Boxing: The Untouchable Don –An American Dream

The prolific opportunist who rose above the harsh realities of life was a product of the unsympathetic Cleveland ghetto life. The enigma of this self-made boxing magnate still leaves most of us pondering unanswerable questions.

King’s life could have been that of any neighbourhood hustler trying to make his own in this unforgiving world we call home. He has always been a businesses man although in the earlier days his businesses where primarily focussed on illegal activities. His ‘first business’ venture was in the illegal numbers game in veiled locations in Cleveland. On one particular day three men tried to rob one of his booming gambling houses, one of them was unlucky-King shot and killed him. King walked as the death was classified as “justifiable homicide”. However twelve years later he killed a man who owed him an undisclosed amount of money. He was convicted on a charge of manslaughter and served a mere 4 years. It is in my opinion that during this stint in jail he realised that his small time hustling was not getting him to where he wanted to be, he needed a bigger platform…boxing proved to be his saviour.