DON KING STILL BETTER THEN THE REST!!!!!

Don King has lost much power over the years as new promoters have emerged and new companies like Goldenboy have steadily made their mark on boxing. Plus less fighters are willing to sign with King and the general belief is that King is on his way out, but look at the state of boxing today. When King was in his pomp Boxing sat proud at the top of the sporting food chain, and today with his influence shunned more or less boxing is in its worst state for years.

ONETWOFOREVER wrote:Don King has lost much power over the years as new promoters have emerged and new companies like Goldenboy have steadily made their mark on boxing. Plus less fighters are willing to sign with King and the general belief is that King is on his way out, but look at the state of boxing today. When King was in his pomp Boxing sat proud at the top of the sporting food chain, and today with his influence shunned more or less boxing is in its worst state for years.

King is the greatest promoter. But he is also one of the greatest errr not so honest men...so its no surprise that many boxers shy away from him. From a fan's point of view its a great loss. His cards were stacked with well matched championship fights.

I recall the Witherspoon/Bruno where Tim was promised $1m and ended up with $90k. King even charged him for a can of coke. Holmes once said that Boxing is the only sport where the lions are scared of the rats which was aimed at King.

Go back to pretending to be a teenage girl

We should blame the demise of boxing (or supposed demise) on Don King not being the figurehead he once was.

Guess we should ignore:

The emergence of a rival sport
The emergence of umpteen ruddy belts diluting the "champion" effect
A decreasing number of boxing gyms
Boxing not getting the free TV coverage it used to

Among others

It's all Don's fault, bomb the other promotional companies offices and once back in the driving seat i'm sure boxing will be as popular again.....

Christ alive, give me strength

Actually I think the OP makes a good point. When King stood on the top, boxing was also on top. Its more than coincidental that boxing has lesened in popularity as his grip on the sport has waned. Look at his cards. They were absolutely stacked. Can anyone recall a stacked GBP or TR card? King also made sure boxing remained on the back pages. He sold fights like no other even during the times of multiple belts.

If you are seieng UFC as a competitor to boxing hence its relative demise, then you are mistaken imo. UFC takes fans away from WWF and not boxing. Put on a stacked card and you will get more PPV buys.

To blame King's relaxed stanglehold over the sport solely for boxing's 'demise' is churlish, and to be honest while it's undeniable that boxing (in terms of money and recognition, at least) is better off with King at the top of his game, there are other reasons which should be taken in to account, most of which Coxy has touched on.

People forget that King was (relatively speaking) in the wilderness for the first half of the nineties, what with Tyson's prison spell, Douglas buying himself out of his contract and Holyfield, at that time, fighting under the Main Events banner. He had Chavez, of course, but not a great deal else compared to the riches of talent he'd enjoyed in the eighties and at the end of the nineties.

Boxing wasn't seen to be 'dying' then, and to point it all to one man is unrealistic.

coxy what a tool.

King was yes a decisive figure but he understood the game of boxing far better the Goldenboy ever will. King worked with the best, was partly responsible for the rumble in the jungle because he understood that to sell a fight you needed a sub plot. He made Tyson the beast that he is remembered for being. Before Tyson went with King he was not "the baddest mn on the planet" King was the best.

ONETWOFOREVER wrote:coxy what a tool.

King was yes a decisive figure but he understood the game of boxing far better the Goldenboy ever will. King worked with the best, was partly responsible for the rumble in the jungle because he understood that to sell a fight you needed a sub plot. He made Tyson the beast that he is remembered for being. Before Tyson went with King he was not "the baddest mn on the planet" King was the best.

wrong. Tyson was at his best under Cayton. When he went to King he changed trainers and went downhill from there.

ONETWOFOREVER wrote:He made Tyson the beast that he is remembered for being. Before Tyson went with King he was not "the baddest mn on the planet" King was the best.

King didn't become involved with Tyson until a good while after Tyson had won the title. He was already very much established before King ousted Cayton after Jacob's death, and whatever Tyson was in his fabled 'prime', it certainly wasn't King who made him it.

King gave Tyson the persona of the meanest heavy around at that time, King was largley responsible for bring together the Spinks fight after Spinks tried to wiggle his way out of it.

ONETWOFOREVER wrote:coxy what a tool.

King was yes a decisive figure but he understood the game of boxing far better the Goldenboy ever will. King worked with the best, was partly responsible for the rumble in the jungle because he understood that to sell a fight you needed a sub plot. He made Tyson the beast that he is remembered for being. Before Tyson went with King he was not "the baddest mn on the planet" King was the best.

And you seem to ignore the other reasons i've given for boxing not being as popular. So it's you who is the IGNORANT TOOL!!!!!

And again, go back to pretending to be a teenage girl.

You've already been owned on the Tyson subject so i won't even bother.

Funny how HBO have a lovein in with GBP, Showtime with Top Rank etc. Yet Don King struggles to get TV dates....

As others have pointed out to blame King's lack of prminence for boxings waning popularity is simplistic to say the least and to be honest wrong. As others have said the proliferation of belts that leave even the commited struggling to name more than half the world champions out there and the 357 different weight classes are more telling factors. Add into that the lack of the sport on mainstrem TV and King's lack of prominence comes a long way down the list of reasons.

That said and in the interests of balance it should be noted that for all his myriad faults King could get fights made and if there was enough money involved he rarely let any obstacle get in the way, this is something the new breed of promoters would do well to learn from.

Great point jeff and just so everyone is clear that was my point all along. King is a better promoter then the type we have around today, and on their watch they have made a joke of boxing. If King could make Ali v Forman in AFRICA then King could make Manny v Floyd if given the complete responsibility.

He made Ali vs For(e)man in African, but he also made Alexander vs Bradley in Detroit.

no doubt he woulda got manny-pac together as those dollars signs would be too much for him ,when tyson went inside he made chavez his money maker ,with jackson,norris etc on his undercards,dont like the guy and never will but he got fights made

how would the history books be written if frank warren was incharge?

If you are seieng UFC as a competitor to boxing hence its relative demise, then you are mistaken imo. UFC takes fans away from WWF and not boxing. Put on a stacked card and you will get more PPV buys.

think this statement is probably just about spot on but...the new generation of fans coming thro have now got the option of ufc or boxing and think boxing will suffer more so than ufc in the future due to the fiasco of the best not fighting the best which in ufc they do

gab wrote:If you are seieng UFC as a competitor to boxing hence its relative demise, then you are mistaken imo. UFC takes fans away from WWF and not boxing. Put on a stacked card and you will get more PPV buys.

think this statement is probably just about spot on but...the new generation of fans coming thro have now got the option of ufc or boxing and think boxing will suffer more so than ufc in the future due to the fiasco of the best not fighting the best which in ufc they do

Thats what King does best. Who avoided who when King strode the stage of boxing? The best usually fought the best.

Rowley, the prolification of belts had no impact on King. IBF, WBC, WBA, WBO were all around when King was at his pomp.