Don King Quotes & Sayings

This is a setback. You get back up, you dust yourself off, and you get back in the game. We had a great singer named Ray Charles who wrote a song called 'Drowning in My Tears.' You can't afford to drown in your tears. You gotta go back, rededicate yourself, redouble your efforts, and persevere. — Don King

Bonjour to all the beautiful people of Montreal because this is like home to me. We had Sugar Ray Leonard here who changed the globe and took on Roberto Duran right here in Montreal. How did we get to Montreal? Because it's one of the fairest cities in the world. We were looking for a neutral site and we picked Montreal. Sugar Ray Leonard came in and Roberto Duran beat him - because we got our fair shake in Montreal. — Don King

Only in America can you find so many angry people claiming to love their country, while hating almost anyone in it. — Don King

You can see the clouds rolling in and thunder is imminent. — Don King

You see, the problem with me is I'm so good even my friends think I'm doing something wrong. Flair and flamboyance is not illegal. It may be detestable, it may be offensive, but it's not illegal. — Don King

Man O' War was a great racehorse, but if I put a extra 20 pounds on him they would say I was cruel to the animal. So don't ask me to do that to Chavez. — Don King

You ever stop to think they can't rob you of knowledge? They can strip you and you've still got it. — Don King

All of my fighters should get down on their knees and thank me for what I've done for them. — Don King

Against the odd's, I have persevered, I am the living attestation of the American dream. I am the extolment of this great nation. I have coffee and cocktails with presidents and dictators. I'm an international figure, a citizen of the world. I've made it. — Don King

My hair is God's aura. Everything went up when I got home from the penitentiary. One night I went to lie down next to my wife, and my hair started popping and uncurling all on its own - ping, ping, ping, ping! I knew that it was God telling me to stay on the righteous path so he could one day pull me up to be there with him. — Don King

If you cast your bread upon the water and you have faith, you'll get back cash. If you don't have faith, you'll get soggy bread. — Don King

If he says he has the pizzazz and the sizzle, I have the steak, and substance. I've made more money than he's made. I've made bigger deals than he's made, when he's got the complexion to get the protection. — Don King

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, I stand before you a free man. Free in body, free in spiret and free in mind! It has been a long, hard and excruciatingingly painful road. For more than five years there has been one investigation after another and now, vindication. And to give the proper dimension I take the cherished words of the late great Dr Martin Luther King: Free at last ... thank God Almighty, I'm free at last. — Don King

When you can count your money, you ai'nt got none. — Don King

I can't believe what I said about myself. What I said in my own private conversations with myself to an ESPN producer are my business, and I had no business saying them to someone else. — Don King

Don King is a damn sleezebag. King is nothing but a strong-arm man. He has taken his gangsterism and put it into boxing. — Don King

From the very beginning I used sound business practices in everything I did. White businessman uses them to make money he's a genius. Black businessman uses them he's a crook. That's the way it is. — Don King

When you lose the title, that doesn't mean you lose the contract to what you had. Just like when you win the title, it doesn't mean you win brains, PhDs and MAs. — Don King

I'll pay them right after it snows in Panama. Let Eleta pay them if he feels so strongly about it. — Don King

Machiavelli taught me it was better to be feared than loved. Because if you are loved they sense you might be weak. I am a man of the people and help them but it is important to do so through strength. — Don King

Mike Tyson has been given ever penny he has coming. — Don King

I had a moment of religious epiphanosity. — Don King

I would never know how good I was if I didn't have Bob Arum. Bob Arum is white, Jewish; He was working for prosecutor's office. I'm black, an ex-convict, ex-number runner. Who would be most likely to succeed? It would be Bob 100-1. Yet I beat Bob on everything we ever done, with love. — Don King

There's nothing I love more in life than turning around a bigot. — Don King

James Brown died owing me $50,000. But I loved James Brown. — Don King

People are my most important asset. Faith in the supreme being, trust, credibility and performance are the things that have brought me to the top. — Don King

