In last-hurrah mode, Don King can still sling it

Was this anything?

It was around noon on Thursday when a commotion and a cackle were heard from the back of the David Copperfield Theater at the MGM Grand. Don King, the iconic 83-year-old boxing promoter, was making his way into the showroom bearing miniature flags for photos that would come later.

This was two days before Bermane Stiverne was to defend his WBC heavyweight title against Deontay Wilder at the Grand Garden. This was to be the rebirth of the heavyweight division in America, at least according to some boxing experts.

Stiverne is from Haiti but trains in Las Vegas. He had won a portion of the title, once considered the ultimate title in sports, when Vitali Klitschko retired to enter politics, and when Stiverne knocked out Chris Arreola in a display of fisticuffs that was fairly action-packed, at least in terms of today’s heavyweight division, which is fairly plodding and nondescript.

Don King referred to Arreola as “Oreo-lee” during the news conference.

Wilder is from Tuscaloosa, Ala., which also is home to the Alabama Crimson Tide. He came into the fight with an Alabama-like 32-0 record, with all of the wins coming via knockout against opponents such as Western Carolina and Florida Atlantic and Tennessee-Chattanooga — the sort of teams Alabama warms up against before it plays the Southeastern Conference heavyweights.

This was the first heavyweight title fight at the Grand Garden since 1997, when Mike Tyson gnawed on Evander Holyfield’s ear. You think that would have been enough to pique the casual fan’s interest. But just to be on the safe side, King spoke at length during a news conference that lasted 2 hours, 43 minutes.

This was about average for a news conference moderated by Don King, as I remember them.

So because this was Don King talking, and because you recalled when he promoted the great fighters — Ali and Larry Holmes and Tyson and Holyfield, and Julio Cesar Chavez and Roberto Duran and Alexis Arguello and Aaron Pryor, and Bernard Hopkins and Felix Trinidad and Meldrick Taylor and even Andrew Golota, aka “The Foul Pole” — this seemed like something.

King, who is sort of in last-hurrah mode, promotes Bermane Stiverne, and Stiverne has sued him only once. So it also reminded you of the Letterman show, when they would raise the curtain and there would be a shapely girl twirling Hula-Hoops, or a shapely girl with a grinder making sparks fly off her metallic costume.

“Is this anything?” Dave would ask sidekick Paul Shaffer.

You could say the same about Stiverne-Wilder.

So Don King, seemingly indefatigable — a word he might use with great relish — talked for 2:43:00 on Thursday, although my tape counter showed he was at the podium 12 times for only 36:15.

There of course were tangents that had little to do with Bermane Stiverne and Deontay Wilder and the current state of the heavyweight division. As one longtime boxing observer remarked, a little Don King goes a long way, but it was good to see him back and feeling spry and using his vocabulary.

For instance, after pontificating about four-star general David Petraeus getting a bum rap in the media, and before he introduced Fidel Maldonado Jr., who got knocked out by Amir Imam in an entertaining 140-pound fight on Saturday’s undercard, King went on about Mexican presidents he had wined and dined. And Porfirio Diaz, whom he had not wined and dined.

They were good stories, one supposes, though Maldonado is from Albuquerque in New Mexico.

Mi casa es su casa.

Upon arriving at the Grand Garden on Saturday, it became apparent why indefatigable Don King had dropped all those names and told all those stories. The casa was not sold out, as a news release last week said it would be. Curtains had been drawn over the upper deck.

Was this anything?

Was this the rebirth of the heavyweight division in America?

Maybe.

More likely it was just an interesting fight between two big men.

Nobody expected it to go the distance. Wilder was awarded a unanimous decision and it wasn’t close in the estimation of the three judges at ringside.

It was announced that 8,453 boxing fans were on hand below the curtains. They were really into it during the early rounds when the big punches were being thrown.

Afterward, Don King stood sort of by himself along the far ropes. He held the miniature flags in one hand, a fat unlit cigar in the other. Every now and then he waved the miniature flags, but only a little bit. His man had lost. The judges said it wasn’t close.

“Wilder definitely won it,” the venerable Don of boxing said. “He did a great job. I’m very surprised he won it so easily but you can’t win a fight without throwing punches. But I have seen it so many times before. It’s just the way it goes sometimes.”

A few minutes later Don King came down to where the deadline reporters were writing their stories, which is unusual for a promoter of his magnitude. So that was definitely something. He praised Wilder again. Said his man didn’t throw enough punches again.

The deadline reporters thanked him for coming by. Hope to see you again, Don, they said.

“Ain’t no question about it,” Don King said.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski.