The New Don King?
 

By “Hail” Cesar Garcia
 

 

            When it comes to promoting fights we could all agree that Don King is in a league of his own. He has promoted six of the top ten largest pay-per-view events in history. He has promoted or co-promoted 15 of the top 25 highest grossing live gates ever, including the largest ever in which Julio Cesar Chavez defended his WBC super lightweight title against Greg Haugen in Mexico’s Azteca Stadium before a record paid attendance of 132,247. He is constantly vilified by his by his peers and sometimes even by his own fighters. He has promoted over 500 championship fights and has made nearly 100 different boxers one million dollars. But when (and if ) he ever steps down who will fill the void?

            Well, when Oscar De La Hoya called a press conference to announce among several things, that Bernard Hopkins would join his team and promote fights under the Golden Boy umbrella I couldn’t help but think, “Hopkins is it”. He is the future Don King. From his shady criminal background to his penchant for being in lawsuits, Hopkins is the future great promoter. Maybe not with Golden Boy, but he will be one of the best.

 He’s already figured out who the easiest prey is. Many within the industry question the people on Oscar’s team. At a recent press conference for the Morales-Barrera III fight, Top Rank front man Bob Arum, no promoting slouch himself, said, “ [Richard] Schaefer doesn’t understand the sport”. Well, Richard Schaefer happens to be the C.E.O for Golden Boy Promotions. Generally, most insiders say that officers at Golden Boy are lacking in experience. As far as Bernard goes, there’s already an over-under on when he’ll sue the Golden Boy. At the press conference for the announcement he spoke like a true salesman. “ I am delighted to be part of the team. Today will go down in boxing history…We welcome other promotional free agents to join us and revolutionize the sport.” He went on and on then added, “ The dinosaurs in the business better watch out because the new guns, the new blood is coming to town.”

Meanwhile, Oscar, who could be just as sly, will enjoy the fruits of his labor as his company will seemingly double in markets with the partnership. Hopkins will run the East Coast and bring with him four new prospects, which Hopkins chose to not name for fear of other promoters starting a bidding war.

Golden Boy will also promote Hopkins’ fights, a shrewd move by Hopkins considering that Golden Boy Promotions claims to give most of the winnings to the fighter, as opposed to the high fees Don King or other promoters are known to have. Hopkins’ next few fights will probably be his biggest paydays so why join a promoter that will take a big chunk of the earnings?  “We want to empower the athletes” says De La Hoya, “It is the fighter who hires the promoter to provide a service and not the other way around.” Yep, right up Hopkins’ alley.   

Whatever the case is, boxing will one day be without Don King, but with characters like Hopkins keeping hope alive, the promoting game will continue to be as entertaining to watch as the fights themselves. It’s a part of the sport we so love. So at least now we know that we will have a wind bag promoter for many years to come. And holding true to form and revealing what he has his eyes on, Hopkins simply said “Oscar is the man with the golden touch… Great things is gonna happen.” Spoken like a true Don King.