Angelo Santana (14-1, 11 KOs) (pictured fourth from left) and Hank Lundy (23-3-1, 11 KOs) ( second from left) squared off on February 21, 2014 at the Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio for a 10-round lightweight main event for what Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson ( fifth from left) said then would be the first of a series of fights promoted in the largely Black major American city by internationally renowned boxing promoter Don King (third from left). King endorsed Trump, a Republican like King, for president this year, while Jackson, a Democrat and three-term Black mayor, endorsed Hillary Clinton, the unsuccessful Democratic nominee.
By Editor-in-Chief Kathy Wray Coleman, a-24-year journalist who trained at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio for 17 years, and who interviewed now President Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS. (Note: A former biology teacher and longtime Cleveland activist, Coleman is the most read reporter in Ohio on Google Plus with some 3.5 million views).
CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, CLEVELAND, OHIO – Hall of Fame boxing promoter and Cleveland native Don King stood singularly with president-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday for a nationally televised press conference on the subject of the Russian hacking controversy and on the state of affairs between the United States and Israel. (Editor's note: Democratic Black elected officials of greater Cleveland that were contacted for comment on this story told Cleveland Urban News.Com "no comment.")
The press event came just 11 days after King's turkey giveaway crew hit Cleveland, Ohio at the Call and Post Newspaper that the legendary King has owned and published since 1998. (Editor's note: Read more on the turkey giveaway at the end of this story).
Trump told reporters Wednesday that the Russian hacking issue, accusations of widespread cyber corruption that some pundits say could have very well brought Trump the election over rival Hillary Clinton, is getting too much unneeded attention.
The president-elect said the hacking allegations involving emails hacked of Clinton campaign officials and prominent Democratic National Committee affiliates during the height of the presidential campaign are getting blown out of proportion and that "Americans should just get on with our lives."
A day later, on Thursday, Dec 29, outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama, after a comprehensive investigation spearheaded by a U.S. Senate select committee, reiterated what he says is evidenced hacking by Russian officials at the highest level of government and announced unprecedented sanctions against Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin.
The measures include expelling 35 Russian intelligence officials, economic sanctions, diplomatic censure, and public ridicule.
"America should be alarmed by Russia's actions," said Obama, the nation's first Black president who will hand the presidential thrown to Trump, his successor, in January.
Trump has denied the premise of the cyber attacks, though Democrats and some congressional Republicans, led by Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain, who will initiate hearings in coming on the matter, say otherwise.
An Obama foe whom Trump has praised, Putin said in response to the sanctions that Russia wants to simply "move on."
He said also that Russia will not immediately retaliate.
Flanking Trump at the press gathering, and wearing his signature red, white and blue attire while waving the American flag, King agreed on Israel and across the board with his Republican ally, a billionaire real estate mogul that has never held office and had assisted him in promoting boxing fights in Las Vegas in previous years.
King said Trump can bring peace between Pakistan and Israel and worldwide, a posture that Obama, who has said that the Nuclear Deal was necessary to deter Iran from securing a nuclear weapon, questions.
A multi-millionaire, King crossed partisan lines and endorsed Obama, a Democrat, for president in 2008 and for his reelection in 2012, but chose to support Trump for president over Clinton.
He may be controversial, but he is also newsworthy on many fronts.
He said prior to the onset of this year's Turkey giveaway that drew a long line outside of the Call and Post earlier this month, that the Turkey distribution endeavor is an effort to give back to the community.
“Our annual turkey giveaway has a special theme this year and that’s to "make America great again," said 'The Only in America" King of the more than 50-year turkey giveaway tradition which, this year, served thousands of birds to the needy in seven states and the cities. namely Cleveland, Nashville, New Jersey, Los Angeles, New York, Palm Beach Fl., Deerfield Beach, Fl., Miami and Las Vegas.
In addition to Call and Post staffers, greater Clevelanders that came out for the Turkey giveaway on Dec 17 include Cleveland Ward 2 Councilman Zack Reed, the Rev Dr. E. T. Caviness, senior pastor at Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church on the cities' east side and president of the Cleveland Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Rev Aaron Phillips of Sure House Ministries in Cleveland, Minister Dale Edwards, and Carl A. Williams, grand master of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Ohio.
Call and Post president and executive editor Kevin Miller told Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper, that he received a King giveaway turkey at a point in his life when he needed it most and before his elevation as the former editor of the Los Angeles Sentinel and now as leader of Ohio's most prominent Black press, a weekly with distributions in the Ohio cities of Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus.
"The turkey giveaway is a standing tradition," said Miller.
Though King, 85, did not make the trip to Cleveland, community members that were fortunate to get the free birds, butterball Turkeys in fact, were grateful.
"I feel great about receiving a turkey from Don King, and I praise God," said Tanesha Mack of Cleveland for a story in the Call and Post, which hits newsstands every week on Wednesday.
