King Answers Douglas-Mirage Suit by Filing His Own Against Them

Boxing promoter Don King, slapped with a lawsuit Wednesday by heavyweight champion Buster Douglas and the Mirage Hotel, responded in kind Thursday.

King, in a suit filed in U.S. District Court in New York against Douglas and the Mirage, seeks several million dollars in damages and an injunction to prevent Douglas from fighting anyone without King as promoter.

Douglas and the Mirage are seeking to break King’s exclusive promotional clause in the contract Douglas had to sign in order to fight then-champion Mike Tyson in Tokyo Feb. 11.

King’s suit names the Mirage and Golden Nugget, Inc., parent company of the Mirage, as interfering with King’s contract with Douglas.

The Mirage said Wednesday it had signed Douglas to a “conditional agreement” for his first title defense in September, probably against Evander Holyfield, providing his contract with King can be broken in court.

Also Thursday, new details trickled out on the Douglas-Mirage deal. It was reported that it is actually a two-fight deal, with Douglas getting $25 million for the first fight and, if successful, $35 million to fight Tyson. Douglas will also acquire, if successful in both fights, an option to buy 100,000 shares of Golden Nugget stock, the Associated Press reported.