Root and Stokes grind down weary India to stretch lead beyond 100
Notorious figures inside and outside the ring
JOHN WIGHT updates us on the latest scandals surrounding dodgy Don King, alleged gangster Daniel Kinahan, and the Catterall-Taylor brouhaha
Jack Catterall (left) swings and misses Josh Taylor in the ring in February 2022 and (right) boxing promoter Don King in 2009
“Boxing is the only jungle where the lions are afraid of the rats”
– Don King
DON KING was a man whom nobody could ever accuse of naïveté in a career that saw him emerge from the hard streets of Cleveland as a street thug responsible for killing two men, followed by a stint in prison, to go on and dominate top-flight boxing as a promoter in the ’70s, ’80s and for much of the ’90s.
Responsible for putting together two of the greatest heavyweight clashes the sport has ever witnessed — the Rumble in the Jungle between Ali and Foreman in 1974, and the Thrilla in Manila between Ali and Frazier in 1975 — King once bestrode the sport of boxing like a colossus.
A crook to the marrow of his bones, he’s also been sued by the likes of Muhammad Ali, Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson, been the subject of an FBI investigation and excoriated by more figures in the sport than any promoter ever has.
More from this author
Mary Kom’s fists made history in the boxing world. Malak Mesleh’s never got the chance. One story ends in glory, the other in grief — but both highlight the defiance of women who dare to fight, writes JOHN WIGHT
The Khelif gender row shows no sign of being resolved to the satisfaction of anyone involved anytime soon, says boxing writer JOHN WIGHT
When Patterson and Liston met in the ring in 1962, it was more than a title bout — it was a collision of two black archetypes shaped by white America’s fears and fantasies, writes JOHN WIGHT
In the land of white supremacy, colonialism and the foul legacy of the KKK, JOHN WIGHT knows that to resist the fascism unleashed by Trump is to do God’s work
