Legendary Boxing Promoter Invited to Speak at International Peace Conference In the Middle East
Don King Will Join Panel Discussion on ‘Overcoming Hurdles through Sports’
Deerfield Beach, Florida October 21, 2008 — Legendary boxing promoter Don King will be speaking at an international peace conference organized by Peres Center for Peace, an international non-profit organization that promotes peace and reconciliation in the Middle East, on October 27th at the Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Mr. King will participate as a panelist and share his thoughts on the unique ability of sports to transcend barriers in language, politics, religion, and gender and how sports have been used as a powerful peacemaking tool.
Joining Mr. King in the discussion will be Joseph Blatter, President of FIFA; Ramon Calderon, President, Real Madrid Football Club; Alex Gilady, Founder and President of Keshet and Senior Vice President, NBC Sports and Olympics; Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Vice-Chair, Laureus World Sport Academy and Paralympic Gold Medalist; Edwin Moses, Chair, Laureus World Sport Academy and Olympic Gold Medalist; and Jibril Rajoub, President of the Palestinian Football Federation.
“Since the Rumble in the Jungle in 1974 featuring Muhammad Ali and George Foreman and the following year with the Thrilla in Manila where Ali faced Joe Frazier for the third and final time, I have experienced first hand how sports can make a difference in bringing people from different countries, races and religions together to achieve things many once felt were unachieveable,” King said.
“Sports speak a universal language that offers powerful tools to promote peace, tolerance, and understanding between people. Sports have the unique ability to bring people who would not normally join together to cross the lines of religion, gender, race, and geography. I am convinced the value of sports, if better recognized and utilized, could contribute to a more equal, just, fair, and peaceful world.”
The panel discussion will take place on Monday, October 27th and is part of a three-day seminar beginning on Sunday, October 26th. The annual seminar commemorates the formation of the Peres Center for Peace in Israel.
The Peres Center for Peace is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan, non-governmental organization founded in 1996 by Mr. Shimon Peres, President of Israel and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, with the aim of furthering his vision in which people of the Middle East region can work together to build peace through socio-economic cooperation and development, and people-to-people interaction. The first Director General of the Peres Center was Ambassador Uri Savir who, together with Mr. Peres, established the organization and currently serves as President. For more information please visit www.peres-center.org.
Few personalities have transformed an entire industry the way Don King has affected boxing and event promotions. He has promoted over 500 world-championship matches to date, and holds the distinction of having promoted or co-promoted seven of the 10 largest pay-per-view events in history—the biggest of which featured the legendary heavyweight Mike Tyson.
He has promoted or co-promoted 12 of the top 20 highest-grossing live gates in the history of the state of Nevada including four of the top five
Mr. King is a six-time World Boxing Association (WBA) “Promoter of the Year” and also was named “Promoter of the Century” and “Promoter of the Millennium” by the WBA. The International Boxing Federation (IBF) named him “Promoter of the Decade” in 1996 and the World Boxing Council (WBC) deemed him the “Greatest Promoter of All Time” in 1994.
He was the only promoter named to Sports Illustrated’s “40 Most Influential Sports Figures of the Last 40 Years” in 1994; was the first boxing promoter to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1997; and was inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame in Las Vegas on Sept. 16.
