A History of Don King's Grimiest Moments

Were it not for Don King, Evander Holyfield would still have two ears. We’d never have witnessed the "Rumble in the Jungle" or the "Thrilla in Manila." If King were in his mid '80s prime, Mayweather v. Pacquiao would happen tonight in Madison Square Garden if he wanted it to.

That said, he had the ruthlessness of Pablo Escobar and the ethics of Bernie Madoff. He represented boxing greats like Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and Larry Holmes and—later—was sued by all of them. He's beaten a body, skated on multiple indictments, and was pardoned by a Ohio governor. Today the infamous promoter celebrates his 81st birthday which is why we're counting down a History of Don King's Grimiest Moments.

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When: 12/2/1954

Back when Don King worked as a numbers runner and went by "Donald the Kid" he ran an illegal gambling house in Cleveland. When he walked in on Hillary Brown allegedly robbing the joint, he gunned him down with a Russian revolver. King claimed self-defense and, ultimately, the court classified it a "justifiable homicide."

When: 4/20/1966

When, according to King, one of his employees "ran off with (some) money," King pistol-whipped him and stomped him to death outside a bar in Cleveland. The employee owed $600 and his purported last words were, "I'll give you the money, Don."

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. He'd later say of the tragic event, “His head hit the ground. Those are the things that happen.” Right, totally.

When: 1972

Don King organized a charity boxing match featuring Muhammad Ali to benefit Forest City Hospital, an underfunded care center outside King's hometown of Cleveland. On the surface it sounds like a pretty proud moment for the boxing promoter, until you look at the books. On an episode of the ESPN's series SportsCentury Don Elbaum, a fellow boxing promoter, alleged that of the $85K the event made in ticket sales, the hospital received $1500. An absurd 83% of the purse was pretty much a standard cut for King, but that's grimy as hell when you're working for charity.

When: 1976

In the wake of the '76 U.S. Olympic team winning five gold medals, Don King pitched ABC on the idea of a televised national boxing tournament. In order to bolster the prestige of his event, King allegedly paid The Ring Magazine (an authority on boxing at the time) to falsify the track records and rankings of tournament participants.

The controversial tournament became toxic when one of the tournament fighters informed the media that the tournament was rigged for those who had contractual ties to King. He'd go on to explain that he was told he'd lost his next fight before arriving to the venue. More boxers would come forward with allegations of payoffs, leading ABC to cancel the tournament.

When: 1982

King operated under the assumption that fighters would be more impressed with a stack of cash than they would be a written check. Most of the time he was right. Muhammad Ali was shortchanged some $1.2M by King after his "Thrilla in Manila" comeback fight against Joe Frazier. Naturally, he filed suit against the event's promoter, Don King.

King sent $50K in cash to a hospitalized Ali. As a condition of accepting the gift, Ali would have to sign papers effectually dropping the lawsuit. Whether it was because he needed cash or because his health was failing, Ali signed away his million dollar lawsuit for a mere $50K.

When: 1982

After a title bout with Gerry Cooney, Larry Holmes was shortchanged some $300K by King. A few years later, while King was managing Michael Jackson's Victory Tour, Holmes sued King for a "flagrant and fraudulent" attempt to withhold "a large sum of money." Holmes would later settle for a paltry $100K.

When: 1980s

Don King's ties to organized crime date back to adolescence when he worked as a numbers runner in the Cleveland projects. His associations became a bit more devious in '91 when Sports Illustrated reported his ties to John Gotti and Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello. The article also alleged that King bribed a Cleveland judge to have his '66 second-degree murder conviction reduced to manslaughter.

According to SI, an undercover F.B.I. agent posed as a wealthy drug dealer, approached King with the hopes of laundering money through his boxing promotion company. In their first meeting, he was ushered into King's office by a capo in the Colombo crime family. The agent later met with a member of the Genovese family who said of King,"[he's] with us." King was later indicted for tax evasion but, once again, skated the charges.

When: 1986

After successfully defending his belt in London against Frank Bruno, Tim Witherspoon was promised a $2M purse. In typical King fashion, Witherspoon received a check for $100K. Ouch. Disheartened and confused after years of feuding with King, Witherspoon lost his third defense of the title with a first-round knockout by James "Bonecrusher" Smith.

Following the loss Witherspoon took King and his son Carl to court, suing on the grounds of fraud and conflict of interest to the tune of $25M. During the suit, King froze Witherspoon out of a title bout and dragged the court case out to drain Witherspoon's prime years. Witherspoon eventually settled out of court for $1M, a fraction of his due and potential earnings.

When: 3/17/1990

According to one of Don King's fellow promoters, Don Elbaum, Meldrick Taylor was promised a purse of $1.3M. The King represented boxer was presented with a check for $300K. According to Elbaum, when Taylor protested, King threatened to have him killed.

Later, the boxing world was treated to one of the most anticipated matchups of the early '90s when Taylor was paired against Julio Caesar Chavez. Chavez, like Taylor, was an undefeated champion and represented by King. Taylor led the scorecard until the final round when, with two seconds left in the match, Chavez landed a punch that knocked Taylor to the mat. The fight was called after the knockdown, handing the match to Chavez in front of an outraged stadium. It's believed by many to be a glaring example of boxing's corrupt nature and King's ability to fix matches without consequence.

When: 1990s

Throughout the '80s and '90s King monopolized boxing's best by forcing representation. Using a contractual clause, anyone who wished to challenge a boxer belonging to King had to agree to be promoted by King in the future should he win. Boxers who refused to sign their future over found it difficult to place fights, especially title bouts.

When: 1998

It's not a great idea to anger a convicted rapist who's famous for biting a man's ear off. Don King learned this lesson the hard way. When Mike Tyson discovered more than $20M in missing assets, he tracked down Don King and beat him into the pavement outside a Los Angeles hotel.

Iron Mike said in the film Tyson that he was triggered by King's refusal to admit any wrongdoing, "I confronted him. He basically denied it and I attacked him in front of these old decrepit white women." Tyson would go on to say of King, "he's a wretched, slimy, reptilian motherfucker...he would kill his mother for a dollar."

When: February 2012

While promoting a recent fight in Texas, Don King provided a bizarre and jaw-dropping take on history when 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 is Chris Arreola who later rolled King's fighter, Eric Molina. After the fight Arreola said he used to look up to King but now thinks he's, "a fucking asshole."