More than $3 billion is being sought in a lawsuit against renowned boxing promoter Don King, who is accused of lying about attending an anniversary gala for his historic “Rumble in the Jungle.”
Two limited liability firms, BYD Sports and BYD Management, filed a complaint against King in federal court last month, claiming defamation, tortious interference, and fraud.
Cecil Miller, the CEO of BYD, claims in the complaint that he worked with King on a “Rumble in the Jungle 2” for over a year before Don King Productions issued a cease and desist, stating that it had no connection to the event.
NBC News’s request for comment was not immediately answered by Don King Productions. Neither King’s nor the company’s court records mention an attorney.
The “Rumble in the Jungle” is one of King’s most well-known events; it was a 1974 African bout between the great boxers George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. The event was held in Zaire at the time, which is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
According to the lawsuit, Don King Productions and BYD collaborated on a number of events starting in 2021, and King discussed with Miller his plan to celebrate the match’s 50th anniversary. According to the lawsuit, Miller thought King required assistance organizing “Rumble in the Jungle 2” and BYD sent a proposal on the subject in August 2023.
“Although the receipt was acknowledged by DKP s team, there has never been a written response to the proposal to date,” the complaint stated.
A copy of a “deal memorandum” was included in the court filings that NBC News was able to get.
The lawsuit claims that Miller and King went on to talk extensively about the anniversary celebration and that Miller suggested holding the match in Nigeria.
Miller claims that at one point in May, he informed King that King’s daughter was considering hosting a similar event and that he would withdraw if King’s daughter was in charge. According to the lawsuit, King allegedly told Miller at the time that his daughter “had a bad history and was not to be trusted” because she had previously lied to him.
The lawsuit claimed that while BYD was still working on the arrangements for “Rumble in the Jungle 2,” Don King Productions was “avoiding all communications.” Additionally, the lawsuit claims that throughout the discussion of the issue, King misrepresented his rights to the “Rumble in the Jungle” trademark.
On November 1, Don King Productions shared a cease and desist letter from an Ohio law firm to BYD on its Facebook page. According to the firm’s letter, King and the production business were informed that BYD was “falsely representing” to the Nigerian government that they had given their approval for the “Rumble in the Jungle 2” event.
According to the lawsuit, tickets were scheduled to go on sale the same day the cease and desist letter was posted, and BYD had already obtained licenses for the event. The lawsuit claims that King called Miller a few days earlier and claimed to have “no idea” what Miller was doing.
King allegedly recorded his “blessing” for the occasion, according to Miller. The court papers contain an exhibit that features a picture of King along with the lines “it’s go time and Don King cosigned.” It looks like a snapshot of a video that was uploaded to BYD’s verified Instagram account on December 3, 2023, in which King smiles at the camera as a man pans the camera to him and says, “We’re going to get down to business.”
The video doesn’t reference “Rumble in the Jungle 2” at all, and King doesn’t say anything.
On December 19, King and Don King Productions received an electronic summons when it was discovered that the summons request contained several filing errors.
Additionally, in December, a judge ordered BYD to resubmit its complaint, citing the suit’s failure to specify the plaintiffs’ citizenship. On December 18, an amended complaint was submitted, however it did not address the problem.
According to court documents, a judge issued an order last week requiring the LLC members to clarify their citizenship by January 17 or face the complaint being dismissed.
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