Columnist Dean Juipe: King’s shady but he gets what he wants

Dean Juipe

Friday, May 25, 2001 | 10:17 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

Beyond his sycophants, there isn't anyone out there who really likes Don King.

Of course he's an egomaniac, that's obvious. But he also can be crass, ruthless, long-winded and despicable.

He killed one man in 1954 and had it ruled justifiable homicide, and he killed another in 1966 and served four years of a manslaughter sentence that was handed down as 1 to 20.

He routinely takes advantage of both friend and foe, yet he has always fended off not only their threats but those of the many prosecutors who have taken (unsuccessful) turns at trying to convict him of such crimes as income tax evasion and insurance fraud.

On a personal level I dread being subjected to his press conferences and I try to have as little to do with him as possible in spite of covering boxing for this paper.

All that said, you have to give King his due even if you find him intolerable and certainly not someone to be admired.

He has the ability to manipulate the course of action he prefers and he has the financial wherewithal to pull it off. He keeps an ungodly wad of cash in his pants pocket for "emergencies" -- such as the night Roberto Duran didn't want to come out and fight Ray Leonard at the Mirage -- and he pays for the finest legal counsel available.

Everything he wants is within his means.

That's why I think he'll prevail in the latest mess he has had a hand in creating, the one within the heavyweight division.

Not content with an Evander Holyfield vs. John Ruiz trilogy of WBA title fights, King upped his presence in the heavyweight picture just a couple of days after Hasim Rahman upset WBC and IBF champion Lennox Lewis last month. Delivering a reported $500,000 in $1,000 bills to Rahman and promising considerably more, King moved quickly and stunned his rivals.

Rahman used a technicality to escape his contract with his long-time promoter, Cedric Kushner, and jump to King.

To no one's surprise, a cavalcade of lawsuits were filed the following day and the two with the greatest merit have more or less been consolidated to be heard two weeks from today in New York.

The litigation pits Kushner against King (and Rahman and his managers) and Lewis against King. Ancillary suits involving heavyweights Mike Tyson and David Tua vs. King remain on the periphery.

Through it all, King figures to be ably represented.

While the WBC could throw a wrench into the following scenario by stripping Rahman, here's what King is looking to pull off: Rahman vs. an easy target, Brian Nielsen, Aug. 4 in China; Rahman vs. Tyson this fall; and Rahman (or Tyson) vs. Lewis by early next year. (If the WBC intervenes, there's still Rahman vs. Holyfield or Ruiz.)

King, 69, is promising a lot and there's a thought within the industry not that he won't be able to deliver but that he won't harvest the benefits he's apt to be picturing.

But something tells me he didn't make the commitments he has without liking his chances both in court and in the ring.

It has always been foolish to bet against him, and this is no exception.