Don King is one of boxing’s most colourful and controversial characters and he worked with legends of the sport including heavyweights Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Larry Holmes and Mike Tyson.
King was a flamboyant promoter who first made his name promoting the iconic ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ when Ali, then 32 and considered the underdog, became world champion after beating Foreman by knockout in the 8th round in October 1974.
The veteran promoter also had complex relationships with Holmes and Tyson, and is still regarded to this day as putting on some of the best cards in the history of the sport.
In an interview with CNN, King praised Ali’s spirit and attitude.
“Muhammad Ali was a man of the people, he was a fighter for the people, I love Muhammad Ali. He was a friend for life and he will never die – his spirit will go on for ever. He represents what every athlete and sports person in life will try to do – an attitude of going out there and getting it done without any equivocation. He was just fabulous. A great human being, a champion of the people.”
Weighing up all the fighters he worked with over his career in the sport, King went on to name Ali as ‘the greatest of all time.’ What is often said to stand Ali apart is not just what he did in the ring, but how he acted outside of it.
“He had an attitude where he cared for people. With young people and old people he would go out and do things without trying to find any type of publicity and aggrandisement. He would do it because it was in his heart.”
Though King’s praise for Ali is extensive, his motives have been questioned, particularly at the end of the heavyweight great’s career when most felt he was in no fit state to be competing but continued to do so on King cards.
Ali retired with a record of 56 wins, 37 by knockout, and just five losses, passing away in 2016 after a long battle with Parkinson’s.
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