Entry: Don King: Public wants Mayweather-Pacquiao but will accept other credible foes Posted/Updated: 06/03/2010 10:34 AM treebark – Why not make Don King the arbitrator between Pacman and Money May? He might be able to pull these two together.
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Don King was a successful entrepreneur long before he got involved in boxing.
Back in his early years in Cleveland, Donald “The Kid” King was one of the city’s top numbers racket bosses and he also owned and operated a thriving East Side nightclub where black superstars such as Dinah Washington and the great Sam Cooke headlined.
When it comes to the business of business, the 78 year old King is a past master.
I asked DK if he thought the public appetite for the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao super bout might wax and wane if the opposing sides do not wrap up a deal soon.
Who better to ask about this than the maestro who brought the”Rumble to the Jungle and put the “Thrilla In Manila,” the genius behind two classic events as Muhammad Ali shocked Big George Foreman in Zaire and then outlasted Smokin’ Joe Frazier in a war of complete attrition in the Philippines?
“The public wants it when they want it,” King said by telephone from his Florida oceanfront home Thursday. “I don’t know nothing (about any negotiations) but I do know the public wants to see this fight. It is sort of messed up right now.”
What The Public Demands Now In Boxing, thanks to Lemuel Acebron
I asked King if he thought fight fans might reject Pacman and Mayweather fighting other opponents.
“No, the public will accept other opponents for both,” King said, “but they must be credible ones. The key is having credible opponents.”
Mike Tyson was flashing $100 bills when Floyd Mayweather Jr. was still in his playpen (AP Photo)
Reading between the lines, it seems to me that “the World’s Greatest Promoter” thinks that the steak and the sizzle are smoking and that Mayweather-Pacquiao should be made n-o-w.
Mike Tyson was flashing Dead Presidents ($100 bills) when Floyd Mayweather Jr. was still in his playpen (AP Photo)
King reminded me that Mayweather flirted with aligning himself with him.
“Mayweather came to me,” King said, “Mayweather called me. But then they turned him around.”
It’s been reported elsewhere that Mayweather chief adviser Al Haymon rushed to South Florida to lure “Money May” away from Money Maker King.
