20.05.05 – By James Allan: “If I was a fighter and needed a promoter, who would I take? Don King. The man is the best. Don King delivers.” If you were to read the rest of Rich Giachetti’s quote you wouldn’t come away with such a positive view of Don. However what the above snippet suggests is 100% correct, as far as boxing promotion in the last thirty years is concerned, Don King is the undisputed master, and right now, the heavyweight division needs Don King to use all of his magic powers to revive it from the almost lifeless state that it currently resides in.
Many people will point out that the Heavyweight division, apart from the early 1970’s, has never been very strong. What it has had is one great champion in a decade to lift it out of the gloom, Dempsey in the Twenties, Louis in the Thirties and Forties, Marciano in the Fifties, Ali in the Sixties, Tyson in the Eighties and Holyfield and Lewis in the Nineties.
But even when the division was struggling, there was always at least something or someone to get excited about, Max Baer rolling around on the floor with Primo Carnera, Louis coming out of retirement to challenge Ezzard Charles, Floyd Patterson’s three battles with Ingemar Johannson, Joe Frazier’s rise in the late sixties, all little beams of light, cast on the division when it was struggling.
Now, once again the division needs something to light it up, and love him or loath him, the only person with the power to make this happen is Don King.
Don, practically owns the heavyweight division right now, All of the four champions and all of the current major contenders are more or less in his stable at the moment. He enjoys a good rapport with the four main sanctioning bodies and he is the man who decides who is going to fight whom and when and where their fights will happen. What all of this basically amounts to is that Don King is the only man who can organise a heavyweight tournament to find out who is the top fighter amongst the current crop, and for the sake of the fan, the division and for boxing, he has to do this now.
John Ruiz has been clamouring for a tournament for long enough. Fine, let’s get him involved in one. Klitschko seems quite happy to fight anyone, good, let’s give him the chance. Byrd is probably the best pure boxer in the division, great, let’s find out if his boxing skills are good enough. Brewster craves respect, excellent, let’s stick him in the tournament and see if he can earn it.
The participation of all of the above fighters, apart from Ruiz, is dependent on whether or not they make it unscathed through their next defences. But regardless of whether it is them or someone else who is the champion of whatever respective organisation they represent, Don King should still be aiming to get this tournament on.
The fans can’t take much more of Golota getting shot after shot (this is his third in a row by the way). They won’t tolerate the dull, plodding, blessed by the god’s reign of Ruiz any longer. They are fed up with the paper championship of Brewster, and they are annoyed at the way Byrd refused to meet the younger Klitschko to instead fight a man who is perceived as a less serious threat.
I have read reports where Don King has been quoted as saying that he is committed to organising a tournament to crown an undisputed champion, but he doesn’t say when. Are we going to have to watch whoever the belt holders are, going through another two defences each before he decides to put it on. That could put it back another six to nine months possibly. How many fans can genuinely stand the thought of John Ruiz as the WBA heavyweight champion of the World for another 9 days?
Don has made plenty of money from these fighters already and let’s not forget that Don has also made them a lot of money too. They have run their course as champions. They are financially secure now, unlike the less well off fan who is still being asked to pay out their money to watch them ‘defend’ the titles. Once this tournament is organised, they will make even more money, as there will be huge interest as to who will be the first universally recognised heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis.
The onus is now on Don to deliver this promised tournament. Please Don, do the right thing and do it now.