King belittles heavyweight tournament by King

Friday 07 July 1995 23:02 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Boxing

Don King, the American promoter, has dismissed a proposed heavyweight tournament that organisers have claimed would produce a genuine world champion.

The British duo, Lennox Lewis and Herbie Hide, were two of eight world- class fighters being courted by the American cable TV network, Home Box Office, to take part in a pounds 116m competition to start in October.

HBO claimed the tournament, in which the eventual winner would fight a maximum of three bouts, would cut through the politics of boxing to produce a universally recognised champion.

Not one of the fighters is connected to King, who is the promoter of the former world champion, Mike Tyson, and regarded as the most influential man in boxing.

"I think we all know that it's a joke," said King. "Mike Tyson is the uncrowned champ, and everyone else is lining up for a chance to fight him."

The titles began to splinter between the various organisations after Tyson - who will begin his comeback against Peter McNeeley next month - lost the unified championship to Buster Douglas in 1990.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in