He worked for the day when all people would be clothed in dignity. — Don King

Only in America can a Barack Obama happen. Only in America can a Don King happen. — Don King

His credibility is zilch, virtually nil. — Don King

There's only been three giant promoters in our lifetime. There's Michael Todd, P.T. Barnum, and yours truly. — Don King

Muhammad Ali - he was a magnificent fighter and he was an icon ... Every head must bow, every knee must bend, every tongue must confess, thou art the greatest, the greatest of all time, Muhammad, Muhammad Ali. — Don King

She's (Christy Martin) voluptuous and intoxicating no smear lipstick. Here's a woman who pounds it out and her lipstick don't smear. Revlon should jump on that like white on rice, you know what I mean? Max Factor, Elizabeth Arden. — Don King

I transcend earthly bounds. I never cease to amaze myself because I haven't yet found my limits. I am quite ready to accept the limits of what I can do, but every time I feel that way - boom! - God touches me and I do something that's even more stupendous than whatever I've done up to then. — Don King

I'm an ardent American Football fan. — Don King

I never cease to amaze myself. And I say this humbly — Don King

You don't get nothing from sleep but a dream. — Don King

Integrity, number one. Even in business that's predicated on lies I refuse to become part of the lies that is all-consuming. — Don King

I don't promote boxing, I promote people. Boxing is a catalyst to bring people together. — Don King

Bernard Hopkins' accomplishments and achievements are far beyond that of the norm. — Don King

Martin Luther King took us to the mountain top: I want to take us to the bank. — Don King

I'm the best promoter in the world because I haven't taken a day off work since I left the penitentiary, and because I have read all the great philosophers like St. Thomas Aquinine. — Don King

I've whipped the Harvard graduate's ass. Nothing against Harvard - it's a hell of a school - but there I was, twenty five yards behind, wrapped in leg irons, and I beat him. — Don King

You go for the quality of the performance, not the longevity of it. — Don King

Opportunity is the greatest charity. — Don King

I am so happy to be at Barclays Center. When I saw Brett Yormark, I thought to myself that he and his brother Michael are doing an amazing job. — Don King

Hypocrisy is the mother of all evil and racial prejudice is still her favourite child. — Don King

Only in america will you see people circling the parking lot looking for a close space at a gym. — Don King

Mike Tyson was one of the most terrific athletes I've ever met. — Don King

They went down the list of every known charge conceivable to man - rackeering, skimming, kickback, ticket scalping. fixing fights, preordaining fights, vitaiting officials, corrupting judges, all the way down to laundering money. Everything but the Lindbergh baby. — Don King

There's nothing wrong with options. Options are everywhere. In movies, in sports. Options is not a dirty word. I need to pay my overheads, you know. I invest a lot of money developing a fighter and then I deserve to reap the rewards. — Don King

Out of all the fighters that I have developed, clothed, financed, Gerrie Coetzee is the only one who had the decency to say 'thanks'. — Don King

Who would you vote most likely to succeed? Bob Arum - White, Jewish, a graduate of Harvard, a Kennady Raider, United States Attorney. Don King - black, poor, out of the hard core getto of Cleveland, Ohio, numbers runner, a little confectionary dealer, ex-convict. Now who would you vote to succeed? It would be hands down ... Yet in this great land called America, I have out performed, outachieved, been more recognizable, did more, broke more records, and had more of a phenominal career, where Arum can't tie my shoe string. You understand? — Don King

Larry is like a son to me and we enjoy a most wonderful relationship, one with meaning, dignity, pride, understanding and purpose. But more importantly, one of mutual respect. Larry and I both pride ourselves on being men of our word and when we say we will be together for life it is not just convention but is said with feeling and commitment that comes from struggling together, growing together and being family. — Don King

Only in America could a Don King happen. — Don King

I will fight for America till the day I drop. — Don King

You can be the greatest guy in the world but if you ain't got no heart, you ain't gonna survive. — Don King

