Don King is maybe the best known boxing promoter of all time and sure, he made some mistakes, but there was much boxing can still learn from the good things he did.
Of which there are many behind the scenes too.
King helped popularize boxing in the hey day of Muhammad Ali and many of his legendary bouts and with some big fighters there after.
His atypical methods and convictions of killing people aside, and the beef with Mike Tyson and others (that is up to Tyson to speak on one day) if you get past that, what he did for boxing in those days was get the sport, professional boxing, and some of the fighters, he definitely helped bring both to a mass audience.
In today’s times King is still alive but more low key in his event now given his advanced years.
Don King: Only In America
But the Hall of Fame promoter brought boxing back to the masses in his time and as the sport comes back to the masses again shortly, for different reasons including better matchmaking, a more professionalized and commercially reputable sport of professional boxing, with more networks in boxing internationally than in those days, still much can be learned from King, who was ahead of his time in some ways.
As boxing also goes to new places like Africa, the far East, the Middle East and further afield in China and India to stage major events now soon, remember King helped boxing do this many, many years ago too for big Muhammad Ali fights — organizers can still learn from some of things there and how he dealt with different governments to get boxing there.
Particularly now as events organizers in boxing will be dealing with new governments shortly staging large events and investing directly and indirectly in both professional boxing and big time world championship boxing again.
Don King also showed the power of the entrepreneurial spirt in America and famously coined the phrase:
‘Only in America.’
