The second part of the story about Donald Trump’s past in the boxing business is about how the self-proclaimed casino king gambles to the extreme in the battle for top stars and fights – and ends up going broke.
Click here for the first part of the story.
The organizer chose a Monday for this “blockbuster” to lure gamblers into the casino for four days over the weekend. Trump pays the New Jersey police over 200,000 dollars to postpone the “Police Expo ’88” booked for the beginning of the week. 21,785 spectators bring Trump an income of 12.3 million dollars. Ticket prices: 100 to 1,500 dollars. With costs of 13 million dollars (eleven for King, two million for organization), a small minus remains. Nevertheless, Trump triumphs: 11.5 million dollars remain on the gaming tables on the day of the fight alone, the highest daily takings since the casino opened in 1984.
Mega fees for Tyson and Spinks
“Trump hits the jackpot”, writes the newspaper “USA Today”. The total revenue of around 70 million dollars, made possible by pay-TV, surpasses the record of the 1987 Super Bowl. The sum is the highest revenue to date in the history of sport for a one-day event. Tyson became 22 million dollars richer, Spinks 13.5 million dollars richer. The record figures satisfy Trump’s ego. He boasts: “I love being associated with success stories. I have the biggest arena in the world for boxing matches and I expect to dominate boxing for years to come.”
The dominance ended three years later with the “Battle of the Ages”, which Evander Holyfield, 28 years old and now the champion, won on points against the already 42-year-old George Foreman on April 20, 1991. Times had deteriorated dramatically. Tyson sensationally lost to James Douglas by knockout in Tokyo. Donald Trump is in existentially threatening difficulties. It is true that he has booted out the unscrupulous exploiter Don King and thus pushed the price down to six million dollars. But the boxing promoter, who now gives his name to three hotel-casinos in Atlantic City – Trump Plaza, Trump Castle and the gigantic Trump Taj Mahal – has overstretched himself. “The Trump Organization will be insolvent in the near future, if it is not already,” according to a report by the Casino Control Commission, which is responsible for licensing. Banks must save Trump’s casino chain for now.
King tries to torpedo Trump’s “showdown”
Meanwhile, King is trying to torpedo Trump’s second “showdown” for the first time in 13 years. The lawsuit for damages filed by an employee who was fired by his ex-wife Ivana as manager of Trump Castle – for reasons of age – fits in with this. In an out-of-court settlement, Trump generously compensated the 57-year-old so that he would not have to appear in court the week before the fight. The requested documents about his financial situation will therefore not be made public.
“The Battles of Donald Trump” is the headline on the front page of the local newspaper “The Press”. Three days before the “Battle of the Ages”. Nevertheless, Donald Trump appears in good spirits at the obligatory press conference. Flanked by Holyfield and Foreman, he speaks condescendingly to the journalists. “Don’t believe everything you read in the papers. Although anyone who writes that is probably here.”
“The Battle of the Ages” was the last boxing event at Trump Plaza and the beginning of the end of the Trump empire in Atlantic City. Despite all the failures, Trump had planned one last coup. Tyson was supposed to become world champion again in November 1991 against Holyfield, but broke a rib in training. The fight was postponed until spring 1992, but in February the brute was convicted of rape. In March, the casino king filed for bankruptcy (prepackaged bankruptcy). Tyson in jail, Trump facing bankruptcy – the end of the strange boxing story of the new old president of the United States of America.
Text: Hartmut Scherzer