Boxing promoter Don King – hair and all – delivered a lecture at Wharton last night peppered with analogies and money-making advice, despite frequent interruptions of hysterical laughter. Beginning his speech with "I'm Don King and this is my American Express card," King discussed his start in the boxing business and his personal business philosophy, occasionally interjecting his address with advice for the assembled Whartonites: "It's all about making money." King, who is best known for promoting former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson, actually began his career as a promoter for boxing legend Muhammad Ali in the early 1970s. When asked if he had anything to do with Tyson's jail sentence, King replied, "Mike Tyson being in jail was monkey business on his part." After meeting in King's nightclub in Cleveland, Ali signed with King to fight in a charity event for a bankrupt Cleveland hospital. "The show was a smash," said King, who used the success of the charity event to launch his own career. According to King, boxing talent, and the proper marketing of that talent, are the essential factors in the boxing business. But he stressed that only with perseverance and the ability to "embellish on a hot opportunity" could a promoter achieve the bottom line – "profit." "You don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate," he said. King added that skill in dealing and negotiating with people was also essential to success in boxing. "Be patient, reserved and when they don't give [me] what I want, I'll get it somewhere else," King said. Providing business ventures with a marketable image was another of King's rules of the trade. "Rumble in the Jungle," and "Thriller in Manila" were both products of his publicity campaign. But as to whether he used his electric-style hairdo to promote his business, King commented, "My hair is au naturel. It's a gift from God." King, who was acquitted on 24 counts of income-tax evasion, also advised that the best policy is to "write it on before you write it off." "He's definitely a unique individual," said Wharton graduate student Steve Lapidus at the conclusion of King's speech. "[The speech] was inspiring, if not completely understandable." "His insights into business were real, non-theoretical and practical," Wharton senior Robert Smith said. "He started with nothing. You have to admire that." In his final statement King summed up his business theory with a steak analogy. "If you have a steakhouse, the smoke can smell good because of the herbs and spices," he said. "But if the steak doesn't taste good, nobody's coming back. It must be a gustatory delight." "It was a typical Don speech," commented Jeremiah Shabazz, who was a former administrative assistant to Ali. "He murders the King's English, but that's what they want." The Wharton Sports Management Club, with some help from King's public relations agents, brought King to campus. He did not receive a fee for his presentation.
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