Thread: Don King

Could any of you guys help me out here please? Im looking for a good book on Don King. Im sure there are loads of books on him but i want to know which would be the best to seek out and thats where you come in. I know what he is and has ruined many a fighter, in fact most of who hes dealt with, but i find him interesting if anything. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Don King never ruined any fighter, he was just going about his business. All those fat lazy 80's heavyweights blame him, but Larry Holmes got rich working with Don.

I think the quote was: "talks black, acts white and thinks green."
I have no respect for the greedy, lying sack of sh**. IMO the sport would be better off without him.
Apparently he's still at his old trickery:
Team Ruiz: DKP is lying | Fightnews - Boxing News Updated 24/7
No wonder so many of his fighters are leaving him.

Originally Posted by SEANIE

Don King never ruined any fighter, he was just going about his business. All those fat lazy 80's heavyweights blame him, but Larry Holmes got rich working with Don.

Fair enough, maybe i used the wrong word there but he certainly ripped off quite a lot of his fighters. Paying Ali 50grand for the Holmes fight isnt what i would call 'going about his business', thats just being a c**t. Several others have taken him to court and won, over him 'going about his business'. OK, some have got rich working with him when he had a stronghold on a lot of the titles, but thats only because if they didnt go with him then they would not have got a shot to begin with. When Witherspoon fought Bruno, his take home pay was 90grand out of a 500grand purse. Bruno got a 900grand purse and he was the challenger!!! That may be 'going about his business' but its certainly not looking after his fighters business

Originally Posted by johnmaff36

Could any of you guys help me out here please? Im looking for a good book on Don King. Im sure there are loads of books on him but i want to know which would be the best to seek out and thats where you come in. I know what he is and has ruined many a fighter, in fact most of who hes dealt with, but i find him interesting if anything. Any help would be greatly appreciated

I haven't seen too many books on Don King... but there's tons of books and articles on leeches.

I'm not sure about a book but HBO had Ving Rhames play him in the movie Only In America which was pretty entertaining.

King is getting old and losing his grip he held on boxing, but for that he would eat up Golden Boy and Arum.

Originally Posted by TitoFan

Originally Posted by johnmaff36

Could any of you guys help me out here please? Im looking for a good book on Don King. Im sure there are loads of books on him but i want to know which would be the best to seek out and thats where you come in. I know what he is and has ruined many a fighter, in fact most of who hes dealt with, but i find him interesting if anything. Any help would be greatly appreciated

I haven't seen too many books on Don King... but there's tons of books and articles on leeches.

ha ha! touche

Originally Posted by jon09

I'm not sure about a book but HBO had Ving Rhames play him in the movie Only In America which was pretty entertaining.

seen it. ving rhames was outstanding doing king

Originally Posted by Master

King is getting old and losing his grip he held on boxing, but for that he would eat up Golden Boy and Arum.

Not only peoples aren't seeking him anymore because there is other strong alternatives around but his stable and the cards he did promote considerably thinned over the last 3 years. Dunno if it's age, lack of interests or whatever else but this is clearly visible.

Only In America: The Life and Crimes of Don King by Jack Newfield is a fantastic read on King. I read an excerpt back in about 1997, and it was so good I had to buy the book.

Also check out A Savage Business - The Comeback and Comedown of Mike Tyson by Richard Hoffer.


Both offer a pretty good account of the Machiavellian workings of Don King.


But if it wasn't for Don King, I'd wager boxing would be in a damn sight worse off than the state it finds itself today...

Originally Posted by Greig

Only In America: The Life and Crimes of Don King by Jack Newfield is a fantastic read on King. I read an excerpt back in about 1997, and it was so good I had to buy the book.

Also check out A Savage Business - The Comeback and Comedown of Mike Tyson by Richard Hoffer.


Both offer a pretty good account of the Machiavellian workings of Don King.


But if it wasn't for Don King, I'd wager boxing would be in a damn sight worse off than the state it finds itself today...

Really? Im intrigued. Could you elaborate more? Thanks for the heads up on the book. Will seek it out asap. Is that jack newfield the same guy that King lost the head with before, calling him a scumbag and shit at a press conference? I saw a show called 'Dispatches' on ch4 in the UK several years back about King and i think it was jack newfield who was doing a lot of the talking on it. This programme would be pretty well respected in journalistic circles and would not have been just a hatchet job on King, but,christ, he didnt come out of it too good. Some of the stuff on it you just couldnt make up. For instance,when he was acquited of tax evasion (or something like that) just before the Witherspoon/Bruno fight, he flew out the entire jury as a thank-you for finding him not guilty ha ha ha!

Originally Posted by Greig

Only In America: The Life and Crimes of Don King by Jack Newfield is a fantastic read on King. I read an excerpt back in about 1997, and it was so good I had to buy the book.

Also check out A Savage Business - The Comeback and Comedown of Mike Tyson by Richard Hoffer.


Both offer a pretty good account of the Machiavellian workings of Don King.


But if it wasn't for Don King, I'd wager boxing would be in a damn sight worse off than the state it finds itself today...

i dont think boxing is in too bad a state. it has its obvious faults:
1. too many belts
2. fighters avoiding each other
3. v. dodgy refs decisions.

but on the plus side it is breaking records for ppv sales on the marquee fights, and we have been blessed with some very talented fighters recently. and who knows when the next superstar is going to appear. perhaps david haye will go on and dominate the heavyweights, maybe amir khan will come good and unify the junior welters. (im a brit, i expect both of these what ifs to be shot down by some blinkered idiot)

but there is quality about. i do wish that boxing was more widely available on terrestrial, its a great shame setanta went belly up.

Thomas Hauser Books (Used, New, Out-of-Print) - Alibris

Check the above link for "The Black Lights." This book is somewhat dated (1986), but I rembember it gives a detailed behind the scenes example of how DK does business. At the time, DK was the promoter of Billy Costelo, the then WBC superlightweight champion.