About Don King
Donald King (born August 20, 1931) is an American boxing promoter, known for his flamboyant and charismatic style, who was involved in some of the most famous boxing matches in history. King's career highlights include, among multiple other enterprises, promoting "The Rumble in the Jungle" and the "Thrilla in Manila". King has promoted some of the most prominent names in boxing: Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Tomasz Adamek, Roberto Duran, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Chris Byrd, John Ruiz, Julio César Chávez, Ricardo Mayorga, Bernard Hopkins, Félix Trinidad, Roy Jones Jr., Azumah Nelson, Chris Eubank, Gerald McClellan, Marco Antonio Barrera, Salvador Sanchez, Wilfred Benitez, Wilfredo Gomez and Christy Martin. King is not without controversy as many of these same boxers sued him for allegedly defrauding them. Mike Tyson was quoted as saying, "He did more bad to black fighters than any white promoter ever in the history of boxing." King has been charged with killing two people in incidents that were 13 years apart. In 1954, King shot a man in the back after spotting him trying to rob one of his gambling houses; this incident was ruled a justifiable homicide. Then, in 1967 King was convicted of second-degree murder for stomping one of his employees to death because he owed him $600. For this, he served three years and eleven months in prison, being released after the conviction was reduced on appeal to voluntary manslaughter. King's rivals all sought to promote the bout, but King was able to secure the then-record $10 million purse through an arrangement with the government of Zaire. Beginning in 1951, King ran an illegal bookmaking operation out of the basement of a record store on Kinsman Road, earning the byname "The Kid", as well as the nicknames "Kingpin" and "the Numbers Czar".
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.