Hall of Fame promoter Don King may soon be returning to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly known as Zaire, for “Rumble in the Jungle 2.” King signed the Congo’s Ilunga Makabu (26-2, 24 KOs), who is the WBC’s #1 contender for the vacant cruiserweight championship. “I am thrilled at the opportunity to help Ilunga Makabu become a world champion,” said King. “He’s a very talented fighter, who is most deserving of a shot at the WBC belt and we will do everything to make his championship dream come true.
“I would love to bring Makabu’s title fight to his home country and promote five championship bouts, a boxing extravaganza featuring a WBA heavyweight championship bout and two cruiserweight championship bouts. Makabu fighting for the WBC world cruiserweight championship and a female championship bout, Nigeria’s own Helen Joseph, the Iron Lady and another championship bout to be named.”
WBA cruiserweight champion Beibut Shumenov would defend his title on the same show, with the WBA and WBC champions meeting each other for a unification down the road.
“I’d like to thank one of the most respected fight managers, Lee Holliday, for bringing Makabu and his manager, Tarik Saadi together with us. We look forward to working with Ferdinand Luyoyo, the President of the Boxing Federation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
“We are very happy to sign with Don King and learn from the best,” said Saadi. “I am very happy to be in Miami to work together to put Africa and Congo boxing on the world map.”
Makabu has won seven consecutive fights, the last coming Aug. 24, when he earned a majority decision against Aleksei Papin to retain his WBC silver cruiserweight title. He’s scored 24 knockouts in his 26 victories against two losses. One of his two losses came in a WBC cruiserweight championship bout to Tony Bellew in Liverpool on May 29, 2016.
Count da money ,before you leave the room,mr Makabu
Its amazing that DK still finds victims :))
Another victim of this gangster.
The Delusion is this = (There is a difference between Don King and other Promoters!)
True
Paul D’ The Punch Professor
The beginning of the end of your career right there
Traver Byrant he fought one time in year fights low D class fighters makes no money ..that’s Kings WAY bad news ..
Everyone rips Don King and ODLH for their promotions but in a sense, when u sign with the devil, u get what u get, dont cry about it later.. oh wait… cant forget about the dirtiest promoter of em all in Bob Arum. U wanna know why Crawford cant get a fight? It’s not cuz these guys don’t wanna fight him, it’s his shitty promoter that nobody wants to work with. Lose Arum like smart fighters have In the past and then start ur new SUCCESSFUL career.
I remeber this dude in his last fight. Def has the look of a fighter. Muscles, big ass head, good genetics. Only comes forward, good fan-friendly addition.
It’s funny that fight fans refer to every promoter in the sport as a crook, criminal, dirtbag/scumbag promoter, yet its the promoters themselves who finance the career of a fighter until they reach a level where the networks start kicking in some cash. Most fighters never reach that level or get knocked off before a promoter can even recoup their investment. The actual scumbags of the sport are the managers behind these fighters who sign them and have them sign over in most cases 33% of their career earnings, purses, sponsorships, endorsements, etc. If a fighter earns a $100,000 purse, the manager takes $33,000, $10,000 to the trainer (10%), another $10,000 (10%) to the rest of the team, and the fighter takes home $47,000 (less than half). The promoter takes 0% of the fighter’s purse, and they’re the ones who pay it – in addition to all other event costs. Promoters make their money (or recoup their investment) from site fees, tickets, sponsorship, or broadcast license fees if they’ve done their job properly and promoted their fighter to a point where fight fans are interested in watching them. It’s incredible how little fight fans know about the inner workings of the sport and how the fights they’ve come to love were made possible. One day, I hope some hot-shot producer takes the time to do a full-blown documentary on the day-to-day life and business of a boxing promoter.