By KEVIN IOLE
REVIEW-JOURNAL


Don King is in the planning stages of creating a television boxing network that would feature live fights, martial arts matches, tapes of historic bouts and hip hop music acts, the longtime promoter said.

Largely spurred by his dissatisfaction with HBO's handling of boxing, King said he intends to speak to media giants Charles and James Dolan of Cablevision, Rupert Murdoch of News Corp. and owners of Comcast Cable about joining him in the venture.

King has long feuded with HBO, particularly boxing analyst Larry Merchant. King criticized HBO on Oct. 2 after Felix Trinidad's eighth-round knockout of Ricardo Mayorga at Madison Square Garden, claiming the cable network had failed to properly help promote the bout.

King also said HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg didn't keep a promise to promote King's Nov. 13 pay-per-view card during the Trinidad-Mayorga broadcast. King said he flew the Nov. 13 participants to New York at his expense to have them appear on the broadcast, but they weren't shown.

While King says he will honor his existing contracts with HBO, he's shopping for a new broadcast partner. A better solution, he said, would be to create his network in the mold of The Golf Channel.

"That's really the only way to go, because we can do it the way it should be done," King said. "You don't have to worry about someone sabotaging you or putting a knife in your back when you do it yourself.

"I'm going to go talk to these (media moguls) because I think we can get it done. This is something I've thought about and wanted to do for a long time."

Greenburg couldn't be reached for comment Saturday.

King said Trinidad has one fight remaining on his HBO contract, then the promoter will begin shopping Trinidad to other networks.

Creating a boxing channel won't be easy, King concedes. He acknowledges the difficulty in getting mass clearance on cable systems around the country, as the recently launched The Tennis Channel is experiencing. It is available to about 30 percent of the country's cable subscribers.

But if King can reach a deal with Murdoch, the primary shareholder in DirecTV, his venture will gain instant credibility.

"This isn't a dream; it's going to happen," King said. "I'm not going to be an indentured servant anymore."

how would u like that guys/girls???

24HOUR boxing/martial arts channel. Is that like a dream come true or what???

that would be sweet, but then again your gonna get nothing but DK propaganda.

I dont know who he is gonna shop Tito around to considering there is only HBO and Showtime. Showtime has stopped giving fighters contracts and is now taking fights by a fight by fight basis.

that would be sweet, but then again your gonna get nothing but DK propaganda.

I dont know who he is gonna shop Tito around to considering there is only HBO and Showtime. Showtime has stopped giving fighters contracts and is now taking fights by a fight by fight basis.



propaganda is right, don king is cancer.

yeah, just what i want. don king controlling even more of boxing...

Looks good on paper, but we will get mediocre live fights and eventually kings handlers would turn it into the bet-boxing and big tigger announcing......You think King would actually put good fights on a regular cable network? (yeah right) every fight would be on ppv for the same ****ty price tag and probably would re-air it next week in spanish or some crap......The money wouldnt be their, you cant offer a fight millions of dollars and show it on a regular network it just isnt possible.

**** Don King And Everyone That Supports Him. The Last Thing I Would Ever Want Would Be For Don King To Develop His Own Channel, We Would Be Subjected To ****ed Up Decisions By Judges, Bribes, Scams 24 Hours A Day. I Hope That Mother****er Dies.

Yeah and don't forget that lame ass hiphop BS. Just what I wanna see FatHoe intro music to Tito or Cotto and Jayzpee to Judah or Tyson. Fuk that garbage :mad:

agree it look good on papre to me also...hmm i wonder if it would be a cable channel like fox sports net..or something like hbo where u pay to watch it..mmm...well anyway..i wouldnt mind a channel like that (it could get boring after a while thought -cuz they will repeat old fight over and over...ahh what the hell i am i saying...kick ass)..but just like bofore i am thinks don king gets us all high and everything on new things..and then right before we explode with excitment..he SCREWS US Again!!!!

It will never happen and King for all the **** he is talking will be right back with HBO. Showtime or any other network isn't willing to pay the kind of money HBO does for fights.

Don is gonna run into all kinds of problems trying to sell this to advertisers..........timing is everything with ideas and his timing is terrible. The political climate is bad for boxing right now, HIS reputation is not gonna win over many ad execs and HBO is a MONSTER to try and compete with (and they don't depend on ads). How many people are gonna subscribe to a network that may fold up shop next week and is run by a convicted felon?
I know that I will certainly be quick to give his crew my credit card info! :rolleyes:

Largely spurred by his dissatisfaction with HBO's handling of boxing . . .

King has long feuded with HBO, particularly boxing analyst Larry Merchant.



