BOOK OF THE WEEK; King's extraordinary life of `trickeration'

The Life and Crimes of Don King by Jack Newfield (Virgin, pounds 12.99)

Don King, whom Time described as "one of the most successful black businessmen in America", was first famous in the ghetto where he kicked to death a man who owed him money.

Convicted in 1967 of second-degree murder, later reduced to manslaughter, he served 3 years and 11 months at the Marion Correctional Centre in Ohio. In 1954 he shot and killed a man caught robbing a house used as a collection point in the numbers game King operated in Cleveland. The judge ruled justifiable homicide. King was pardoned in January 1983, six days before Governor James Rhodes left office. Two years earlier, the Cleveland city council had honoured him as one of the city's favourite sons.

By then King had become the most conspicuous boxing promoter in history and an alliance formed later with Mike Tyson would give him a stranglehold on the heavyweight division.

In tracing King's extraordinary career, Newfield indicates a grudging respect for him. "A street Machiavelli, a ghetto Einstein. He invented ways to cheat the system. He had influence with bad cops, judges, and politicians. He survived two assassination attempts by his rivals. He was close to Italians in the traditional Mafia, who protected his operations for a price."

It was the perfect apprenticeship for a role as boxing's most powerful figure. By 1977, he was back inside. Not as a Marion inmate but the prime mover in a subsequently discredited United States Championship tournament, promoting one stage of it for murderers and thieves. "King's Back," read one placard. "We told you so". Another struck a note of resignation. "Some dudes ya can't chase away with a club. Welcome back, Don King." When Pete Pereni, the governor of Marion was asked about King, he said: "Don didn't serve time here. Time served him."

King would say to the writer, Roger Khan, "When I got out of that fucking prison in 1971, I was a dangerous character. I was armed with knowledge. I read in prison every night. . . Shakespeare. Voltaire. How to vilify but be accepted. The strength of a lion and the cunning of a fox. It is better to be feared than loved. You are either the victim or the victimiser. I took every extension course I could take. Oh, the sweetness of adversity."

So far, King has survived two grand-jury investigations, a 23-count indictment on tax evasion, an insurance fraud charge and at least one undercover probe by the FBI. "I'm a victim of trickeration," is a familiar King lament.

Newfield came across an interview that the author, Tom Hauser, had with screenwriter John Schulian nine years after a dishevelled Muhammad Ali lost to Larry Holmes in Las Vegas. "I hated Don King for promoting that fight," Schulian said. "That he could stand there and say, `Oh, Muhammad, I love you, I'm with you Muhammad; you're the greatest!' And then make a fortune off Ali getting brutalised that way. Well, fuck you, Don King. The man is a total scumbag."