Boxing: Don King to Pay $7.5M to Ex-Champ Norris, page 1

Associated Press - December 10, 2003

NEW YORK (AP) - Promoter Don King agreed to pay former champion Terry Norris $7.5 million on Wednesday, just as a jury was debating the boxer's claim that King stole money from him, Norris' attorney said.

King agreed to pay $3 million by next week and the remainder within 15 months, said attorney Judd Burstein, who said the settlement in the 7-year case might encourage other fighters to sue the promoter.

``I think this is the beginning of the end for Don King,'' Burstein said. ``A lot of people now realize he can be held accountable for what he's done.''

Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson is also suing King in New York, claiming King stole more than $100 million while promoting his fights after his release from prison in 1995. That case has yet to go to trial.

``If anything, from what I've heard, the Mike Tyson case is even more overwhelming,'' Burstein said.

King, who is promoting an eight-fight card Saturday night in Atlantic City, N.J., could not immediately be reached for comment.

Burstein said Norris, who has brain damage from punches, had no money left from a career in which he made millions in purses. Norris was the 154-pound champion in the 1990s, beating Sugar Ray Leonard in 1991 in his biggest fight. He lost his last three fights and finished 47-9 with 31 knockouts.

Norris retired in 1998, and he was denied a license to fight again in 2000 by Nevada boxing officials who heard testimony that his speech was slurred and he had brain damage from fighting.

Norris sued King and his former manager, Joe Sayatovich, alleging the two conspired to pay him less than what he should have made for fights after Sayatovich borrowed $200,000 from King in 1994.

The case went to a New York State Supreme Court jury this week, and Burstein said King agreed to settle when jurors came back and asked the judge for a calculator and a magnifying glass.