Promoter Don King returns with title fights in Ohio

“What’s Don King been doing?” has been one of the most common questions heard around ringside as the famed promoter has faded in prominence in recent years.

On 1/29/22, King returned not far from his hometown of Cleveland, in the unlikely town of Warren, OH. The show at the W. D. Packard Music Hall drew close to a full house around 1800 and was thoroughly enjoyed as a rare treat.

Headlining was a WBA heavyweight title bout with Trevor Bryan, 268, Pompano Beach, FL, via Albany, NY, 22-0 (15), defending against Jonathan Guidry, 246 ½, Dulac, LA, 17-1-2 (10). The gigantic Bryan dominated the contest with size and a skillful use of the left. The decidedly shorter and stocky challenger fought often out of a squared stance, moving around his hulking opponent and looking for openings while Bryan controlled the pace behind the left. Guidry tried an explosive attack to start the second but was quickly settled by Trevor’s left. Bryan did just enough through the third and then action erupted again in the fourth with sustained heated trading. Guidry went with sweeping left hooks but Bryan got the right into action and closed strong, pouring it on to the bell to take the round. Following a pattern of battle and coast, the action slowed notably in the fifth.

But Trevor secured the round by closing with a couple big rights. Following the seesaw pattern, the challenger came out aggressive for the sixth. But this time, he took the action in closer, nullifying Bryan’s notable size advantage, and used short rights instead of sweeping left hooks. Had Jonathan stayed in this pattern, he may have won the fight.

But action again slowed in the seventh, with Bryan regaining control with the jab. The eighth started out tame, until Guidry landed a jolting lead right, followed by a left hook and another right. But Trevor paid him back with a couple good lefts before round’s end. By this time, a vocal Louisiana contingent had set up a chant of “Du-LAC! Du-LAC!”, as the shifting action kept the crowd involved. The ninth was particularly hectic, Guidry putting over a good right early but Bryan coming back with lefts to take over before a heated finish that saw both of them exchanging to the bell. And as could be expected from the pattern, the tenth quieted, with Trevor again controlling with a judicious left. Bryan kept the left working through the eleventh and then nailed down the win in a big finale. Trevor got on a roll in the twelfth, steadily turned up the heat until he had a distressed Guidry on the run, with the crowd up. A left and a right at last sent the game challenger slumping to both knees, where he was saved by the bell.

The challenger had put up a good effort, but mostly reacted to what the title holder gave him rather than making his own fight. Meanwhile, it was Trevor who set the pace behind the jab and controlled the action overall. Accordingly, Nathan Palmer scored 118-109 and Brian Kennedy 113-111 for Bryan. But Steve Weisfeld had 116-112 for Guidry, allowing the rejuvenated challenger to leave the ring a hero to his fans. Lonnie Scott refereed.

The co-feature 12 was a WBC cruiserweight title defense by Ilunga Makabu, 197, Congo, 29-2 (25), against Thabiso Mchunu, 198 ½, Johannesburg, SA, 23-6 (13). Both were southpaws and the contest was relentlessly monotonous. Nearly every round was virtually the same. The bigger, flat-footed Makabu stalked behind the jab and set the pace while Mchunu was more on his toes, left held up for protection while the right often dangled, looking for counters. The contest was certainly in earnest but lacked fire until some Congolese fans in the front of the balcony began waving banners and chanting for their man. The tenth departed a bit from pattern as Makabu appeared to be losing a step and giving the challenger an extra split second to get off counters.

But there was no dramatic turnaround. In the eleventh, the Congolese had re-established his effective low-pressure stalking. At the final bell, Makabu immediately threw his arms around Mchunu in an exuberant hug, but the challenger was having none of it and sharply pushed him away.

And again there was a split decision. Weisfeld scored 115-113 and Jamie Garayua 115-112 for Makabu, while Palmer dissented, 115-113. All the scores seemed unnecessarily close, as the challenger was merely not “making” the fight. Harvey Dock refereed.

TréSean Wiggins, 145 ½, Newburgh, NY, 13-5-3 (7), TKO’d Cody Wilson, 145, Fairmont, WV, 10-4 (7), at 1:32 of the third, scheduled 10, for a regional NABA title. The flat-footed, pressing Wilson found the nimble southpaw Wiggins too mobile and was unable to engage him in trench warfare. After a range-finder first, Wiggins began to pepper Wilson. Late in the second, a sweeping left off a half sidestep vaulted Cody into the ropes, with the turnbuckle holding him up. Ref Scott gave a count and the bell ended the round. In the third, a counter left off a Wilson miss sent Cody to the canvas. He got up ready to resume, but a snappy right-left immediately rocked him and the referee stopped the contest over Cody’s protests.

In a rugged but uninspiring 10, DaCarree Scott, 276 ½, Decatur, GA, 7-0 (6), gained a more than well-deserved decision, albeit split, over Ahmed Hefny, 216, an Egyptian fighting out of Queens, 13-2 (5). Hefny simply could not hold off the tank-like Scott, who bulldozed his way in, cut off Ahmed’s punching room, and muscled him around on the inside. Hefny’s best defensive tactic seemed to be to drape himself over DaCarree’s back until referee George Nichols was forced to break them. Hefny suffered a cut left eye in the fourth and flailed away trying to keep Scott off. In the middle rounds, Hefny was fighting defensively and surviving. A lunging left hook early in the seventh rocked Ahmed, and he was hanging on by round’s end. Late in the eighth, Scott again erupted, rocking Ahmed with an overhand right, and then a short left hook and right forced him to grab and hold. DaCarree seemed to lose a little steam and let Ahmed back into the fight in the final two, but that in no way justified a split decision. Garayua was generous to the Egyptian in scoring 96-94 Scott. Palmer had DaCarree by 97-93. Thank goodness! Kennedy turned in an atrocious score for Hefny, 96-94.

Johnnie Langston, 199 ½, Sarasota, FL, 10-3 (4), stopped Nick Kisner, 198 ½, Balto., 22-6-1 (6), at 1:40 of the fifth, scheduled 10. The fight was a tight and controlled cat-&-mouse contest, with the tall southpaw Langston fighting in two-hand flurries while the cagey Kisner used switch-hitting tactics. Three rounds were close, but Langston began flurrying enough to take the fourth, then upped the ante to stop Kisner in the fifth. The southpaw Langston finished a volley with a solid right hook that sent Nick to his knees. A prolonged flurry along the ropes Nick again. Kisner tried defensive tactics to stay in the fight, but finally a volley topped by a straight left had his corner waving the towel as Nick went down a third time. Nichols refereed.

In a walkout 10, Michael Moore, 164, Cleveland, 19-3 (8), won a unanimous verdict over Anthony Lenk, 159, Niagara Falls, 17-8 (7). The fight was to have been for a regional middleweight title but Moore failed to make weight.