"I didn’t sit for Floyd; Floyd came to me."
Geez, we should all be so lucky to have a King come into our lives. But does this hint at discontent between he and the likes of Al Haymon and Golden Boy Promotions?
"Well, he wouldn’t be with me. That answers that without me saying anything," was King’s counter. "Not only that, he’s going back and forth and he’s on his way back down to Florida again. He came from Las Vegas and flew in to stay with me and then he left this morning back to Las Vegas and then he called me and asked me where I’m going to be. I said, ’I’m in Florida.’; he said, ’ I’m on my way.’"
It was rumored throughout the past week that he would show up to St. Louis, sparking rampant speculation about his relationship with King. He arrived around the time Tavoris Cloud and Glen Johnson touched ’em up and was quickly whisked to the arena. "I can’t say I’m surprised because he said he was going to come," King said to Maxboxing on Monday afternoon. "But I tell you, I was pleasantly, pleasantly receptive and really pleased that he kept his word and he did come."
OK, but let’s cut to the chase; what can DKP do for Mayweather that he hasn’t already done for himself?
"Y’ know what? Enlighten people of the stature, the esteem, the integrity, the honor of the man," said King, who was just getting revved up. "Because, as it is now, he’s being vilified, condemned and literally destroyed across the court of public opinion- over nothing. But what most people don’t understand is that the most powerful court in the land is the court of public opinion, in the universe, I should say. You get the laws that govern for the people in the statuettes in the states or the United States as a whole. But the court of public opinion is universality.
"What I would bring him is a ’He can’t lose if he come to me’ [mentality],” King continued. “Just look at the stir he’s causing just by coming in my presence. That means he’s going to get more from wherever he’s at. Even if he was happy with them, the price is going to be jacked up automatically because he is visiting with me. If he decides to come with me, there’s nobody alive can generate more capital with him, than me. That’s a foregone conclusion. Know why? My relationship with the people, for the people, by the people. And my magic lies in my people ties- that is a fact."
The mere thought of this union has shook things up in the boxing industry. HBO- which seemed to try and make King persona non grata on Saturday night, even while Mayweather was seated next to him- is quite comfortable with their house adviser, Haymon, and Golden Boy- which has an exclusive output deal with the network- having the services of “Money.”
Recently, Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, has been quite vocal about this dalliance, going so far as to label both King and his arch-rival-turned-ally, Bob Arum as dinosaurs.
But King, as magnanimous as ever, takes it in stride, "I love Richard. You know what you do with Richard? You say, ’Forgive him father; he know not what he do.’ Because don’t forget, Richard’s a banker, not a promoter. I mean, I like the guy, really. Don’t get mad at me for doing what I do best- and that’s loving the people, all races, creeds, colors and religions. Don’t try to segmentize or dichotomize me or put me in isolation. I can speak all the languages of the world."
An interested observer in all this is Arum.
"The truth is, that [Floyd] and King- and I recognized that when I was promoting Floyd- he and Floyd really can hit it off well together," said the veteran promoter, who seems to have found a common ground with his longtime adversary. "Richard Schaefer, in his usual arrogant, ignorant way, doesn’t understand any of it. But they really do talk the same language; they really have the ability to communicate with each other and, for me, the way I look at it, I think that Mayweather would show King more respect than he would most people.
"And that’s half the battle with Floyd."
So if Mayweather joins the King-dom, do we get the long-awaited showdown with a certain congressman from the Philippines?
"I guarantee you! You crazy?!" exclaimed Arum. "There is no way [the fight wouldn’t come off]. You understand the problem that, with Golden Boy, all these extraneous issues that came up in the negotiations. With Don, we’ll go right to the heart of it. And I don’t think we’d have any difficulties putting a fight together. Let me give you an example because it’s OK to talk in generalities; the first fight was derailed because of ineptitude on their side and, particularly, Schaefer.
