- Boxing promoter Don King, known for his work with greats Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, has been named in a civil lawsuit alleging fraud over a failed bid to resurrect Rumble in the Jungle 2 as an homage to Ali’s famous bout with then-undefeated heavyweight George Foreman in 1974.
Controversial boxing promoter Don King and his Florida-based production company are being sued by BYD Sports and CEO Cecil Miller in a civil challenge alleging fraud, defamation, breach of contract, and other allegations, according to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Plaintiffs are seeking damages of $3 billion.
According to the complaint and court documents detailing their interactions, King allegedly encouraged Miller to pursue a 50th anniversary matchup called Rumble in the Jungle 2 in Africa, which Miller did despite the lack of a formal agreement in place. After setting in motion the groundwork for a star-studded series of boxing matches in Nigeria—replete with a wish list for musical events with artists such as John Legend, Alicia Keys, and Wyclef Jean—King allegedly bailed when Miller asked him to help promote the event and disavowed Miller before the events could be finalized.
Attorney Anthony J.M. Jones, who is representing Miller, said King derailed the event at the final stages, after trying to remain on the fringes of the planning carried out by Miller. “It’s confounding when you look at how many people were working on this,” Jones told Fortune.
“This is just a sad day for the sport,” he said. “We are now in 2025 and there will never be a chance to do a 50th anniversary of a fight between Foreman and Ali—and to do it in Africa.”
King did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fortune.
The court documents in Miller’s suit include a copy of a cease-and-desist letter identical to one King posted on his Instagram account. The letter accuses Miller of falsely representing to government officials that King authorized him to stage a Rumble in the Jungle 50th anniversary event. Miller’s lawyer denied the claims in the letter, calling it “sabotage” on King’s part.
Before the rift, King and Miller were cordial, as laid out in the complaint. According to court documents, King told Miller that his past alleged controversies were behind him, and that King had embraced religion after his wife’s death in 2010. By working with Miller, referred to in the complaint as “a preacher’s son,” King could clean up his past reputation, it states. Accordingly, King and Miller struck a deal on behalf of boxer Alonzo “Big Zo” Butler and King’s production company, Don King Productions. A subsequent fight took place on Aug. 28, 2021, between Butler and boxer Brandon Spencer. (Both Butler and Spencer are now deceased.)
After the matchup, King confided in Miller that he was organizing a “Rumble in the Jungle 2” event to mark the 50th anniversary of the historic bout between the two titans of boxing: then-underdog Ali facing off against the undefeated heavyweight champion George Foreman. The legendary battle, which featured Ali’s “rope-a-dope” strategy that exhausted Foreman by the eighth round, took place on Oct. 30, 1974, in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. The event catapulted King to stardom, and Miller was “excited to hear about it,” the complaint states.
As Miller and King struck up a friendly relationship, the complaint states King gifted Miller a rare coin and spoke with Miller’s father and daughter. About a year later, Miller followed up on the status of Rumble in the Jungle 2. King, the complaint states, was 92 years old at the time and Miller believed King needed help in getting the fight organized to take place in Africa in 2024.
Miller claims BYD sent King a proposal to formalize the agreement but allegedly never got a written response. However, King carried on asking Miller verbally how the planning was going, the complaint alleges. It notes Miller brought in bankers from Africa and the U.S., and King was allegedly aware of progress on the event. Instead of signing a formal agreement, Miller and King eventually opted to publish a video on social media so King could confirm he was working with Miller, according to the complaint.
In January 2024, King and Miller later discussed Nigeria as a potential venue, in tandem with the country’s Global Entrepreneurship Festival. Miller’s BYD and festival representatives entered into a memorandum of understanding for a series of five fights to take place before a well-heeled audience of invited guests, world leaders, and heads of state and industry, the complaint alleges. But in July, when BYD invited King to appear on a Zoom to promote the event, King ghosted, allegedly refusing to answer calls and emails from Miller and BYD between July and October.
At this point, Miller claims he learned King allegedly did not own the rights to Rumble in the Jungle. Still, Miller pursued the event, exploring licensing the name and pursuing another title. He also began to recruit boxing champs to participate in Nigeria along with a pay-per-view partner and potential sponsors. Yet in October, King claimed to have no knowledge of Miller’s event plans and sent cease-and-desist letters to Nigerian officials, the complaint states. The fight never took place.
The complaint states the fight between Ali and Foreman grossed $100 million at the time with more than 1 billion viewers globally, an amount equal to $600 million today. The complaint seeks damages in that amount as well as $2.4 billion in prospective damages and a formal written apology.
