Rival promoters King, Arum together again for title fight

Arum had said of King, “He could steal the gold from your teeth.”

The archrival Hall of Fame promoters, who have knocked heads since 1973, when Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier met for the third time in “The Thrilla in Manila,” claim to have made peace long ago.

Now they have joined forces to promote Saturday’s card at the MGM Grand Garden, with the WBA super welterweight title fight between Miguel Cotto and Ricardo Mayorga as the centerpiece.

“This one is vintage; it’s like a fine wine,” King, 79, said of the reunion with Arum. “It’s not a new partnership. It’s renewing old acquaintances. It’s a return to glory.”

Arum, also 79, said: “Don King is a promoter. He knows how to sell a fight and he knows how to sell an event. Nobody sells tickets like Don can.”

Arum, promoting Cotto, said the name-calling between the two was all part of doing business and creating interest. But he never believed it got personal.

“Sure, at the time, it hurt,” Arum said of King’s pithy comments. “But I never took (them) personally. I’ve never hated Don. I’ve always had great respect for him.”

Any rivalry needs both sides to have success, and King and Arum have promoted some of boxing’s greatest champions. Both promoted Ali and George Foreman. King had Mike Tyson, Roberto Duran and Felix Trinidad. Arum had Sugar Ray Leonard and Oscar De La Hoya and currently promotes the sport’s biggest star in Manny Pacquiao.

“I never would have known how good I was if I wouldn’t have had Bob Arum,” King said. “When you have somebody who is formidable, you have to deal with what is real and you cannot rest on your laurels.”

Arum said: “I worked my tail off as a promoter because I had such a measuring stick, a bar to reach. Don made me a lot better promoter than I would have been.”

Arum and King have dealt with personal tragedies recently. Arum’s son John died in a mountain climbing accident in Washington in September. King’s wife of 50 years, Henrietta, died in December. When one rival lost a loved one, the other called to offer condolences and support.

“I think it shows the mutual respect we have,” Arum said. “I really appreciated hearing from Don, and I hope he appreciated hearing from me when he lost his wife.”

King and Arum last worked together five years ago, when Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought Zab Judah at the Thomas & Mack Center.

At the time, Mayweather was being promoted by Arum. In recent months, King has attempted to build a business relationship with Mayweather. Arum is convinced if Mayweather and King join forces, it would lead to a megafight with Pacquiao — a match that boxing fans around the world have been craving for the past two years.

“If Don had Mayweather, the fight would be made within one hour,” Arum said. “Don and I would have cut to the essentials. We would have worked out the few details and we’d make the fight.”

When Arum and King look back on their relationship, they admit that while it got contentious at times, it was still enjoyable.

“My crowning achievement in boxing was when De La Hoya fought Trinidad (in 1999) and Trinidad got the decision,” Arum said. “Don was gloating on the microphone, and I pulled the plug. They couldn’t hear him anymore.”

King said his biggest moment was being lead promoter for “The Rumble in the Jungle” between Ali and Foreman in Zaire. Not only was he the main man for what turned out to be a classic fight, Arum was relegated to second-class status. King even went so far as to try to convince Zaire’s president, Mobutu Sese Seko, to deny Arum a visa and prevent him from watching the fight in person. It didn’t work, as Arum was at ringside.

Arum said the best promotion he and King ever worked on together was the first Roberto Duran-Sugar Ray Leonard fight in 1980 in Montreal.

Leonard-Duran I grossed $24.7 million, was shown on closed circuit television and paved the way for pay per view, Arum said.

Will these promoters, now in the twilight of their careers, work together in the future?

“I’m planning on Cotto getting knocked out, then Mayorga getting a shot at Pacquiao,” King said, basically saying yes to the idea.

Arum laughed at King’s pronouncement.

“Don and I bring different types of energy to a fight, and I think it works,” Arum said. “I think the public is intrigued and gets to know about the event. It benefits the fighters and it benefits the sport of boxing. So by all means, we are going to do other events together.”

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter @stevecarprj.