CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A quarter-mile stretch of Shaker Boulevard soon will bear the honorary designation of "Don King Way," after the legendary and often controversial boxing promoter, who was born and raised in Cleveland and launched his career here.

City Council on Monday voted to adopt the secondary name for the eastbound portion of the road between East 116th and East 121st streets. The stretch is home to the Call & Post newspaper, which King has owned since 1998.

Councilwoman Mamie Mitchell, who sponsored the legislation, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

But Councilman Zack Reed said in an interview that he counts King among the most influential and heroic Clevelanders ever to make it big. Reed said King has never forgotten his roots, despite having become, arguably, the biggest fight promoter in the world. And King gives back to his hometown regularly, through charitable donations, Reed said.

"He is always uplifting people of color. Always," Reed said of King, who received the NAACP's President's Award in 1997. "He went from Mt. Pleasant to the pinnacle of the world, and he has never forgotten where he came from. That's what makes him a hero."

The councilman said he hopes a football stadium soon will be built behind John Adams High School and will bear King's name as well, paying homage to one of the school's most celebrated alumni.

In his more than 40-year career, King has promoted bouts headlined by some of the most prominent names in boxing. He entered the boxing world in 1972 after convincing Muhammad Ali to fight in a charity exhibition in Cleveland. And two years later, King promoted a heavyweight championship fight between Ali and George Foreman in Zaire, known as "The Rumble in the Jungle."

But King's life has been mired in controversy, too. He spent nearly four years in prison for killing employee Sam Garrett in 1966. King stomped Garrett to death outside the now-defunct Manhattan Tap Room on Cedar Avenue because Garrett owed him a $600 gambling debt. King later was pardoned for the crime in 1983 by then-Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes.

Many of the boxers who fought under Don King Productions also sued him for defrauding them out of millions in purse money. King settled most of those cases for six- or seven-digit sums.

King also has been accused of being involved with organized crime. When questioned during a 1992 U.S. Senate investigation about a possible connection to mobster John Gotti, King took the Fifth Amendment.

But such is the life of a boxing promoter, Reed said this week, defending King as a Cleveland hero worthy of celebration.

"Boxing is a funny sport like that," Reed said. "We're not talking about a preacher and a church choir here."

In the video above, hear what residents of Cleveland's Buckeye-Shaker neighborhood have to say about the naming of Don King Way. Then take our poll below and let us know what you think.