Recently, legendary boxing promoter, Don King announced that he is planning an upcoming Salute To Greatness worldwide boxing series in memory of Muhammad Ali.
The idea, said King via press release, is to do a global salute to the memory of the greatest, Muhammed Ali by revisiting some of the cities and countries King helped make famous and to promote major championship events, every few months, in new locations around the world, for global peace.
King plans on accomplishing this goal on the back of the most notable fighter on his roster, former WBC Heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (25-2-1, 21 KOs).
The Haiti native, now living in Las Vegas, is slated to face Alexander Povetkin (30-1, 22 KOs), a former world titleholder and 2004 Russian Olympic gold medalist, for the vacant WBC interim title in a fight mandated by the WBC.
The Stiverne-Povetkin winner would face the man who took the WBC belt from Stiverne, current WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, who is recuperating from a broken hand and torn biceps suffered in his last defense against Chris Arreola.
I would love to make the fight between Stiverne, the WBCs No. 2 contender and Povetkin, whos No. 1, King said in the release. We could do the fight in Russia, the U.S., even Africa. Im friends with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Im a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, who Ive known a long time. Maybe the Presidents could sit together at ringside, President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump. Can you imagine?
Recently, King made headlines when stumping for Trump at a rally in Cleveland where he used the n word in a failed attempt to bring Trump a percentage of the black vote. The event took place in a church.
America needs Donald Trump. We need Donald Trump, especially black people, said King during his speech. Because you have got to understand, my black brothers and sisters, they told me, you’ve got to try to emulate and imitate the white man and then you will be successful.
We tried that … I told Michael Jackson, I said, if you are poor, you are a poor Negro. I would use the n-word. But, if you are rich you’re a rich Negro. If you are intelligent, intellectual, you’re intellectual Negro. If you are a dancing and sliding and gliding n——, I mean Negro, you’re a dancing and sliding and gliding Negro.
Sadly, the 85-year old King has lived up to his conundrum of an image that is a mix of pre-Mayweather hype-master to the prototype of the devilish bloodsucking promoter. But his newest bloviating speech for Trump and this announcement of a new boxing promotional run with hopes to unite Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump ringside is beyond ridiculous.
It is as if King is the real-life embodiment of The Boondocks character Uncle Ruckus. Uncle Ruckus claims to have had a disease that started when he was a baby turning his skin color from white to black, and he disassociates himself from other African Americans as much as possible in his support of what lead character Huey calls the “white supremacist power structure.”
This is the same King that shot Hillary Brown in the back in 1954 when he worked as a numbers runner and went by “Donald the Kid” while running an illegal gambling house in Cleveland. King claimed self-defense and, ultimately, the court classified it a “justifiable homicide.
The same King that pistol-whipped and stomped one of his employees to death that ran off with $600 in 1966. A judge reduced the charges from second-degree murder to manslaughter and King received a pardon from the Ohio Governor after doing almost four years in prison.
This gives a glimpse into his Uncle Ruckus outlook since he most likely attributes his freedom and pardon to the generosity of white people he proposes we emulate.
Interestingly, when it came to people of color, like Muhammad Ali, he notoriously robbed them. Reportedly, Ali signed away his $1.2 million dollar purse after the Thrilla in Manila comeback fight against Joe Frazier for an out-of-court settlement for $50k.
King shortchanged Larry Holmes $300k after a title bout with Gerry Cooney in 1982, settling for a mere $100k after a lawsuit.
Kings skewed views are universal regarding people of color. In 2012 when promoting a fight in Texas, he said to an auditorium full of people, “We even brought in a Mexican-American to give him a chance to get out and be at the front of the forefront. No more wetbacks running up and down picking the fruits and things. Now, we’re rolling, you know what I mean.”
The Mexican-American boxer King was referring to was Chris Arreola.
From sabotaging the first black major MMA promotion to playing pied piper to the Trump hysteria today, Don King has constantly shown why he is a disgrace and should be boycotted. The fighter turned fighter-promoter phenomenon is literally written off the horror stories of King and Bob Arum and the fact that he is clinging to straws to stay relevant is deplorable.
Unfortunately, for Bermane Stiverne, he has to have his career roiled in the mire of Kings filth and he, boxing and the world will be better off once King decides to finally go away.
