King's career highlights include, among multiple other enterprises, promoting "The Rumble in the Jungle" and the "Thrilla in Manila".

King has promoted some of the most prominent names in boxing, including Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Tomasz Adamek, Roberto Duran, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Chris Byrd, John Ruiz, Julio César Chávez, Ricardo Mayorga, Andrew Golota, Bernard Hopkins, Félix Trinidad, Roy Jones Jr., Azumah Nelson, Gerald McClellan, Marco Antonio Barrera, Salvador Sanchez, Wilfred Benitez, Wilfredo Gomez and Christy Martin.

Mike Tyson was quoted as saying, "He did more bad to black fighters than any white promoter ever in the history of boxing.

In 1954, King shot a man in the back after spotting him trying to rob one of his gambling houses; this incident was ruled a justifiable homicide.

His mother made a living selling peanuts and homemade pies, helped by King and his younger sister and sold the wares at a local "policy house" that used the guise of a concession stand to run a numbers game.

[7][8] King graduated from John Adams High in 1951 and briefly attended Kent State University before dropping out.

[9] Beginning in 1951, King ran an illegal bookmaking operation out of the basement of a record store on Kinsman Road, earning the byname "The Kid", as well as the nicknames "Kingpin" and "the Numbers Czar".

[12][13][14] On April 20, 1966, King killed an employee, 34-year-old Sam Garrett, in an open street in front of several witnesses, for owing $600 in debt.

[2][18] While he served his term at the Marion Correctional Institution,[19][20] he began self-education; according to his own words, he read everything in the prison library he could get his hands on.

That's why I want other kids to educate themselves, put it in their brain, they can't take that away.In 1972 after serving three years and eleven months,[1] King was released when his attorney reduced the conviction to manslaughter.

Early on, he formed a partnership with a local promoter named Don Elbaum, who already had a stable of fighters in Cleveland and years of experience in boxing.

In 1974, King negotiated to promote a heavyweight championship fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire, popularly known as "The Rumble in the Jungle".

Throughout the decade, he compiled an impressive roster of fighters, many of whom would finish their career with Hall of Fame credentials.

Fighters including Larry Holmes, Wilfred Benítez, Roberto Durán, Salvador Sánchez, Wilfredo Gómez, and Alexis Argüello would all fight under the Don King Productions promotional banner in the 1970s.

Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Julio César Chávez, Aaron Pryor, Bernard Hopkins, Ricardo López, Félix Trinidad, Terry Norris, Carlos Zárate, Azumah Nelson, Andrew Gołota, Mike McCallum, Gerald McClellan, Meldrick Taylor, Marco Antonio Barrera, Tomasz Adamek, John Ruiz, and Ricardo Mayorga are some of the boxers who chose King to promote many of their biggest fights.

[27] In 1998, King purchased a Cleveland-based weekly newspaper serving the African American community in Ohio, the Call and Post, and as of 2011 continued as its publisher.

[35] During the previous election, he had made media appearances promoting George W. Bush, which had included attendance at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City.

[41] Widespread concern for King's health was prompted by a Mike Tyson media interview where he said, "You know, Don is not doing well right now.

Holmes says he received only $150,000 of a contracted $500,000 for his fight with Ken Norton, and $50,000 of $200,000 for facing Earnie Shavers, and claims King cut his purses for bouts with Muhammad Ali, Randall "Tex" Cobb, and Leon Spinks, underpaying him $2 million, $700,000, and $250,000, respectively.

Holmes sued King over the accounting and auditing for the Gerry Cooney fight, charging that he was underpaid by $2 to $3 million.

King had deducted money for training expenses, sparring partners, fight and airplane tickets for his friends and family.

[54] Former undisputed World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Mike Tyson has described King, his former promoter, as "ruthless", "deplorable", and "greedy".

[58][59] In 2005, King launched a $2.5 billion defamation suit against the Walt Disney Pictures–owned ESPN, the makers of SportsCentury, after a documentary alleged that King had "killed, not once, but twice", threatened to break Larry Holmes' legs, had a hospital invest in a film that was never made, cheated Meldrick Taylor out of $1 million, and then threatened to have Taylor killed.