When I came into boxing, when it was more out of control, no fighters got an opportunity to fight. I came in: everybody got an opportunity to make a living in America. — Don King

Do I play tennis? Man, I had one of the baddest overhead rights of anyone. Bam! — Don King

If you want to sell a steak, you can't just have the sizzle, you gotta have sauce. — Don King

I wasn't getting invited to any board meetings. I had to kick the door down. — Don King

I am the living attestation of the American dream. I am the extolment of this great nation. — Don King

The Dies tournament is always hard. We look forward to it every year from a competitive level. This is one of the biggest highlights of our season. This tournament has excellent tradition. — Don King

I dare to be great. The man without imagination stands unhurt and hath no wings. This is my credo, this is my forte. — Don King

You can't rule the world, but what you can do is win the world with love and understanding. — Don King

If a bullfrog had wings it wouldn't bump his behind every time he hopped. — Don King

I am a product of a rat and roach infested black ghetto. It is easy for me to rationalize my dealings as a numbers man. I'll defend men today who are involved in it. — Don King

I don't see you making a movie about Bob Arum. — Don King

I will fight for America until the day I drop. — Don King

Mike Tyson has been given every penny he has coming. — Don King

Oh yes, the Klitschkos. They got to learn how to fight. Period. But I'll tell you one thing - they're great human specimens. And I'd be happy to be able to work with them. If they chose to work with me. They had an opportunity when they got free of Peter Kohl - they didn't come to me. You know, I'm with who's with me. And I really don't care what fighter it is. I would be happy to promote them..Who could beat Vitali? Rahman could beat Vitali. His style is suited to beat Vitali ... — Don King

Reality show? You can't find anything better than boxing because of the trials and errors, the ups and downs, the struggle when you get knocked down to get back up. Use it symbolically and interchangeably for life. — Don King

Michael seems to have lost his values temporarily. He just has to be worked with, disciplined and talked to and given some tender loving care and understanding. — Don King

I'm a promoter of the people for the people and by the people and my magic lies in my people ties. I'm a promoter of America. I'm American people. You know what I mean? So therefore, uh, do not send for who the bell tolls 'cause the bell tolls for thee. — Don King

You sign an agreement; you make a contract, you live up to it. You never get what you deserve. You get what you negotiate. You got a right to say yay or nay. — Don King

I never get tired because it ain't energy that's being dispenced. It is GOD speaking through me. — Don King

If you envy me whatever modicom of success that I enjoy, you must also envy me my time, my labour, my finance, my anxiety, my frustration and my determination. Jose Sulaiman is the greatest boxing man that I have ever met. I think he is a knight in shining armour for the boxer, but I always insulate myself with the rules. — Don King

When we started, it was based on lies. It's changing now. There are no secrets in the business. You've got to come with the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It's becoming very confusing. — Don King

It ain't about if he knocks a guy out. It's about how he knocks a guy out. It's the style, the improvisation. — Don King

Man, I've been to jail. It was hell in there, but I survived, If they put me back, I'll come out again. I'm one of the world's great survivors. I'll always survive because I've got the right combination of wit, grit and bullshit. — Don King

You know what animals exist in the desert. He's going to his indigenous natural habitat. What better place for night crawlers? — Don King

There's only one rule anyone connected with boxing must keep in mind - everything you here in boxing is a lie. — Don King

If you are a blackman in America and get stopped by the police, make sure you have a vidio camera. Don't rely on some passerby to film the beating. Rodney King was just lucky. — Don King

He speaks English, Spanish, and he's bilingual too. — Don King

You must believe the unbelievable, snatch the possible out of the impossible. — Don King

My career is one of people involvement. I'm a promoter of the people, by the people, for the people. My magic lies, my people ties, this is what I want to do. I'm in it to win, I cant give in, I can't give up and I cant quit. Victory is mine. Working together works. — Don King