king, cotto, and more

Some where in the deluge of Don King’s latest press conference at the Rockefeller Center, where once again hyperbole exceeded in the utmost, his liturgy veered towards perhaps the best summation of the man himself. “What you have seen before, you will see again,” he said. Somewhere between his utterances of “you know what I mean,” he began to sell us all on the significance of Sam Peter vs. James Toney II: Redemption and proved that if nothing else, he sure can talk

King, who only a few months back was politicking around with Nikolai Valuev and one quarter to the claim of Heavyweight Champion of the World, is back tending his irons in the fire. He so desperately seeks to re-invigorate boxing. “No one has got their fingers on the pulse of the people,” he confessed. Even though boxing’s current state is an “equal opportunity,” King hopes it is not long before some talent snatches up the wide-spread attention of past generations. And he means to produce that star, or at the very least acquire it.

As much as Don King searches for the passion he tapped so famously in 1974 with the Rumble in the Jungle, it seems unfair to sit through both the search and his self-congratulations. It is a fruitless task to look for a man as dynamic as Muhammad Ali. But try telling that to King who introduced most of his guests during the two-hour plus program as “dynamic.” Pausing between his speeches he allowed for a litany of praise from the other promoters hovering on the dais with him. Listening to Dan Goosen, Lou Duva, and his son Dino, served only to push the event past saturation. Everyone praised King’s character and personality so thoroughly it almost seemed suspicious.

And rather than leave any down time to wonder at those lingering doubts, the opportunistic King injected the fight with further, if not ancillary, significance. He attached himself to Florida’s never conquered Seminole Tribe with a Shaman’s blessing to begin the day. He also pointed out the attendance of a dozen or so Nigerian dignitaries in an effort to attest to Peter’s dedicated following. And he trumpeted Toney, whose undeniable skill, but questionable effort, has followed him up the scales. With each introduction and anecdote, King gathered steam with his talk of another “historic event.” He even found time to plug the co-main event between Jose Antonio Rivera and Travis Simms, where the WBA Light Middleweight belt is at stake.

Yet the sentiment of importance faded as King led the audience through video segments of his past successes, an infomercial-like introduction to the fight hosting Hard Rock Casino, and highlight of the upcoming fight’s contestants. The first match-up between Peter and Toney was narrowly captured by Peter in split decision that the mandatory rematch almost needs no promotion. To the victor of the January 6th contest will go both the IBA and NABF heavyweight straps, and the right to challenge WBC title holder Oleg Maskaev, who waits for the victor by fighting the much less formidable Peter Okhello next week. But King is as fine an opportunist as a wordsmith, and he knows better than to let a fight rest on its laurels, without further to-do.

Thankfully both Peter and Toney are taking this fight much more seriously, without giving each other much respect. Toney has given up his infamous cigars, buckled down on his nutrition, and even enlisted the likes of Tae-Bo’s Billy Blanks to improve his stamina. Goosen may have fumbled up in his own semantics, when he explained that in the last fight Toney “was not out of shape, he was just not in the best condition.” But Toney offered a more honest answer, as he remained uncharacteristically in-check. “My peoples want the best from me, and they the boss. They do their job and I’ll do mine,” he said. “They say an old man don’t listen, but I’m different.” Still, Toney is just as confident as he has always been and denied that Peter ever hurt him in their first fight.

Similarly, Peter is undeterred by Toney’s new approach and willing to defend his name, title and people again. “He fights the same for over 80 fights,” Peter said. “They are trying to take what belongs to me. This fight means a lot to me.”

However, following the press conference even Peter admitted, albeit in the elevator ride down presumably safe from the media’s probing ear, that he felt exhausted by King’s lengthy ordeal. “He talks too much, he almost put me to sleep,” he said as his team joked that King himself would be a likely candidate to speak at the unveiling of his own statue.

But what else should we expect from King, who used one of his tried and truest jokes when he answered his phone at the podium, “Mr. President I’ll have to call you back.” After all he is still a showman in his own right, and he means to sell his show like any other promoter would.

Take for instance Bob Arum’s recent post-fight press conference for the newly crowned WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto. Like a proud father, Arum smiled talking about Cotto’s future and promised a campaign to bill him as the pound-for-pound best next year. Although Cotto has virtually destroyed everyone put before him, that title still seems premature. He looked stronger at his new weight, knocking the previously unbeaten Carlos Quintana out with a liver shot. But what will he be like if he ever faces an opponent of his own caliber? Cotto admitted that Quintana was “not at my level,” but backed that up with, “whoever my promotional team puts in front of me I will beat.”

Arum is not afraid to test his theory, and even began talking about a unification bout with the last Saturday’s other big victor, WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito. Unfortunately, Margarito was absent from the conversation as his unanimous decision over Joshua Clottey took its toll and sent the fighter to the hospital for inspection on a sore jaw and hand. “I’ll train for anyone. Margarito is a great champion, but I’ll beat him,” said Cotto, whose next opponent is the conspicuously lesser-ranked Oktay Urkal.

Cotto, of course, considers himself the best fighter now at 147-lbs, and left the debate for the greatest to others, even appreciating his detractors. “The people and the press choose who the best pound-for-pound is,” he said. “I thank those who are behind me, and those who aren’t because it all helps.” But Cotto still has to prove his worth to the crowded circle in which he now resides. Not surprisingly, the Puerto Rican phenom does not make the ultimate decision. “My job is to train and fight,” he said. “It is not my job to choose my opponents or who I will fight next.”

Back at King’s press conference, the circus of boxing continued as the growing audience eventually included Luis Collazo. The former welterweight champ was all too pleased to cast dispersion on Cotto and provided King, and Arum as well, with even more promotional fodder, if only for down the road. “Cotto, if he gets in the ring with myself, is in trouble,” Collazo said, grinning. “If he fights me I guarantee he’ll go back down, and then people can see the fight between he and Ricky Hatton that everyone was talking about.”

And just like that, King’s press conference fed off itself and gave further proof that without him, boxing would only be a fraction of itself.