By Geno McGahee
Love him or hate him, Don King was good for boxing even if he wasn’t good for those he promoted. He had the knack to put together a fight card from top to bottom that entertained and put together some of the most epic fights in the history of pugilism. King had a history of screwing over many fighters in the wallet and many walked away from him without much nice to say.
Jack Newfield wrote a book called THE LIFE AND CRIMES OF DON KING: THE SHAME OF BOXING IN AMERICA and, as a boxing fan, I’ve read it multiple times. In 1997, a movie was made based on the book and it’s a true mixed bag of good and bad things, and I really enjoyed it.
Don King (Ving Rhames) is a numbers runner and works underneath the Italian mob. He goes to prison for murder and comes out with an idea. He meets up with his old friend, Lloyd Price (Vondie Curtis-Hall), and asks for a meeting with Muhammad Ali to set up a benefit exhibition for a failing inner-city hospital. This is when I sort of lose it. Ali is played by Darius McCrary. He also played Eddie Winslow in FAMILY MATTERS and he wasn’t good in that and his Ali impression is one of the worst. In his defense, FAMILY MATTERS was a terribly shitty show and I have no fucking idea why it was popular.
King cements his relationship with Ali and sets up a fight with the current heavyweight champion, George Foreman (Jarrod Bunch), setting the fight up as the Rumble in the Jungle in Africa and it’s a messy situation but it comes together. Jack Newfield is given a role where he approaches King and asks him about the Pointer Sisters and it’s horrible. Newfield wrote the book. I get it, but they didn’t have to put that strange-looking geek in it. That one line he has is delivered so poorly that you can tell that he’s either the writer of the book, the producer or he’s blowing the director.
Price’s agent is murdered by the mob and the goon they send is played by Brad Garrett and I only really know him from EVERYONE LOVE RAYMOND and it’s difficult to see him in a role where he’s a tough guy using racial slurs. His mean face at the end when he kills the agent is laughable, but Garrett is so likable I’ll have to give him a pass on this one.
The fight choreography wasn’t too bad but the ending of the Ali-Foreman fight was a little messed up. Foreman was on his feet when it was stopped, but there was no need for any conflict in this I guess.
King gets control of Ali for the most part after promoting a few more fights before the two having a falling out when King tried to break up the team around him. The King approach to boxing and boxers changes as he brings his stepson, Carl King (Lahmard J. Tate), into the company and made him the mandatory manager of future fighters. His hostile takeover of boxing, focusing mostly on the heavyweight division began and many future stars like Larry Holmes, Tim Witherspoon. Ken Norton and Mike Tyson would become his fighters.
After owning boxing, Ali is drawn in to fight the current champion, Larry Holmes, and Ali gets an absolute beat down. Many point to it as the reason why Ali had medical problems after that fight and also blame King.
DON KING: ONLY IN AMERICA focuses on Don King’s relationship with Muhammad Ali, mostly, but touches upon his relationships with Larry Holmes and Mike Tyson. The film is very good and pretty accurate to the facts, but the casting is uneven. Overall, the cast is very good but when it’s not good, it stands out.
I recommend DON KING: ONLY IN AMERICA. Ving Rhames does a tremendous job in the role, nailing it. The film drags here and there but it’s interesting and if you follow boxing and know of Don King, you should find this entertaining and interesting.
