King holds court at Hilton

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, Aug. 4, 1998 | 11:21 a.m.

The telltale sign that something was out of the ordinary was the presence of the local TV stations. Most if not all had a crew at the press conference.

And while there were plenty of professional fighters at the event, the focus, instead, was on the promoter.

"I'm back," Don King hollered with particular glee, arriving a good 30 minutes late for a Monday gathering at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Both before and after his rambling remarks at the podium concerning a pair of boxing cards the hotel will host later this month, King was besieged for answers on a singular topic: Mike Tyson.

Appearing in Las Vegas for the first time since Tyson filed suit against him for $100 million in February, King eased past the issue of how he planned to respond to this legal challenge. Tyson's suit, filed in a federal court in New York, seeks not only monetary damages but a contractual split from his longtime promoter.

"I've got no negative comment as far as he's concerned," King said. "Yes, I have a contract with him. I love Mike Tyson. He's a nice individual and a great fighter."

He tactfully avoided revealing his game plan for combating Tyson's suit.

"Ask me again in a year," King said. "Mike and I have done well together and I think we will again."

Tyson, however, has other ideas, based on his suit against King and another one filed in California against his managers, John Horne and Rory Holloway.

In his suit vs. King, Tyson claims a March, 1995, contract he signed with the promoter should be voided on the grounds King "bilked" him of $100 million; that he used that contract to negotiate another $42 million in contracts for other fighters without compensating Tyson; that he charged Tyson for various expenses that are usually covered by the promoter; and that he put his family on Tyson's payroll for duties such as fan club president.

Nonetheless, King said Tyson "is like a son to me."

He also declined to offer an opinion on Tyson applying for a boxing license in New Jersey, as he did last week, rather than in Nevada where his license was revoked last year. "It ain't for me to comment on that," King said.

As for King coming off an acquittal in his most recent court battle -- a fraud charge levied by Lloyd's of London -- he called it "a seven-year ordeal that I'm happy to have behind me."

If it seemed as if the fighters in attendance were secondary, King was at least partially to blame with his self-centered musings on everything from the value of a good woman to John Quincy Adams' opposition to slavery.

Fortunately for the most noteworthy of the fighters in attendance, Roberto Duran doesn't understand English.

"I'm eternally grateful," said the five-time former world champion through an interpreter, when asked about getting a title shot at the advanced age of 47. Duran, who has been fighting since 1967 and is 102-13, will take on WBA middleweight champ William Joppy to headline an Aug. 28 card at the Hilton.

In the companion main event that night, IBF middleweight champ Bernard Hopkins will meet Robert Allen.

One night later at the Hilton, IBF junior bantamweight champ Johnny Tapia will face Carlos Hernandez on a card that also includes a title defense by IBF junior flyweight champion Mauricio Pastrana.

"I never thought I would fight again for a title," Duran said. "But here I am and I come well prepared."

Duran is a plus 350 underdog in the Hilton sports book. Joppy, 25-1, is a minus 500 favorite.

"It's exciting to get a chance to fight a legend like Roberto and I'm not taking him lightly," Joppy said. "He wants to recapture his old glory but that's not going to happen."

It was the only time old glory was mentioned, yet it was a theme that was certainly making the rounds.