KING, DON

born Aug. 20, 1931, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. byname of Donald King African-American boxing promoter known for his flamboyant manner. He first came to prominence with his promotion of the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle bout between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Congo). Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, King considered becoming a lawyer. To finance his college education, he became a numbers runner (i.e., courier of betting slips). In a short time he was one of the leading racketeers in Cleveland. King attended Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University) in Cleveland for a year but quit to concentrate on his numbers business. In 1967, however, King was sentenced to prison for manslaughter, the result of a fistfight with one of his runners. Paroled in 1971, King entered the business of boxing. The next year he persuaded Muhammad Ali to enter a benefit fight to raise money for a Cleveland hospital. Buoyed by this success, and with Ali's encouragement, King became a full-time promoter. Beginning with the 1974 Ali-Foreman fight, King staged seven of Ali's title bouts, including the legendary Thrilla in Manila the 1975 fight between Ali and Joe Frazier that was viewed by more than a million people worldwide and earned Ali $6 million. He also promoted the fights of such pugilists as Sugar Ray Leonard, Leon Spinks, Roberto Durn, Julio Csar Chvez, and Mike Tyson. King's success continued into the 1980s and '90s. In 1983 he promoted 12 world championship bouts. The next year he promoted nearly twice that number. By bringing boxing to the lucrative cable and pay-per-view markets, he generated large profits for himself and his fighters.