Look Back In History - Don Quixote
It was billed as Judgment Day but no verdict was found as Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank fought to a draw in Octobers' re-match at a packed Old Trafford. Amidst all the hype, Robert Halter spoke to Barry Hearn's co- promoter of the fight, the Legendary Don King.
When it comes to the art of selling, there is no one bigger or better in boxing than Don King. For almost two decades, he has dominated the American fight scene by staging almost three hundred championship fights, but he was nonetheless extremely excited to have been in England to team up with Barry Hearn in bringing the WBC Super-middleweight Championship to Manchester.
''It's been a thrill for me to be part of a great promotion over here, and my contribution has been to give it vibrancy and enthusiasm... know what I mean?" Said King.
In true American spirit, King found the most pleasurable part of his trip to be his love of the common people.
''The people here are simply wonderful. I love the British people - I think they are fantastic-and I have only wonderful things to say about Manchester.''
As King had anticipated, over 40,000 fight fans descended on Old Trafford stadium to see Benn and Eubank slug it out to a draw, but seeing the stadium filled to capacity meant everything to King.
"That sell-out meant more to me than anything, because that was the picture that was transmitted around the world. The Manchester fans were really gleeful, and the excitement was just bombarding with all the television cameras and the enthusiasm in the stands."
Having chosen so many marvelous venues over the years - The Mirage in Las Vegas, The Rumble In The Jungle in Zaire -why did Manchester excite him so much?
"It was just overwhelming," he enthused. "What you had was - as Chris Eubank says -Simply the Best. Manchester exemplified and personified simplicity and people power, you know? The common focus - the masses, not the classes. It had something that gave you a ride that was undeniably indescribable. I felt fantastic about being in Manchester to share that enthusiasm, that joy, that feeling of saying 'Yes, we have made it happen'! What a marvellous, major international world event."
Having worked with such an articulate spokesman as Mohammed Ali, how did he find Chris Eubank, a man of words and wisdom?
"A man of passion, a man that has wisdom, a man that is a good fighter and knows he's a good fighter. Everything about Eubank is the personification of class and greatness. He's growing, and I enjoy him. It really tickles my fancy to see him - his splendour, his presentation, his loquaciousness. He gives an excitement to the sport, and an all round different aspect to what prize fighters are."
On the other hand King found Nigel Benn to show the other side of fighters, with his animalistic passion that exudes in the way he enters the ring to take over, destroy, to fight and win. Taking all these points into consideration, did King not think the re-match was a big disappointment compared to the classic encounter that the boxers had at Birmingham in 1990?
"I tend to disagree. What we had in Manchester was a confrontation, and in this type of confrontation the fans were the beneficiaries, and I promote for the fans - the people are my most important asset! You have great events to entertain the people, but when you have mis-matches you are running a scam on the people - you are bilking them for their hard-earned money - and I, being one of them, don't want to be bilked for my money. I want to I see the best fight, which is what we had in the re-match between Benn and Eubank, and I guess that explains why the judges could not find a winner."
Another key area with King's boxing shows is their tremendous undercards; is that something he feels he should offer the fan - not just a main event, but an undercard to match?
"Absolutely. I think the fight fan deserves more than just the featured attraction - everything should be a featured attraction! I think that when you put on good shows for people, you give them the dollar value for the entertainment dollar - guaranteed customer satisfaction. This is what makes the remarkable business of the sport. You cannot run the scam of acting niggardly in trying to put on shows - the greater the risk, the greater the reward, and my reward is the gratification of the fans."
Perhaps that's what best explains why King has eclipsed every other promoter in the business, setting standards which his competitors are hard-pressed to maintain.
"All I hear around the world is 'When is your next show?', and I say to all my contemporaries, all my so-called competitors who are running the scam of arranging mis-matches, that I don't do that. I'm part of the public, and I think that with boxing, like any other thing, you should give the people what they want - a first class show from the beginning, through the middle, and right to the end. You cannot do a play on Broadway, you cannot go to a play at any theatre, which doesn't have a beginning, a middle and an end. What a lot of them do is give you a beginning and then just leave you hanging, but I don't like to do that. When I come I give people a great show.
"I want beautiful girls to be walking around at ring-side, I want people to be in their gowns, and the conviviality to be excelling. I want enthusiasm so thick that it could be cut with a knife. I want excitement, excitement, excitement, and then we can go to our pubs and bars and parties to rejoice a great coming, and talk about how great it was and when the next one will come, and in the excitement we meet and great people. The dialectics are wonderful!"
At sixty-two years of age, King has lost none of his charisma and the keen business sense that has helped him rise from the ghettos of Cleveland to world wide fame and fortune as a boxing promoter, but for the man that has fulfilled the American Dream, Britain now offers him new goals. ''This is just the beginning - we are moving towards an extravaganza second to none, which the British richly deserve as these are very good fans over here, and I want to be able to entertain them. I think this is part and parcel of a world review. The eyes and ears of the world will have focused on Manchester, and the word would have gone out to friend and foe alike that a great happening is occurring. "Manchester, Manchester - here I cry, 'Victory is ours!' And the excitement we had from this great show will be talked about for time immemorial."
When it comes to the art of selling, there is no one bigger or better in boxing than Don King. For almost two decades, he has dominated the American fight scene by staging almost three hundred championship fights, but he was nonetheless extremely excited to have been in England to team up with Barry Hearn in bringing the WBC Super-middleweight Championship to Manchester.
''It's been a thrill for me to be part of a great promotion over here, and my contribution has been to give it vibrancy and enthusiasm... know what I mean?" Said King.
In true American spirit, King found the most pleasurable part of his trip to be his love of the common people.
''The people here are simply wonderful. I love the British people - I think they are fantastic-and I have only wonderful things to say about Manchester.''
As King had anticipated, over 40,000 fight fans descended on Old Trafford stadium to see Benn and Eubank slug it out to a draw, but seeing the stadium filled to capacity meant everything to King.
"That sell-out meant more to me than anything, because that was the picture that was transmitted around the world. The Manchester fans were really gleeful, and the excitement was just bombarding with all the television cameras and the enthusiasm in the stands."
Having chosen so many marvelous venues over the years - The Mirage in Las Vegas, The Rumble In The Jungle in Zaire -why did Manchester excite him so much?
"It was just overwhelming," he enthused. "What you had was - as Chris Eubank says -Simply the Best. Manchester exemplified and personified simplicity and people power, you know? The common focus - the masses, not the classes. It had something that gave you a ride that was undeniably indescribable. I felt fantastic about being in Manchester to share that enthusiasm, that joy, that feeling of saying 'Yes, we have made it happen'! What a marvellous, major international world event."
Having worked with such an articulate spokesman as Mohammed Ali, how did he find Chris Eubank, a man of words and wisdom?
"A man of passion, a man that has wisdom, a man that is a good fighter and knows he's a good fighter. Everything about Eubank is the personification of class and greatness. He's growing, and I enjoy him. It really tickles my fancy to see him - his splendour, his presentation, his loquaciousness. He gives an excitement to the sport, and an all round different aspect to what prize fighters are."
On the other hand King found Nigel Benn to show the other side of fighters, with his animalistic passion that exudes in the way he enters the ring to take over, destroy, to fight and win. Taking all these points into consideration, did King not think the re-match was a big disappointment compared to the classic encounter that the boxers had at Birmingham in 1990?
"I tend to disagree. What we had in Manchester was a confrontation, and in this type of confrontation the fans were the beneficiaries, and I promote for the fans - the people are my most important asset! You have great events to entertain the people, but when you have mis-matches you are running a scam on the people - you are bilking them for their hard-earned money - and I, being one of them, don't want to be bilked for my money. I want to I see the best fight, which is what we had in the re-match between Benn and Eubank, and I guess that explains why the judges could not find a winner."
Another key area with King's boxing shows is their tremendous undercards; is that something he feels he should offer the fan - not just a main event, but an undercard to match?
"Absolutely. I think the fight fan deserves more than just the featured attraction - everything should be a featured attraction! I think that when you put on good shows for people, you give them the dollar value for the entertainment dollar - guaranteed customer satisfaction. This is what makes the remarkable business of the sport. You cannot run the scam of acting niggardly in trying to put on shows - the greater the risk, the greater the reward, and my reward is the gratification of the fans."
Perhaps that's what best explains why King has eclipsed every other promoter in the business, setting standards which his competitors are hard-pressed to maintain.
"All I hear around the world is 'When is your next show?', and I say to all my contemporaries, all my so-called competitors who are running the scam of arranging mis-matches, that I don't do that. I'm part of the public, and I think that with boxing, like any other thing, you should give the people what they want - a first class show from the beginning, through the middle, and right to the end. You cannot do a play on Broadway, you cannot go to a play at any theatre, which doesn't have a beginning, a middle and an end. What a lot of them do is give you a beginning and then just leave you hanging, but I don't like to do that. When I come I give people a great show.
"I want beautiful girls to be walking around at ring-side, I want people to be in their gowns, and the conviviality to be excelling. I want enthusiasm so thick that it could be cut with a knife. I want excitement, excitement, excitement, and then we can go to our pubs and bars and parties to rejoice a great coming, and talk about how great it was and when the next one will come, and in the excitement we meet and great people. The dialectics are wonderful!"
At sixty-two years of age, King has lost none of his charisma and the keen business sense that has helped him rise from the ghettos of Cleveland to world wide fame and fortune as a boxing promoter, but for the man that has fulfilled the American Dream, Britain now offers him new goals. ''This is just the beginning - we are moving towards an extravaganza second to none, which the British richly deserve as these are very good fans over here, and I want to be able to entertain them. I think this is part and parcel of a world review. The eyes and ears of the world will have focused on Manchester, and the word would have gone out to friend and foe alike that a great happening is occurring. "Manchester, Manchester - here I cry, 'Victory is ours!' And the excitement we had from this great show will be talked about for time immemorial."
posted by Robert Halter at 2:36 PM
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