Man bites dog! Promoter fires undefeated world champion with oodles of charisma and three world title belts!
It may be a while until you read the former headline but we can write the latter now because that is what multimillionaire promoter Don King, with his usual keen sense of theatrics, did at the preflight press conference in Cancun Wednesday.
In front of world lightweight champion Juan Diaz and his manager, Willie Savannah, King announced that Diaz would get $800,000 for his title defense against Nate Campbell on HBO Saturday night but that, once the bout was concluded, King was releasing the Houston boxer from any legal claims to his promotional rights.
King and Savannah have feuded almost on a daily basis in recent months as covered amply by Boxingconfidential.com. Recently, lawyer Fred Levin ?fired? clients Diaz and Savannah because he said the manager was so ?in love? with the boxer that he could not see how King was properly handling Diaz?s career.
Firing an undefeated, triple belted world champion, wow! Put it down as yet another historic first for DK.
If you think Savannah, who will almost certainly now sign a long-term deal with benefactor Golden Boy, was paranoid about getting fair judging and refereeing in the Campbell bout before, he is sure to go off the deep end now that King has publicly proclaimed he has no further interest in handling Diaz.
Or was this King?s last ditch effort to get Diaz to dump Savannah? The plots thicken or sicken you make the call.
Did you have to ask? Of course Campbell is a DKP chattel. Of course.
Diaz-Campbell just got a lot more interesting, didn?t it?
