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Don King, Mike Tyson and Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson never put on a set of boxing gloves, but legendary boxing promoter Don King was instrumental on the 1984 Jackson 5 reunion and Victory Tour that grossed over $150 million.
King served as co-promoter along with Michael’s father Joe Jackson and at the time it would turn out to be the last time the group would include the King of Pop. During the tour, he would introduce four new dance moves include his famous moonwalk.
Michael had already achieved solo stardom, but King was instrumental in bringing title sponsor Pepsi to the table, which would ultimately launch a massively successful television commercial campaign that would feature the iconic Michael.
Five years later the group would release their seventh Epic album and first without Michael that featured hit “2300 Jackson Street” that referred to their Gary Indiana address where the incredible music odyssey was born.
The Victory Tour was supposed to extend to a world wide adventure, but Michael wrote King a letter telling him that he had no interest in doing so and left the group after a speech at Dodger Stadium.
When he died last week at the age of 50, the news obviously hit King like a lighting bolt, which was in Florida promoting an upcoming boxing match.
King is longtime friends with the Jackson family and could not be reached this week for comment.
However, knowing King for nearly two decades, he will more than likely honor his fallen friend at his event on July 11 in Sunrise FL.
Just check the list of the notable celebrities who attended the Victory Tour at Dodger Stadium and you get the hint of just a hint of what a star magnet Michael Jackson was and will always be:
Emmanuel Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Steven Spielberg, Quincy Jones, Eric Estrada, Andy Warhol, Sir Paul McCartney, Julian and Sean Lennon, Yoko Ono, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson, Billy Joel, Brooke Shields, Eddie Van Halen, David Lee Roth, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, James Brown, and Chuck Berry.