"We were negotiating and the negotiations were getting acrimonious; sometimes they do and, generally, over side issues. When for some unknown reason, Schaefer, on Golden Boy’s letterhead, went public with all of this stuff about Manny was allegedly on performance-enhancing stuff. From then on, it became a pissing contest. Now, King, if he was involved in the negotiations, there might be acrimony behind closed doors but King would never, ever, do that publicly. Not because he’s such a great guy but because he would know instinctively that if you did it publicly, you were blowing up the negotiations.
"Because what? Manny was going to say, ’Oh, yeah, I’m gonna demonstrate to you that’s not the case and I agree to everything you say!’ People don’t react that way," added Arum.
So when will the new BFFs be meeting up again?
"Floyd will be with me tomorrow [Tuesday]. He’s going to be with me tomorrow if he gets back here," said King, from his offices in Florida. "But he’ll be here before the week is out; let’s put it that way."
As for their dining choices this time around, "I may go Italian because Floyd is very particular; y’ know what I mean?" (Which is too bad; if they were hooking up in Montebello, I would recommend this really good Mexican restaurant I’ve mentioned a few times) He loves steaks but he likes them all sliced very thinly and put on a plate. He’s a health guy now, all different kind of things. Everything just have to be meticulous and fastidious to make certain everything is just right."
See, that’s the type of stuff only a real friend would know.
By the way, would the likes of Haymon, Schaefer and Ross Greenburg be invited to their get-together?
"Ah, y’ know what? Who so ever will, let him come," said the ever-gracious King. "That’s the word from the church. I would be delighted to have them. Because the thing is, there’s enough for everyone. I mean, they do what they do best and if we are cooperative, everybody doing what they do best, then everything can be bigger and bigger."
Hey, only in America, right?
"Only in America, the greatest country in the world and don’t you forget it."
DONE DEAL
Meanwhile, veteran scribe Michael Marley- who was once under the employment of King- broke this story over the weekend (take it for what you will):
http://www.examiner.com/x-5699-Boxing-Examiner~y2010m8d8-Gamechanger-Don-King-strikes-four-fight-100-million-deal-with-Floyd-Mayweather
NOV. 13TH
So when it’s all said and done, where will Pacquiao be facing Antonio Margarito on November 13th?
"I’m going to meet with Jerry Jones on Wednesday," said Arum, of the Dallas Cowboys owner, who played host to the “Pac-Man’s” last bout in March versus Joshua Clottey at Cowboys Stadium. I have a feeling the two aren’t going to be discussing who replaces Flozell Adams at left-tackle.
"Do we have a deal there yet? No, but I’m optimistic," said Arum.
Three weeks later at Madison Square Garden in New York, Miguel Cotto could be taking on Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Question is, is the kid ready for such an assignment? "It’s not for me to reason why," said Arum. "Freddie Roach believes he’s ready; what’s more, the kid believes he’s ready; Fernando Beltran believes he’s ready. We’ll see if he’s ready."
RAFAEL’S
You doubt that Rafael’s, the best Mexican restaurant in Montebello- the Bel Air of East L.A.- is as good as I claim it to be? Well, just ask one “odogg726” who went there this past Friday night on my recommendation and tweeted: "It’s excellent! I asked ’do you know this Korean guy who always..." and before I could finish, they were like ‘STEVE!’”
Uh, yeah, well, I do go there a lot, I admit.
Then after stating that he tipped ten bucks on a $20 tab (that’s how pleased was with everything) he then tweeted: “The only thing missing from the menu is a hammock for an afternoon siesta. Thanks, again, Steve!”
Hey, anything for my readers. Because like King, I’m for the people, of the people and by the people. I would never, ever fib.
And I’ll start working on the hammock.
AUGUST FLURRIES
RIP to Jay Larkin, who ran Showtime’s boxing division for years, who succumbed to brain cancer at the age of 59 on Monday morning. I’ll have much more on this later this week. Needless to say, he will be missed greatly...Don’t King and Arum kinda remind you of when “Tom and Jerry” patched things up and became friends?...I thought Robert Marroquin looked pretty good this past weekend. I know Top Rank is very high on him...I can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com and I tweet at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. We also have Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing.
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