Mike Tyson’s Former Promoter Don King Does Not Want These 2 Boxers to Take VADA Anti-Doping Tests

Published 01/14/2021, 1:34 AM EST

One of the best promoters from boxing’s retro era, Don King, has recently made news headlines again. A few days back, King filed to conduct a fight card on January 29 for combatants under his promotion. However, King’s promotion refused to enroll two of his fighters in this card for an anti-doping test.

The Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, an independent organization that offers and promotes effective Anti-doping, recently tweeted about the same.

#DonKingPromotons has asked @Vada_Testing to not enter Raphael Murphy & Beibut Shumenov into our program at this time.
— Vada-Testing.org (@Vada_Testing) January 14, 2021

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Raphael Murphy and Beibut Shumenov’s fight was kept for January 29 for the WBA cruiserweight title. However, the promotion’s decision to not let the combatants enter the testing has caught the eye of boxing fans all over the world.

Both Murphy and Shumenov have fought for a considerable time in the ring, but haven’t quite accrued the required number of eyeballs for their previous fights. Many boxing enthusiasts have reacted to the matter on Twitter.

Don King still being around with signed fighters in 2021 is wild.
— BoxingHelenaa (@BoxingHelenaa) January 14, 2021

This was my first thought. It may cost him some sort of $ to enroll in testing so if the fight’s bogus anyway, why bother?
— Trotman (@trotmanpicks) January 14, 2021

A few boxing fans perceive King’s activeness in the boxing world as ‘wild’. They also felt that the former star promoter is out of money and this fight will anyway not provide him with substantial returns. That is predominantly why King is hesitant to shell out money from his pocket for fighter’s tests.

King has been a big-wig promoter of the sport since the 80s era, having some big names under his wing in form of Mike Tyson, George Foreman, and the ultimate legend Muhammad Ali.

Read – From Mike Tyson to Deontay Wilder- Who are the Hardest Hitters in Boxing History?

Don King and his unusual run as a promoter

King’s first steps into the boxing world as promoter began when he convinced Muhammad Ali to fight in a charity bout. A year later he teamed up with Ali again and promoted his bout against Joe Frazier. King became a star promoter in just a few years and earned his fighters some handsome paychecks.

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Evander Holyfield, Bernard Hopkins, and many others signed deals with him.

For almost two decades now, King has promoted none of the big fights and has considerably kept himself out of the sport.

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His upcoming January 29 card doesn’t seem captivating to boxing fans, and King might just pull off those fights that do not give him enough returns.

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Written by:

Prathamesh Singh Chauhan is a Boxing Author at EssentiallySports. He is a graduate from the International Institute of Sports Management who combines his love for sports, particularly combat sports, and his flair for writing and analysis to help him in his day-to-day work. He has prior professional experience with sporting organizations such as Star Sports, Khelo India, and NBA.

Mike Tyson’s Former Promoter Don King Does Not Want These 2 Boxers to Take VADA Anti-Doping Tests

Don King and his unusual run as a promoter

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