“Big fights are going to happen, but there is so much bullshit that they are going to have to navigate.”
Lou DiBella has been in the fight game for the past three decades and has, over the years, worked with big names such as Bernard Hopkins, Paulie Malignaggi and Andre Berto.
If there a big fight happening in New York, DiBella Entertainment usually has a piece of the action.
The Brooklyn promoter sat down with Carl Frampton and Chris Lloyd, on TKO, and offered a fascinating, bullshit-free insight to why some of the fights we all want to see never seem to get booked.
Looking at the now stacked heavyweight division, DiBella commented:
“Right now, ESPN has a deal with Tyson Fury and, basically, Fury is the poster-child for heavyweight boxing – for Bob Arum, ESPN, Frank Warren and BT Sport. He is the centre of that universe.
“A.J [Anthony Joshua] is the centre of the Matchroom and DAZN universe, and Deontay Wilder is attached to PBC. Now PBC is a brand but it basically does business with FOX Television, FS1 and Showtime. It’s the PBC brand.
“You have three distinct and separate roads, and it is not easy to navigate them, because ESPN is throwing is money and promotional power behind Fury. They don’t want to see Fury’s biggest fight going to a competing streaming service. No!
“And [Al] Haymon and PBC don’t want to see Wilder fighting on another platform.”
DiBella says it was easier, in the 90s and 00s, to arrange these big fights as there was only one basic cable service and a premium cable service [HBO and Showtime] to thrash out deals for the likes of Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson and Vitali Klitschko.
“I’m not saying it can’t be done and it will be done,” said Di Bella. “I don’t know if all three of those guys [Joshua, Fury and Wilder] will be around by the time it is done, but it will happen.
“Eventually the public will demand it and if all three guys keep winning, there will be so much money to be made that one of the fights… the desire will be there to make it.”
Joshua stumbled against Andy Ruiz, to damage his chances of that big-money fight, but another win or two and he will be right back in demand.
CHECK OUT THE FULL LOU DI BELLA INTERVIEW HERE:
