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player ready...Being indicted can’t prevent Don King from being excited.
Pound for pound the most powerful promoter in boxing, King just visited New York, where Sports Illustrated hailed him as one of the 40 most influential figures in athletics for the last 40 years.
“Only in America,” said King, not one to rest on his laurels. Upon returning here, he discovered that Saturday night’s card featuring Julio Cesar Chavez at the MGM Grand Hotel is virtually sold out.
But that didn’t stop King, 63, from awakening in the wee hours Friday for coast-to-coast radio interviews. His first in this battery of assaults on the mother tongue occurred with none other than Howard Stern.
“A great moment in broadcasting,” King allowed. “As this weekend will be a great moment in the sweet science. We’ve got 12 fighters here competing for titles, and eight can’t speak English. Yet tickets are being gobbled up like they were for free. Which, of course, they aren’t. I continue to amaze myself, and I say that ever so humbly.”
Actually, because this is boxing, nothing is for certain. The ever-popular Yodsing Saengmorokot, scheduled to compete for the prestigious World Boxing Council strawweight championship, discovered that getting out of Thailand isn’t as easy as it used to be.
“Visa problems,” King announced. “Or maybe it’s Master Card. I don’t know. Sangamorra will either be here or he won’t. If Santamorita can’t make it, we’ll have five belts on the line instead of six. It’s still a record.”
King has dubbed his latest creation “Unfinished Business,” but it refers not to legal affairs stemming from alleged insurance fraud. Rather, the story behind the headline involves Chavez, the WBC super lightweight king who will engage in a much-awaited rematch with Philadelphia’s Meldrick Taylor in Saturday night’s feature.
Chavez, a frequent and decorated performer, battled Taylor more than four years ago in a classic. Taylor was 12 seconds from victory when he was decked by a straight right to the jaw. Chavez’s display of courage reinforced what he’d been since he turned pro in 1980-a national hero in his native Mexico.
Chavez, 90-1-1 with 77 knockouts, succumbed only last January when Frankie Randall won a split decision here. In their May rematch, the fighters butted heads late in the eighth round. Chavez suffered a cut above the right eye in the accident, the match was halted and Chavez was awarded a controversial technical split decision.
“They went to the scorecards, and I lost,” said Randall. “They took a point from me because I wasn’t hurt, even though it wasn’t my fault. I still beat the man who said he couldn’t be beat once, should be twice. I want Chavez again, and if it’s in Mexico, fine.”
Chavez takes umbrage at suggestions that recent struggles indicate his skills are slipping. He says it’s confidence and concentration he misses. He says he’s only human, just like all the legends, including Ali. Saturday night, Chavez will not lack for support.
“It’s Mexican independence weekend,” King explained, “so it’ll be a good time to rob a bank in Acapulco. They’re all here to watch one of the greatest warriors in the history of this greatest of endeavors, boxing, our national pastime.”
How’s that?
“Baseball is in the jaws of destruction,” King went on. “A parable would be Siamese twins. If one beats the other senseless, what have you got? Owners and players need each other. I could have settled the strike through compromise, but baseball doesn’t want me. Charles Finley once talked of selling his Oakland A’s to me, a black man, and the owners almost had the big one. A mass coronary occlusion at home plate.”
Just then, King paused to take a message.
“He’s here!” he said. “The Thailandian fighter, Santodomingo, has just checked in. Let’s get ready to rumble!”