Donald King, commonly known as Don King, is a famous American businessman, as well as a professional boxing promoter. King is perhaps best known for promoting such historical events as “The Rumble in the Jungle”, “Thrilla in Manila” and others. Both of these boxing matches made significant contributions to Don King’s fame, and gave him an opportunity to work with some of the most famous boxers, such as Mike Tyson, Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield and Roy Jones Jr. to name a few.
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Don King Net Worth $150 Million
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A famous professional boxing promoter, how rich is Don King? In 2004, King settled a lawsuit with Mike Tyson for $14 million and a year later added $13 million in ticket sales from the top three fights that year, while his total earnings from those fights amounted to $66 million. In regards to his wealth, Don King’s net worth is estimated to be $150 million.
Don King was born in 1931, in Cleveland, Ohio. When King dropped out of Kent State University, he pursued illegal bookmaking operations. Later in life he was accused of murdering two people, and served his time in prison. King’s promoting career began with “The Rumble in the Jungle”, which was King’s first promoting venture. The famous fight featured two of the most famous boxers at the time, namely Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. The match took place in Zaire, in 1974, which was probably the most hyped-up event at the time, as it was preceded by a three-day festival that featured such artists as James Brown, Celia Cruz, The Spinners and others. Muhammad Ali won the match by knockout in the 8th round, regaining the title of a champion and once again proclaimed himself to be the greatest boxer in the world. The match left an immense impact on the culture, and was even featured in Leon Gast’s documentary film “When We Were Kings”, which won the Academy Award, as well as another movie entitled “Don King: Only in America”. Several musicians such as “The Fugees”, Johnny Wakelin and “The Hours” all wrote and recorded songs about the legendary match.
“Rumble in the Jungle” was followed by “Thrilla in Manila” event, once again promoted by King. Ali once again took a victory, this time against Joe Frazier, whom he defeated after a technical knockout (TKO) in the 14th round. These matches signified a career high for King. He started to be featured in such television shows as “The Howard Stern Show”, and even impersonated in “In Living Color”, “Boy Meets World”, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, “The Simpsons” and other television series. Don King was also portrayed in several movies, as well as video games.
Don King is also known for his controversies, illegal connections, as well as lawsuits and prosecutions. King has been charged Numerous times with fraud by his former employers, including Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Mike Tyson, and Terry Norris to name a few. However, King managed to settle all the lawsuits for large sums of money and in this way avoided conviction.
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