If you had not become a boxing promoter, what would you be doing now? I would be promoting the “scheme of chance”, the numbers business I ran in Ohio, and what people call the lottery now. Or perhaps I would be in the nightclub business. For many years I owned a club in Cleveland where Lloyd Price, BB King and Erroll Garner would come and play. Muhammad Ali sang Stand By Me in my club one night in the early 1960s, first time I ever met him.

What was your best moment in boxing? I have been involved in the biggest events in boxing for more than 30 years, putting on such extravaganzas as The Rumble In The Jungle between Ali and George Foreman, The Thrilla In Manila between Ali and Joe Frazier and Mike Tyson’s comeback at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. But my best moment was when I persuaded Ali to come to Cleveland to box an exhibition for free in 1972 to save the Forest City Hospital from closure.

Do you regret what happened to Sam Garrett and Hillary Brown (Brown’s killing in 1954 was ruled ‘justifiable homicide’ after he tried to rob one of King’s gambling houses; King was convicted of manslaughter over Garrett’s death in 1966 and sent to the Marion Correctional Institution in Ohio)? I was involved in the fatality of another human being and, no matter how hard you work or how much you do for underprivileged people in the community, and I have done a lot, though I am loath to sing my own praises, it always comes around to Don King the criminal. I served my time and I went to school in jail, what I call the University of Ohio. The governor of Ohio subsequently granted me an unconditional pardon and what I say to you is this: I have taken the splinter out of my eye before I ask you to take the two-by-four out of your eye. Judge others as you would be judged yourself.

Who is your hero? My mom. My dad was killed in an accident in the steel factory where he worked when I was 10 years old, December 7, 1941, the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour. I was born in the ghetto but my mom told me I could be anything I wanted to be.

Were you good at school? I was one of the few people in my class who liked sciences and I was good at mathematics, too. I saved up enough money to go to college through my numbers business. I had a route and I collected money from people who played. One day this lady rang up and said: “My number hit.” I told her: “Wow, but I didn’t think you played.” When I had gone to her house I couldn’t find her money under the flowerpot, so I went back, checked again and it wasn’t there. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw something stuck to the bottom of the flowerpot: her money. I hadn’t booked the number with the big guy, so I had to take all my money that I had saved to go to college to pay the woman. I learnt a valuable lesson the hard way.

What TV shows do you watch? Cowboy shows

Where is your favourite holiday destination? I haven’t had a vacation for 30 years, but I love going to London

What music do you listen to? Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, BB King and Michael Jackson, the best entertainer in the world

What sports besides boxing do you enjoy watching? I am drawn to one-on-one combat, so I like tennis

Who is your favourite actor? I’d have to name two, Denzel Washington, who is remarkable, and Bruce Willis, a big boxing fan and a good friend of mine. He and Demi Moore got married in Las Vegas on the day I promoted Julio Cesar Chavez against Edwin Rosario. They were ringside at the fight and got so excited they decided to tie the knot.

Who was the toughest competitor in your years in boxing? I have to put Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes at the top. Ali refused to join the war in Vietnam and was ostracised but he came back and beat George Foreman and Joe Frazier. Larry Holmes took big punches from the biggest hitters, too.

When America elects its next president, who will it be? You are talking to a man who went to dinner with George Walker Bush, took a phone call at the dinner, excused myself and made my way over to the house of William Jefferson Clinton to talk to him until 1am. Performance is what counts and when my fellow Americans go into the voting booth on November 4, if they imagine that Barack Obama is white, maybe we will achieve the change that is necessary and fulfil the prophecy: black and white, working together works.

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