Yeah right DK is not happy with HBO because the outfit is only serving and protecting it's own interest. DK cannot get his way over HBO. . . he can't manipulate it the way he wants it . . . the way he could rake money and dupe the public :D

He is putting up his own network? Fine! That'sgoing to be entertaining . . . but don't expect true fight results :D

I think that it would be tight. Pay per views wouldn't have to cost so much because they could run the re-runs for free on Boxing TV. Have you seen D K's **** get re-run on fox sports net? It would be cool like ESPN Classic plus all the bran new ****.

Plus Boxing doesn't have a season, so if the golf channel can make it the boxing channel sure as **** can

Don King should set it up, then die and let Don Trump run that ****!!!

Hopefully the channel gets released, I have DTV and would love a channel dedicated to boxing like that. There's alot about King I don't know, so I'm not going to judge him regardless if the show fails or succeeds.

how would u like that guys/girls???

24HOUR boxing/martial arts channel. Is that like a dream come true or what???

**** yeah
imagine boxing 24/7 :D

indentured servant? hahahahhaa, Don King rules all

The idea of a 24/7 boxing channel sounds great, but believe me, the fights will be more ballroom boxing/thunderbox than real championship boxing.

It sounds like a great idea but... Did anyone see Thunderbox? OK then! Keep the hip-hop bull**** out of boxing!

Well Don King has shocked the world yet again and has set another major record in the sport of boxing!


I was not aware until now, that Don King is the first ever "endentured servant" to become a billionaire - only in America!

how would u like that guys/girls???

24HOUR boxing/martial arts channel. Is that like a dream come true or what???


24 hrs? DAMN if that happens probably the next thing would be me visiting a doctor because of sore butt :D guarantee my eyes will be glued on that screen 24 hrs too. :p

i would love if this came true. If it doesnt then at least ESPN Classic can show some more classic bouts.

the fights will be more ballroom boxing/thunderbox than real championship boxing.

I prefer Ballroom boxing and Broadway boxing. the bouts are more competitive on average..it's like football,..collegiate football is just more competitive

Don King will no longer be an indentured serveant after he creates this channel...

He will lose his ass with this channel. The casual boxing fan won't watch it because they'll know Don King is involved and a good majority of hardcore boxing fans won't either because they'll know Don King is involved.

By KEVIN IOLE
REVIEW-JOURNAL


Don King is in the planning stages of creating a television boxing network that would feature live fights, martial arts matches, tapes of historic bouts and hip hop music acts, the longtime promoter said.

Largely spurred by his dissatisfaction with HBO's handling of boxing, King said he intends to speak to media giants Charles and James Dolan of Cablevision, Rupert Murdoch of News Corp. and owners of Comcast Cable about joining him in the venture.

King has long feuded with HBO, particularly boxing analyst Larry Merchant. King criticized HBO on Oct. 2 after Felix Trinidad's eighth-round knockout of Ricardo Mayorga at Madison Square Garden, claiming the cable network had failed to properly help promote the bout.

King also said HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg didn't keep a promise to promote King's Nov. 13 pay-per-view card during the Trinidad-Mayorga broadcast. King said he flew the Nov. 13 participants to New York at his expense to have them appear on the broadcast, but they weren't shown.

While King says he will honor his existing contracts with HBO, he's shopping for a new broadcast partner. A better solution, he said, would be to create his network in the mold of The Golf Channel.

"That's really the only way to go, because we can do it the way it should be done," King said. "You don't have to worry about someone sabotaging you or putting a knife in your back when you do it yourself.

"I'm going to go talk to these (media moguls) because I think we can get it done. This is something I've thought about and wanted to do for a long time."

Greenburg couldn't be reached for comment Saturday.

King said Trinidad has one fight remaining on his HBO contract, then the promoter will begin shopping Trinidad to other networks.

Creating a boxing channel won't be easy, King concedes. He acknowledges the difficulty in getting mass clearance on cable systems around the country, as the recently launched The Tennis Channel is experiencing. It is available to about 30 percent of the country's cable subscribers.

But if King can reach a deal with Murdoch, the primary shareholder in DirecTV, his venture will gain instant credibility.

"This isn't a dream; it's going to happen," King said. "I'm not going to be an indentured servant anymore."

Great Idea
Wrong person thought of it

maybe oscar should give this a thought

Don King bites balls!

**** u guys
I want my new 24/7 boxing channel

This is crap! King only doing this now that he sold out Ruiz in that last fight. I hope this idea is DOA.

I'm surprised so many are against this. Yeah, its King running it, but it is still a lot more exposure. And think about it, even if it is just weekly Friday Night Fights type shows, we'll never get pre-empted for ****ing log rolling or cycling or whatever bull**** ESPN2 likes to do now.

