where Ali lost to Joe Frazier in a fight 10% of Earth’s population watched.
Though many would imagine his career started with small hall shows or local fighters, it began with ‘The Greatest’ himself.
Don King’s career began with Muhammad Ali and a hospital
King’s career began with a stroke of luck, as a friendship with singer Lloyd Price helped him host a charity boxing event for a local hospital in Cleveland.
The event, King’s first foray into boxing, saw Price get in touch with his friend, Muhammad Ali, to encourage him to take part.
Of course, this was well before the days of Foreman and Frazier, who was the only man to scare Foreman, but it was this event that allowed King to forge a bond with Ali that would take both of their careers to the highest heights in the sport.
These days King, aged 93, has taken a back seat from the sport, with the last high-profile fight under his promotional company being Adrien Broner’s fight with Blair Cobbs last year, in which Broner, who made Gervonta Davis cry, lost a tooth on his way to a unanimous decision loss.
Before that the biggest event of recent times was Daniel Dubois‘ fight with Trevor Bryan.
Don King promoted the fight that inspired ‘Rocky’
One fight that King was at the helm of involving Ali was his fight with Chuck Wepner in 1975.
The fight was the first to occur since his clash with Foreman, and saw Ali taken into the fifteenth and final round by the 31-9-2 journeyman.
There was huge drama in the ninth round when Wepner became the fourth and final man to knock Ali down.
Wepner’s career ended with a record of 36-14-2, but this fight is widely regarded as the fight that inspired Sylvester Stallone to write the first ‘Rocky’ movie, a movie which would go on to become a classic franchise with memorable moments such as Rocky’s defeat of Ivan Drago and Apollo Creed’s victory over the protagonist himself.
Stallone asked Joe Frazier to play Clubber Lang in the third instalment of the classic movie franchise, but this didn’t come to fruition.