NEWARK, N.J. -- Former IBF light heavyweight champion William Guthrie testified Wednesday that his title shot was delayed when he left promoter Don King.

During their final meeting, King ensured that Guthrie knew the consequences by telephoning IBF founder Robert W. Lee, who told Guthrie the bout "would be pushed to the side" amid any litigation with King, the St. Louis fighter told a federal jury at Lee's racketeering trial.

Prosecutors accuse Lee and other IBF officials of taking $338,000 in a span of more than a decade in exchange for favors and rigged rankings.

King, who prosecutors call an unindicted co-conspirator, was the prime beneficiary of Lee's manipulations, they maintain.

Guthrie became the IBF's top-ranked contender in the light heavyweight division in 1996 after signing with King in December 1995, but said their relationship soured almost immediately.

King promised him a fight within a month with then-WBA champion Virgil Hill, but the fight turned out to be against Tim Hillie, which Guthrie won in 10 rounds, the fighter said.

In addition, King only paid him half of the $20,000 minimum specified for victories, Guthrie said.

He won his next three fights, but also got just half of what his contract called for, said Guthrie, the second fighter to testify since Lee's trial began in mid-April.

He recalled confronting King about the money at a Las Vegas boxing show. King, using his nickname for Guthrie, put him off.

"He said, 'Don't worry about it, Chocolate,' " said Guthrie, eliciting chuckles from the jury by booming an imitation of King into the witness box microphone.

Guthrie said he knew it wasn't true.

"He said he made me," testified Guthrie, who said he won his first title at age 4, the diaperweight Golden Gloves. "I've been fighting before I met him. I didn't know him from a can of paint."

By January 1997, Hill had added the IBF belt, and despite being the mandatory challenger, Guthrie said he had no bout in sight. Guthrie went to King's home in Florida to tell the sport's biggest promoter they were through, he said.

In Guthrie's presence, King called Lee on speakerphone. Again imitating King, Guthrie said the promoter told Lee, "I did all this work for this kid and he's not leaving me."

Lee remained calm and a gentleman during the call, but told Guthrie, "You definitely are the man up for the title shot, but if this stuff gets caught up in legal stuff and court you would be pushed to the side," the boxer said.

Guthrie signed four days later with promoter Dan Goossen of America Presents, and the next month got a letter from the IBF informing him that Hill would be permitted an optional defense against another fighter.

Guthrie said he sued and won a court order that he should fight for the IBF title.

Hill lost the IBF and WBA belts to WBO champion Dariusz Michalczewski in June 1997. The Polish-born German relinquished the IBF belt rather than fight Guthrie, who won it in July 1997 by knocking out No. 2 Darin Allen in the third round.

Guthrie, 33, said he is now 26-2 and fights as a cruiserweight, which has a 190-pound maximum, compared to 175 pounds as a light heavyweight.

He said he is unsure if any of the sanctioning groups rank him. Asked if rankings are important, he said: "They are, if I want to be champion. But at the same time, people can make phone calls and they're rated."

As one of three major sanctioning bodies for boxing in the world, the IBF rankings and decisions play a large role in the purses earned by boxers, of which managers and promoters get a cut.

Greg Fritz, a spokesman for Don King Productions in Deerfield Beach, Fla., said their policy is not to discuss the details of contracts, but that, "Don King sticks to every detail in the contract."

"We don't influence any of the ratings committees as to whether a guy has a title shot or not," Fritz said. "We don't have any influence on any of the governing bodies."

King has maintained his payments to sanctioning groups were all legitimate.

Four other big-time promoters have testified against Lee, and all said payoffs were required to do business with the East Orange-based IBF.

Lee, 66, of Fanwood, and his son, Robert Jr., 38, of Scotch Plains, are the only defendants on trial. They face multiyear prison terms if convicted of conspiracy, racketeering, fraud and tax charges.

Former IBF championship committee chairman Bill Brennan, 86, of Warsaw, Va., past president of the U.S. Boxing Association, a group that became the IBF, was severed from the trial because of ill health.

The IBF's South American representative, Francisco "Pacho" Fernandez of Colombia, remains at large.