Boxing Memorabilia > Boxing Autographs >
Don King Boxing Autograph
A Great Magazine cover signed by boxing promoter
Don King.
Don King
£95.00
Don King first came to prominence in 1974
when he went from being an unkown small time promoter to
the world's biggest stage when he put together 'The Rumble
In The Jungle' in Zaire between Muhammad Ali and George
Foreman.
Don King coined the phrase, "Only in
America." He lives it. He breathes it. He believes
it. It's part of his soul.
"Only in America can a Don King happen," explains
Don. "America is the greatest country in the world-I
love America. What I've accomplished could not have been
done anywhere else."
Indeed, the odds have always been long for
King. A product of the hard-core Cleveland ghetto, he beat
the system to become the world's greatest promoter. His
shocking hairstyle, infectious smile, booming laugh and
inimitable vocabulary have made Don King universally recognizable.
He has been featured on the covers of Time, Sports Illustrated,
Ebony, Jet, and countless other magazines. He has appeared
in movies, television shows and on numerous television and
radio talk shows. There was even an award-winning unauthorized
movie loosely based on his life and numerous other attempts
by Hollywood to depict his larger-than-life personality.
Don's promotions have entertained billions
around the globe. His life has been devoted to staging the
best in world-championship boxing as well as always giving
something back to the people. Don King-promoted events have
given the sports and entertainment world some of its most
thrilling and memorable moments.
Inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1997,
King was the only boxing promoter named to Sports Illustrated's
list of the "40 Most Influential Sports Figures of
the Past 40 Years." The New York Times published a
list that included Don King among 100 African Americans
who have helped shape this country's history during the
last century.
When asked recently in a private meeting with
Mandalay Bay hotel executives in Las Vegas about what he
would like on his epitaph, King quickly responded, "He
worked for the day when all people would be clothed in dignity."
This statement belies the belief that King
is merely a boxing promoter. At heart, he is, foremost,
a civil rights activist.
"Nothing makes me happier than to promote
a fight card with boxers from 10 different countries: the
fighters, the corner men, the media, the business people-all
of them," King said. "The thrill comes when these
people, who would never normally come into contact with
one another, work together on an event. They learn that
no matter what color, race, religion or whatever you are,
underneath the skin we are all the same on the inside."
King added, poignantly, "I must take the splinter out
of my eye before I can ask you take the two-by-four out
of yours."
King's career as a promoter spans three decades
and includes more than 500 world-championship fights, but
it began as a humble plea to help save a Cleveland hospital
in 1972. Facing a severe shortage of funds, Forest City
Hospital was prepared to shut down. King knew the hospital
served a vital function to a poor, working-class community.
He sought out heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali and asked
him to come and support a fundraising benefit to help turn
around the hospital. The two men hit it off, and a new era
began in boxing.
King inked a fight between Ali and George
Foreman in 1974 that promised both fighters more than $5
million each, which was unheard of at the time. When his
financial backers lost faith and pulled out and everyone
else turned their backs on Don, he held the fight together
on his own and took it to Zaire. He proved the doubters
and critics wrong by staging one of the greatest fights
in history with The Rumble in the Jungle.
King has gone on to set new high-water marks
in the boxing promotion business. Ninety-three individual
boxers have earned $1 million, or more, under Don King Productions-promoted
events. The first Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield fight
shattered all previous viewing records for a boxing event,
seen in more than 100 countries by more than two billion
people.
Holyfield-Tyson II created even more attention,
attracting 1.95 million domestic households in addition
to a massive global audience. The live gate sold out in
days as a crowd of 16,331 paid a record $14.2 million to
see the fight in person. The fight became the most watched
one-day event in sports history.
Don made a commitment to provide quality fight
cards, and in 1993 he staged a fight in Mexico headlined
by Julio Cesar Chavez that featured four world championship
bouts on one night. The public responded as 136,274 fans
flocked to Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico, and established
a paid live-gate record of more than 132,000 that is still
listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. Not just once,
but twice, he has promoted fight cards with six world-title
fights. In 1994 he staged a record 47 world-championship
bouts.
In 1981 King was the first promoter in history
to guarantee $1 million paydays to non-heavyweights when
featherweights Salvador Sanchez and Wilfredo Gomez clashed.
That same year he became the first promoter to guarantee
one fighter (Sugar Ray Leonard) a $10 million purse in the
first Leonard vs. Roberto Duran fight.
But for every successful boxing event Don
promotes, he makes it a personal rule to give back far more
than he ever receives. King's tireless and continuous philanthropic
efforts are rarely chronicled, but, as he says, "If
you do something just to get noticed, then it is not a truly
charitable gesture."
He established the Don King Foundation, which
has donated millions of dollars to worthy causes and organizations.
As a self-reminder of the economic hardship he endured growing
up, King has gone into neighborhoods every holiday season
and personally handed out turkeys to needy families. Don's
"Turkey Tour" has given away hundreds of thousands
of turkey dinners over the years in cities across the country
during the holiday season.
King is a longtime supporter of the National
Organization for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),
the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), the Martin Luther
King Jr. Foundation, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, National
Hispanic Scholarship Fund, National Coalition of Title 1/Chapter
1 Parents, Wheelchair Charities, Our Children's Foundation
among other organizations, charities, colleges and hospitals
that has made him one of the world's leading philanthropists.
When the Deerfield Beach Fire Department in
Florida badly needed a new fire engine, Don stepped forward
with the necessary funds.
Don has been bestowed with many honors, including
the Black Achievement Award and being named Man of the Year
by the Black United Fund and Brotherhood Crusade. Among
his proudest moments was when he received the Martin Luther
King Jr. Humanitarian Award from the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference's women's membership in 1987. Cities
including Newark, N.J., have declared "Don King Day"
and presented him with official proclamations for "behind-the-scenes"
contributions he's made towards community projects.
The NAACP recognized Don with its highest
honor, the President's Award, and he received Lifetime Achievement
accolades from Grambling State University. Most recently,
the oldest black college in the South, Shaw University,
bestowed Don with an honorary doctorate degree and named
him to its prestigious Board of Trustees. All three major
boxing organizations, the IBF, WBA and WBC, have proclaimed
Don King the "Greatest Promoter in History."
