Don ‘Santa’ King for British GQ

Photo by Jake Chessum

I was assigned, along with writer Sanjiv Bhattacharya, to photograph behind the scenes at the photoshoot for the publicity for the Lennox Lewis/Evander Holyfield fight at MSG scheduled for March 13th 1999. For the record the fight ended in a controversial draw that was called "a travesty" by no less a boxing expert than NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani. Lewis won the rematch eight months later.

A legendary sports photographer had been hired to shoot the marketing campaign: A heroic shot of the two boxers in the arena at MSG and another humorous shot of Don King dressed as Santa, sitting on a throne flanked by Lewis and Holyfield in their boxing attire. Between King’s legs was a huge sack of cash. There was a lot of hanging about while real cash was secured to fill the sack.

The photographer was working without an assistant or crew of any kind. There had been no prep or prelight. He was lugging equipment and trying to set up while the two boxers, Don King and all the assorted management, promoters and hangers on waited.

I took reportage shots of everybody, and Sanjiv and I joked about a bit. The photographer was clearly under a lot of pressure and our presence wasn’t helping. He eventually lost his temper and screamed at us that no more photos were going to be taken until we were ejected from the building. This duly happened and we found ourselves on the street on a cold Manhattan afternoon.

Not my finest moment…but I got this slightly crazy and inexplicable shot of Don King dressed as Santa.

Happy Holidays!