Dong King: Rahman will KO Vitaliy. No FW.
THE KINGDOM'S HEAVYWEIGHTS (source: maxboxing)
Don't believe for one second that King wasn't amused by the paltry pay-per-view numbers of Vitali Klitschko, whose bout against Danny Williams tallied around 120,000 buys.
Despite HBO's constant promoting, the bottom line is, Klitschko needs a dance partner to be a success at the box office. Based on his numbers, he's really not that much more marketable than guys like Chris Byrd and Hasim Rahman. In fact, he may need them in the future.
The public is not buying Klitschko, at the moment, as THE clear, undisputed heavyweight champion.
"Absolutely, because he's in the pot with all of them," said King, who happens to promote Byrd and Rahman, along with John Ruiz and Lamon Brewster. "He's no more meaningful than them. They were selling him as the 'Great White Hope'. They weren't saying 'Great White Hope' but that's what every indication was and they didn't know how to deal with it.
"Because on my worst day, if I was promoting Vitali Klitschko, I do more than 120,000 buys. But the idea is that he didn't and so he's right in there with the rest of the guys in the group and all the rest of the guys fighting."
But the question is, will his guys ever get a crack at the current WBC titlist, tournament or otherwise?
"Yes," stated King, unequivocally. "In my opinion, I think that Hasim Rahman will knock out Vitali Klitschko and that's why I'm working urgently and feverishly with Shelly Finkel (who advises Klitschko) and everyone else to give him his day in the ring. If he don't, I'll be really shocked and dismayed if he doesn't. However, if he should win, I got all the titles and I will certainly do a tournament and in the meantime I will try to work something out with Klitschko now that I know he's free of Universum.
"So if we can work out a deal, I would love to do it; I think both of those brothers are very nice guys."
But King doesn't think they're cut out to be boxers.
"I think they're too intelligent to be prizefighters," he says. "They got PhD's and their PhD's tell them not to get hit. Well, that's the 'Sweet Science', hit and not be hit. However, I think they don't have that killer instinct, they don't have the risk taking factor that really makes a great champion. And they really need somebody that would tell them this and urge them to do this. Even in victory, is defeat.
"So you gotta get a guy that will snatch victory out of defeat, or will be able to take the reckless chance or have reckless abandon to really capture the imagination of the public."
Don't believe for one second that King wasn't amused by the paltry pay-per-view numbers of Vitali Klitschko, whose bout against Danny Williams tallied around 120,000 buys.
Despite HBO's constant promoting, the bottom line is, Klitschko needs a dance partner to be a success at the box office. Based on his numbers, he's really not that much more marketable than guys like Chris Byrd and Hasim Rahman. In fact, he may need them in the future.
The public is not buying Klitschko, at the moment, as THE clear, undisputed heavyweight champion.
"Absolutely, because he's in the pot with all of them," said King, who happens to promote Byrd and Rahman, along with John Ruiz and Lamon Brewster. "He's no more meaningful than them. They were selling him as the 'Great White Hope'. They weren't saying 'Great White Hope' but that's what every indication was and they didn't know how to deal with it.
"Because on my worst day, if I was promoting Vitali Klitschko, I do more than 120,000 buys. But the idea is that he didn't and so he's right in there with the rest of the guys in the group and all the rest of the guys fighting."
But the question is, will his guys ever get a crack at the current WBC titlist, tournament or otherwise?
"Yes," stated King, unequivocally. "In my opinion, I think that Hasim Rahman will knock out Vitali Klitschko and that's why I'm working urgently and feverishly with Shelly Finkel (who advises Klitschko) and everyone else to give him his day in the ring. If he don't, I'll be really shocked and dismayed if he doesn't. However, if he should win, I got all the titles and I will certainly do a tournament and in the meantime I will try to work something out with Klitschko now that I know he's free of Universum.
"So if we can work out a deal, I would love to do it; I think both of those brothers are very nice guys."
But King doesn't think they're cut out to be boxers.
"I think they're too intelligent to be prizefighters," he says. "They got PhD's and their PhD's tell them not to get hit. Well, that's the 'Sweet Science', hit and not be hit. However, I think they don't have that killer instinct, they don't have the risk taking factor that really makes a great champion. And they really need somebody that would tell them this and urge them to do this. Even in victory, is defeat.
"So you gotta get a guy that will snatch victory out of defeat, or will be able to take the reckless chance or have reckless abandon to really capture the imagination of the public."
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