Sick Chirpse Meets Don King

Sick Chirpse managed to catch up with the legendary Don King ahead of the Lebedev V Jones Fight in Moscow, Russia, this Friday to discuss boxing, peace missions & all things Don.

Sick Chirpse: Afternoon Don, it’s a pleasure to meet you. First of all how are you enjoying your time in Russia and what are your thoughts on the culture?

Don King: Well I must say I love Russia and I love the Russian people. It’s hard not to when I get such a beautiful press assistant like Camilla to work with now ain’t it!?

SC: Many great fighters have been produced in these parts and yet not many fights are held in Russia, why do you think this is?

DK: Yeah absolutely many great fighters came from here and I don’t know why that is. They gotta get somebody over here to make things happen. Unfortunately a lack of promoters and interest is probably the reason why.

SC: Guillermo Jones won the first fight against Lebedev here in Russia but then was controversially stripped of the title after a failed drug test. Can you shed any light on that situation?

DK: I want to set the record straight. Jones provided a sample in Russia, it was dirty, we then took a sample two days later in the USA and it was clean. I’m not one to cast dispersions, but it has come out since then that there have been many discrepancies within Russian drug testing during the Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

It was a truly successful event, however such is the magnitude of the testing problem that the Olympic committee could not trust the Russian drug testing companies and therefore used external resources. This rematch therefore is to set the record straight. I don’t want it to go down on record that Guillermo Jones was dirty as there is clear evidence that he was not.

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SC: At 82 years of age some people would perhaps start to lose the motivation to work at the top level and yet you’re still here on the look out for top fighters to promote. What is it that keeps you motivated?

DK: Well… people, is what keeps me motivated, people are our most important asset and innovation & imagination & truths together for a better world is our goal, so we want to make things better. I’m now working as a peace ambassador and advocate of women’s rights, you know what I mean, in so doing, keeping me going around making things happen.

In fact I’m going to be speaking at the national women’s rights of California with Michelle Patterson who took over from Maria Shriver on the 19th-20th of May advocating perfect equality for women. It’s awe-inspiring because it’s God given. Doing the fights gives me an opportunity to move around the world, meet & greet people whilst opening up doors, to be able to speak on subjects that really matter & make things happen.

SC: Needless to say then you’re still giving away free turkeys at Christmas then?

DK: Oh absolutely! (Queue the greatest laugh in show business…)

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sm6c0ezP98′]

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(Don used to give away thousands of free turkeys at Christmas to help the needy until a truck, carrying hundreds of the birds, was hijacked en route to its destination.)

SC: Obviously during your tenure you’ve promoted some of the greatest fighters that have ever existed. Larry Holmes, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Mike Tyson & of course Mohammed Ali. Who in your opinion is the greatest boxer you’ve had the pleasure of working with?

DK: Well you have to say and I’ll coin the phrase that ‘every head must bow, every knee must bend & every tongue must confess, thou art the greatest’, the greatest of all time is Mohammed, Mohammed Ali because he was the beginning. No journey can start without the first step, you know what I mean, so the rest is history.

They were all great fighters, Ali was awe-inspiring however because he stood up for what he believed in, you know, even for the expense of what it would cost him in so doing. So I’ve always admired & greatly respected him for that. Many men grow up to be great boxers, but Ali was a great defender of human rights, willing to accept the consequences for his actions. It was a great journey and the true reward is always in the journey.

(Some of these fighters’ ‘rewards’ are still missing.)

SC: If you could only pick one fighter to go on a night out with, who would it be?

(Queue more hysterical laughter…)

DK: Boooy I had a lot of great nights out with each and every one of them. All of them from different cultures and backgrounds and too many to remember. What I would like to do at this point is extend my condolences to the family of Micky Duff.

One of our great boxing guys you know, Mickey was a great part of the good times we experienced with Joe Bugner in the UK. I’m just happy to be able to celebrate his life, but ‘Old Duffer’ was really someone whom I loved, admired & respected. The UK is great, Long Live the Queen!

(More laughter from Don, who’s still chewing vigorously on his cigar.)

I love the UK & I love the people of the UK!

(Mickey Duff, who worked with the likes of Frank Bruno & Joe Calzaghe recently passed away on March 2014.)

SC: Talking of the UK, you’ve worked against Amir Khan in the past. Do you think he is finished as a boxer or is there hope for him in the future?

DK: Amir’s great! You know he’s stumbled but with my man Frank Warren, he’s in good hands. Sometimes when these fighters leave, they don’t realise that the spiritual connection is what makes things happen. But that’s the way it is you know what I mean?!

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SC: George Groves Vs Carl Froch. Who is your money on?

DK: Well I think yet again it is gonna be another great fight… But Groves is gonna get Frockened I can tell you!

SC: Your denim jacket is typically ridiculous, who designs and creates your wacky wardrobe?

DK: You remember the Alamo?! Tony Alamo has followed me around the globe. All the clothes you see me wearing in “The Rumble in the Jungle”, “The Thrilla in Manilla” you name it Tony made it.

SC: Finally, is there a message for any fans in the UK?

DK: Stay strong! And to put it in the inevitable & incomparable words of Winston Churchill, ‘We will fights them on the beaches, we will fight them in the sea, we’ll fight them in the sky & we shall never ever surrender! – Hahahahaha – Victory is ours!

—

The interview was of a surreal nature. It felt like I was meeting some sort of biblical preacher who is now born again after years of wrong doing with a deep concealed fear that one day the worries that have haunted him for so long may catch up with him. I didn’t feel it was the time or the place to quiz him on the 2 murders he had completed less than four years inside for nor the endless amounts of settlements he had been forced to pay out of court over missing fight purses.

One thing is for certain though, for now at least, Don is trying to do the right thing. Now dedicated to advocating women’s equality (though his chauvinistic attitude toward his female assistant and others left me feeling this was slightly hypocritical), speaking for humanitarian causes globally and helping tsunami victims in the Philippines with what appeared to be genuine sincerity.

Whether you love him or hate him however, Don was, is & will always continue to be an effervescent showman. During the press conference, though nearing 85 years old, he was as spriteful as ever. Barking out clichÃ©s like an old school wrestler before a main event, drumming up interest in the fight in the way only he knows how, with pure, over the top American showmanship.

Don is here to promote the rematch to what was an epically entertaining, ferocious and barbaric battle between Denis Lebedev & Guillermo Jones. Taking place on Friday 25th April @ 18:00pm local time on “Channel ONE Russia” at the Dynamo Stadium Arena in Krylatskoye,7 Osrovnaya Street, Russia. With special guests including Mickey Rourke, Michael Buffer, Don King himself as well as others, it’s sure to be a cracker.

Highlights of the first brutal war between these two, accompanied by Russian Hip Hop & pre-match trash talking, can be found below.

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