Douglas Gave King Rights to Title Fights Plus 2 Years

Heavyweight champion Buster Douglas gave promoter Don King the right to promote all his title fights if he beat Mike Tyson as well as granting King promotional rights for another two years once he loses the title, court documents revealed.

Douglas agreed to the terms in a Dec. 27, 1988 contract that gave him a $25,000 signing fee and a promised fight with Tyson, according to documents on file in U.S. District Court here.

If Douglas won a title during the life of the contract, the pact called for an automatic extension to cover all title defenses, plus an additional two years after he lost the title.

The contract--and another covering the Tyson fight--were filed as part of a suit by Douglas and the Mirage hotel, who are seeking to have them declared invalid so Douglas can sign a $60 million, two-fight deal with the resort.

Attorneys for Douglas claim the contracts are illegal because Nevada law does not allow promoters to tie up boxers with options on future fights. They also contend that King breached the contracts by not acting in good faith when he protested the results of the Douglas-Tyson fight earlier this month.

King and Hirth could not be reached for comment.

According to the first contract Douglas signed with King, the fighter was to be given four fights between Feb. 25, 1989, and Feb. 25, 1990, with a Tyson bout occurring before Feb. 25, 1990. Douglas’ contract to fight Tyson in Tokyo gave King the additional right to promote his next three fights if he won the title, provided he exercised his option to do so within 30 days of the win.

Douglas was paid $1.3 million for the Tyson fight.