DiBella Leads Big Apple Resurgence

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The New York Sun

Lennox Lewis was unkind to retired boxing, leaving the heavyweight division with four beltholders and no recognizable names on top. Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield fell further from grace. Oscar De La Hoya and Roy Jones, two of the sport’s most bankable personalities, were knocked out. Shane Mosley lost twice. No new stars emerged to excite the public.


Nonetheless, 2004 witnessed a boxing renaissance in New York. Don King promoted three major cards at Madison Square Garden, which is pretty good considering that until December of last year, the Garden had gone 26 months without a fight in the main arena.


2004 also saw club fights return to New York. Sal Musumeci promoted five shows in the Big Apple, and other small promoters followed suit. But no promoter did more to rejuvenate the sweet science in New York than Lou DiBella.


DiBella was once one of the most powerful people in boxing. As the number two man at HBO Sports, he had considerable input into how the network’s substantial financial resources were spent. He was also the driving force behind HBO’s Boxing After Dark and an integral member of the team that elevated World Championship Boxing to an industry-wide standard.


In 2000, DiBella left the corporate world and became an independent promoter, but got off to a bit of a rocky start. DiBella put a great deal of time, money, and effort into developing Bernard Hopkins as a marquee fighter, only to be left at the altar after Hopkins beat Felix Trinidad to claim the undisputed middleweight championship. He also paid a $1,400,000 signing bonus to Olympian Ricardo Williams, who got involved in both ends of the drug trade, lost two fights, and was subsequently released from his contract.


But DiBella persevered and now finds himself in the second tier of American promoters, hoping to join Don King, Bob Arum, and Main Events. His flagship fighter, Jermaine Taylor (22-0, 16 KOs), is regarded by many as the next great middleweight. And Di-Bella’s “Broadway Boxing” series is making its mark in New York.


DiBella has a dozen fighters from the Big Apple under contract. From Brooklyn – Paulie Malignaggi, Sechew Powell, Raymond Joval, Dmitriy Salita, Jaidon Codrington, and Curtis Stevens. From the Bronx – Emanual Clottey, Joshua Clottey, Jeffrey Resto, and Edgar Santana. And from Queens – Monte Barrett and Chris Smith. These fighters have been the centerpiece of seven “Broadway Boxing” fight cards contested throughout the tri-state area since April.


If there’s a criticism of Broadway Boxing, it’s that there are too many one-sided fights. The main events are usually competitive, but the same can’t always be said about the undercard bouts. That’s because there are very few platforms on which to build new talent these days. And DiBella is using Broadway Boxing to do just that.


It should also be noted that each Broadway Boxing card at the Manhattan Center features an added attraction – the crowd.


For better or worse (and it’s some of both), sports fans today are part of the show. Crowds sometimes influence officials and the performance of athletes. In worst-case scenarios, such as the Pistons-Pacers meltdown, violence results.


At Broadway Boxing, each fighter brings his own constituency. On a typical night, one section is filled with Bedford-Stuyvesant denizens, wearing dark-blue doo-rags, cheering for Curtis Stevens. Next to them, Orthodox Jews with yarmulkes wait for Dmitriy Salita to do battle. There are Polish flags, Irish flags, and a contingent from the South Bronx with colors of its own. The fans are loud and passionate, but their energies are focused on the ring. There’s no ugliness between them or violence outside the ropes.


DiBella plans to promote 12 Broadway Boxing fight cards in 2005.The first three are slated for the Manhattan Center on January 28, February 24, and March 17. He hopes his fighters will evolve over time from prospects to contenders to champions. That could happen sooner rather than later.


All totalled, DiBella has 24 fighters under contract. At present, they have a composite career record of 492 wins, 32 losses, and 6 draws with 319 knockouts.


That’s a pretty good base to build on. And three of them will challenge for world titles in January 2005: Jose Navarro for the World Boxing Council 115-pound crown against Katsushige Kawashima on January 3; Levander Johnson against Julio Diaz for the International Boxing Federation 135-pound championship on January 28; and Kofi Jantuah versus Kassim Ouma for the 154-pound IBF title on January 29.


The New York Sun

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