And who knows? King could possibly bring forth a couple decent sponsers. Though I'm not super wild on the idea of King running the network, it could be a lot worse. As far as worrying that all his cards would be on PPV...I doubt it. He'd have less reason to need PPV. There's this misconception that promoters like charging fans at home $50 a pop to see the big fights. That's actually not the case. Promoters basically have to do that because they can't get good enough sponsorship. The amount the promoters gets from PPV buys is nowhere near what they could make from sponsors.

And really what are HBO and Showtime besides just really extended PPV channels anyhow? We have to pay extra every month to get them. Imagine this, King gets his network going and it grows. They start having fights like they have on HBO for "free" on that channel. Then say they keep doing the $50 PPVs for big fights. We'd still save in the end. Premium channel packages cost upwards of $12 extra a month on satellite dish, even higher for cable. That'd be a savings of $144 and up, which is almost 3 whole PPVs. Yeah, not a huge savings, but significant enough I think.

And, since the HBO level fights would now be on a Boxing channel, which isn't a premium channel, this increases potential viewers. So then, that increases the audience, which could lead to a higher rate of people willing to buy the PPV. If you've got a bigger audience, you can afford to lower that PPV price.

And hey, even worst case, if King's channel is just an avenue for King to promote his fighters and display them, is it really that bad? At least it'd be competition for HBO and Showtime. Competition makes everybody have to work harder.

Check out the WWF. 5 years ago, wrestling was easily the highest rated cable show, by far. Vince McMahon bought out his competition and then what happened? No competition meant the WWF didn't have to try hard. That meant a weaker product. Competition is what fueled the WWF.

That's an element boxing needs, networks competing to want to host the bigger fights.

Though, this still isn't "the answer" to the problems in boxing, it certainly isn't that bad of an idea.

I'm surprised so many are against this. Yeah, its King running it, but it is still a lot more exposure. And think about it, even if it is just weekly Friday Night Fights type shows, we'll never get pre-empted for ****ing log rolling or cycling or whatever bull**** ESPN2 likes to do now.

And who knows? King could possibly bring forth a couple decent sponsers. Though I'm not super wild on the idea of King running the network, it could be a lot worse. As far as worrying that all his cards would be on PPV...I doubt it. He'd have less reason to need PPV. There's this misconception that promoters like charging fans at home $50 a pop to see the big fights. That's actually not the case. Promoters basically have to do that because they can't get good enough sponsorship. The amount the promoters gets from PPV buys is nowhere near what they could make from sponsors.

And really what are HBO and Showtime besides just really extended PPV channels anyhow? We have to pay extra every month to get them. Imagine this, King gets his network going and it grows. They start having fights like they have on HBO for "free" on that channel. Then say they keep doing the $50 PPVs for big fights. We'd still save in the end. Premium channel packages cost upwards of $12 extra a month on satellite dish, even higher for cable. That'd be a savings of $144 and up, which is almost 3 whole PPVs. Yeah, not a huge savings, but significant enough I think.

And, since the HBO level fights would now be on a Boxing channel, which isn't a premium channel, this increases potential viewers. So then, that increases the audience, which could lead to a higher rate of people willing to buy the PPV. If you've got a bigger audience, you can afford to lower that PPV price.

And hey, even worst case, if King's channel is just an avenue for King to promote his fighters and display them, is it really that bad? At least it'd be competition for HBO and Showtime. Competition makes everybody have to work harder.

Check out the WWF. 5 years ago, wrestling was easily the highest rated cable show, by far. Vince McMahon bought out his competition and then what happened? No competition meant the WWF didn't have to try hard. That meant a weaker product. Competition is what fueled the WWF.

That's an element boxing needs, networks competing to want to host the bigger fights.

Though, this still isn't "the answer" to the problems in boxing, it certainly isn't that bad of an idea.
Great Post :boxing:

hell yea boxing 24/7! It's a "kewl" idea.

Like him or not you have to admit King knows how to sell. His days are numbered but rest assured the real Don wont go down without a fight

Bull****, he's a virus. Whatever he gives to boxing its just reimbursement for the **** he has put the sport through. When he leaves the game maybe we'll see the fights we wana see instead of 'protected' fighters. Whatever happened to being the best?

On reflection, 'The Rumble in the Jungle' was a logistical nightmare and he pulled it off so credit for that, the charming bastard. I don't run with the idea that he's evil or that kinda thing but its like Holmes said, the guy only cares about the green.

Why is Don King always blamed for everything bad in the sport? He isn't the one trying to protect fighters. Cereal, what fighters has Don King protected? Tyson? He put Tyson in against Razor Ruddock and Evander Holyfield to protect him? Easy fights?
Tito Trinidad vs. DLH was for Trinidad's protection?
Spinks vs. Judah? Mormeck against the highly favored Braithewaite?

