ICONIC promoter Don King has welcomed ‘Rumble in The Jungle 2’ after Ilunga Makabu threatened to knock out Canelo Alvarez.
King staged arguably the most famous fight of all time in 1974, when Muhammad Ali upset George Foreman in Zaire, now known as The Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Fast forward 48 years and the 90-year-old is ready to do it all again with cruiserweight champion Makabu, 34, and Mexican superstar Canelo, 31.
Alvarez requested to fight the Congo’s WBC champion in November last year – and King knows just the occasion for it.
In an exclusive interview with SunSport, he said: “Canelo is the one who challenged Makabu.
“Now whether Canelo fights Makabu or not, Makabu certainly says, ‘I want to fight, I accept to fight’.
“Makabu said it can be Rumble in The Jungle 2, we can go back to Zaire with a major, major attraction.
“He says, I’m from Zaire, where the iconic Rumble in The Jungle between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman was.
“And Makabu said, ‘I’m going to do to Canelo, what Muhammad Ali did to George Foreman and that’s knock you out’.
“Now, I don’t know whether that’s going to scare Alvarez away or not, but we remain ready, willing and able to fight one of the greatest fighters out there today, Canelo Alvarez.”
During his SIX decades in the sport, King has worked with some of the most legendary names ever, including Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather.
But even the veteran American cannot contain his excitement with the prospect of promoting boxing’s current pound-for-pound best for the first time.
What King is all too familiar with though is the dark arts used by power brokers in the sport – having been arguably the biggest one of them all.
It leaves him expecting a fight to secure Canelo’s signature, with almost every promoter in boxing trying their luck.
King said: “We are the only two noted as working for greatness, that have not come together, so for me it would be a living honour and pleasure to promote Canelo.
“But I also know that Satan works 24/7 and everybody and their brother is trying to derail this fight and they’re trying to bribe Canelo.
“Doublecross, backstab, betray whatever it is is at work to stop Makabu from fighting Canelo.
“We’ll see what happens and whether good works out over evil, or whether evil continues to prevail.
“We’re going to deal with it, but we’re ready for you Canelo, I’m delivering a message; and that’s, ‘Come on, let’s get it on.’
“And that’s from Illunga Junior Makabu.”
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