Legendary Promoter Don King, Age 93, Now Being Sued For Three Billion Dollars Over 2024 Rumble in The Jungle II Boxing Card Which Never Took Place
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Miami, Fl (February 1st, 2025)– The purported 2024 fiftieth anniversary Rumble in the Jungle II boxing card scheduled for Nigeria never took place. Now, legendary boxing promoter Don King, age 93, is being sued for at least three billion dollars in damages, representing six hundred million in lost revenue for the initial fight, and two billion four hundred thousand dollars for lost prospective revenue.
Sports manager Cecil Miller alleges Don King defamed and defrauded him by sending out a cease-and-desist letter to everybody involved in the production of the event commemorating the Muhammad Ali versus George Foreman boxing event in 1974 in Kinshasa, Zaire, weeks before the project was scheduled to take place during the 2024 Global Entrepreneurship Festival in Nigeria featuring a purported main event match between welterweights Sugar Shane Mosley and Victor Ortiz.
In a cease-and-desist letter posted on Facebook by Don King Productions Inc., attorneys state Don King never gave authorization to Miller to stage the event. However, Miller claims King gave him his blessing stage the event years prior, and had been looped into various aspects of planning.
“Don King Productions claims they had no knowledge of the event, yet surprisingly they knew exactly whom to send their Cease and Desist order to in(side) the Nigerian government.” Miller said in a lawsuit announced on December 31, 2024. Miller’s two companies are BYD Management and BYD Sports.
Miller claims throughout preparations to stage the event, King offered assurances Miller could proceed with the event, including allegedly offering to compile the fight card and the list of participating boxers. King however went silent during the final months of planning, when Miller was coordinating final preparations to stage then event, as well as and securing sponsorship deals and securing visas for participating athletes and corner personnel,
According to the lawsuit, On October 28, 2024, King called Miller and denied his involvement in the planning for the boxing event. According to the lawsuit, Miller and King began working together in 2021 for a promotional deal for the now deceased Alonzo Butler. Over time, King eventually disclosed his own plans to stage a commemorative event for the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle match between Foreman and Ali. According to Mr. Miller’s legal representatives “To Mr. Miller, it was clear Mr. King needed some help and offered his assistance in putting on the fight in Africa in 2024. Mr. King agreed.”
After that, Miller began working with bankers in the United States and in Africa to put the Rumble in the Jungle II boxing event together, keeping King informed throughout the event preparations, according to the lawsuit. King countered he declined to sign any written agreement.
The bigger question is by the time the lawsuit goes to trial, Don King could be in his late nineties, may pass away, or could be ruled unfit for trial due to his advanced age. King will turn 94 years old on August 30, 2025. According to Wikipedia, King’s career highlights include promoting The Rumble in the Jungle and The Thrilla in Manilla. King has promoted some of the most prominent names in boxing, including Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Larry Holmes, George Foreman, Iron Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Chris Byrd, Julio Cesar Chavez, Salvador Sanchez, Wilfredo Benitez, Gerald McClellan, Bernard Hopkins, Julio Cesar Chavez, and Felix Trinidad.
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