There are other promoters out there guilty of protecting their fighters heavily, but King isn't one I'd put into that category. He's done enough bad to not need to make **** up about him. And whatever you want to say, he has done good for the sport. If it weren't for a personality like King, boxing would be worse off. He at least keeps the sport on peoples' minds. You know the old cliche, there's no such thing as bad publicity.

I just get sick of King, the only black promoter, getting all this hatred while nobody shows all this contempt for any of the other promoters, who are just as bad as King.

Cedric Kushner, Dino Duva, Goossen, and Arum all have admitted, on record, to bribery. They've admitted to corruption. There is tons of hard proof that Arum has fixed fights recently. Not to mention defrauding the US Government out of taxes and ripping off boxers (specifically Yory Boy Campus, which I can give you documents that I have saved proving this), and conspiracy to commit crime.

And I'd say Frank Warren protects his fighters rather heavily. Look what he's done with Hatton, very carefully manuevuered him to this match with Tszyu, making TONS of money off Hatton by marketing him as England's Son, beating Mitchell fodder, then getting a shot against Tszyu. Go look at Mitchell's record, then Hatton's. Notice their last 4-5 opponents (including Tszyu) have been the same. This'll be Hatton's first real test. Warren probably expects Hatton to lose, but figures he can squeeze this one last payday from him. If Hatton wins, Warren wins anyhow.

^^
yet another useless post from Scott Baio's #1 fan.

Yeah and don't forget that lame ass hiphop BS. Just what I wanna see FatHoe intro music to Tito or Cotto and Jayzpee to Judah or Tyson. Fuk that garbage :mad:

Damb right brother, and slayer rules.

Honestly King is bad for boxing just because of his repuatation.

Me and my friends have always talked about a 24/7 boxing channel, the idea itslef is awsome, but with DK running it, kinda puts a damper on the idea. Hopefully he does make it, then dies and is given to someone else who is capable of running it how is should be run, with honesty and respect, no shady judges or res, and no shady decisions. Im half and half with his idea.

If King dies, his son Carl is the heir apparent to the King empire, so all you King haters, it won't matter. Carl is just as smart as Don. I would not be surprised if Carl is the one doing a lot of things behind the scenes now.

One thing people fail to realize is that King is a business man, what he does is no different than white collar America. He is a very good business man. He's a very interesting man. Read "Only In America" by Jack Newfield, you might gain a little better understanding of the man. As someone else said, I don't buy that Don King is pure evil.

Instead of blaming King for taking advantage of the system, maybe we should blame those allowing him to take advantage. Legally, he is in the clear. Don King is undefeated against the Federal government, well, since he has been well-known at least. He has even said it isn't his fault if people don't read their contracts.

What does Don King do that every music studio doesn't do? He is demonized but he is no worse than any music executive. Most famous musicians get paid about $1.25 per album sold, before taxes and expenses.

Do not take my message incorrectly. King is morally wrong for some of his dealings. He is a ruthless business operator. I just do not think that he is the REAL problem with boxing. It is a combination of all promoters and their dealings with the alphabet soup belt organizations that causes the problems in boxing.

I have really mixed feelings about Don King....on the one hand he did give us some classic fights on a scale that had not really seen before and he is good at hyping up fights..n the other hand he controls too much and what we get is really medicore fights....but this isn't just Don King....almost every promoter is there to make money and often protect their cash cows...this is probably one reason boxing doesn't have a larger mainstream fan base..few really big fights...the judging doesn't help either...Have to say though that I would be interested to see what King could do....but don't HBO/Showtime have exclusive rights to broadcast some fighters? Seems like this would be a problem...we would get a lot of classic boxing and probably a number of lousy heavyweight fights ala his big heavyweight card a few months back that was probably an even bigger waste of my time than the amount of time I spend sitting on my ass watching simpsons reruns on Fox




One thing people fail to realize is that King is a business man, what he does is no different than white collar America. He is a very good business man. He's a very interesting man. Read "Only In America" by Jack Newfield, you might gain a little better understanding of the man. As someone else said, I don't buy that Don King is pure evil.

Instead of blaming King for taking advantage of the system, maybe we should blame those allowing him to take advantage. Legally, he is in the clear. Don King is undefeated against the Federal government, well, since he has been well-known at least. He has even said it isn't his fault if people don't read their contracts.

What does Don King do that every music studio doesn't do? He is demonized but he is no worse than any music executive. Most famous musicians get paid about $1.25 per album sold, before taxes and expenses.

Do not take my message incorrectly. King is morally wrong for some of his dealings. He is a ruthless business operator. I just do not think that he is the REAL problem with boxing. It is a combination of all promoters and their dealings with the alphabet soup belt organizations that causes the problems in boxing.
:D :D :D