Lou DiBella on Bob Arum

Original Article by Ryan Songalia

It appears that just as Bob Arum and his promotional company Top Rank buried the hatchet with their bitter rival Golden Boy Promotions, Arum quickly unearthed the instrument and buried it into cross-country counterpart Lou Dibella.

After Arum's charge Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. defeated game but unknown titleholder Sebastian Zbik Saturday night in Los Angeles, people wanted to know when the son of Culiacan, Mexico's living legend would get busy with the middleweight division's recognized kingpin Sergio Martinez.

Speaking with BoxingScene's Mike Marley, Arum questioned Martinez's worthiness of a Chavez clash, saying "His promoter [Dibella] has to go out and build Martinez," adding that Dibella "has to get off his ass and stop waiting for HBO to build Martinez up."

The issue that has arisen between Top Rank and other promoters who have felt left out of the party as the company continues to keep big fights in-house has beckoned the question of whether promoters have an obligation to not only make money, but to make decisions that benefit the sport as a whole.

In response to the cutting remarks from Arum, the Brooklyn, New York native Dibella neither held his tongue or spared his thoughts.

"My response is that Bob Arum can go f--k himself!," exclaimed Dibella late Sunday evening, who described Arum as a "mean-spirited old man."

"Yesterday Bob was lying, and today he's still lying. That's his M.O., that paraphrases his little saying. I'm sick of sitting there and being criticized by a man whose legacy will be the destruction he did to an industry."

Dibella went on to cite the recent opposition of Top Rank's main horse Manny Pacquiao, all of whom were either under contract to Top Rank or owed options to the company in the event that they won.

"Everyone keeps eating the s--t he's putting out there. Every fighter that is promoted by another promoter or provides any level of competition is not a pay-per-view fighter to him. I guess Arum is the omnipotent determination of who is a pay-per-view fighter.

"So [Joshua] Clottey is a pay-per-view fighter? [Antonio] 'Marga-cheato', who shouldn't be allowed in a boxing ring, is a pay-per-view fighter? Shane Mosley, who just put on one of the worst pay-per-view fights in boxing history, is a pay-per-view fighter?

"Why is it that Sergio Martinez is not a pay-per-view fighter? Because he would school Chavez and destroy him like the fraud he is. Boxing fans aren't so stupid. The first real fighter he throws Chavez in with, he's gonna get his ass kicked."

Martinez, age 36 with a record of 47-2-2 (26 KO), was in attendance at the Chavez Jr. fight, alongside adviser Sampson Lewkowicz. The 25-year-old Chavez Jr. is now 43-0 (30 KO) and in possession of the WBC middleweight title.

Martinez is generally considered the second best fighter in the world after having disposed of Paul Williams in two rounds to earn the Boxing Writers Association of America's Knockout of the Year laurel, and soundly defeating Kelly Pavlik by decision.

Dibella attacked the legitimacy of Chavez's title credentials, hinting at a collusion between Top Rank and HBO in arranging the fight.

"That's a fraudulent title that [Chavez] won. HBO made Martinez give up that title, saying that Zbik was a terrible fighter that would never appear on HBO. Now all of a sudden they allow Chavez and 'Big Bully Bob' to make the fight, and I have to sit there and listen to Arum say that Sergio is not a pay-per-view fighter and I should do a better promoting him?

"By the way, how dare he. Three and a half years ago, no one knew who Sergio Martinez was, and I think I've done a pretty damn good job promoting him."

Dibella did give credit where credit was due, lauding Arum's business sense and ability to generate large sums of money for his fighters and company.

"Make a differentiation between the business of boxing and the sport of boxing. Bob Arum has been a brilliant businessman for boxing, but he's been an atrocity for the sport of boxing.

"All he keeps doing to people is shoving this inferior product down people's throats because he economically controls both sides of the equation and because he can make his profit margins greater, even though in the long run he's helping destroy an industry that he's spent most of his life in.

"He doesn't give a f--k if there's no boxing after Bob Arum."

"I find it ironic that HBO execs were in the room when Bob Arum was attacking me as a promoter, but I've done everything that HBO has asked me to do.

"Look at the last string of fights that Sergio Martinez had, they're fights that were good for boxing, he fought the best opposition out there. He fought everyone that HBO wanted him to fight. Maybe they should look at how HBO is promoting him."

Regards

Steffan

Interesting read Steffan and to be fair there is a lot in there it is difficult to argue with. Have always found Bob very hypocritical. Is ridiculous for anyone to question a fighters PPV credentials then put Clottey in a PPV fight. Is like when Arum moans about how close HBO are with Golden Boy but he was not voicing these concerns a few years ago when he was house promoter with them and nobody else could get a look in.

DiBella is right in saying he has done a decent job with Martinez, he is in and around most peoples top five P4P and has been in some cracking fights recently, Arum also knows damned well he would hand Chavez Jnr his bum, to try and offer up excuses otherwise is smoke and mirrors and everyone knows that is why he will not let him anywhere near him.

Pretty much agree with all that DiBella says, been saying similar things for a while as have most of us. In house fights and his philosophy of 'not giving free rides to fighters that don't generate much money' has resulted in guys like pacquiao and Chavez Jr never meeting the likes of Bradley or Martinez. His refusal to do business with GBP is a joke that is harming the sport. Most dislike him, hence the general cheer when Juanma lost his '0' and put the mockers on the big fight with Gamboa that he was planning on cooking til kingdom come.

Arum displaying his feelings for DiBella and DiBella's reply:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHzHHb9SNrQ

Seriously though, i can't think of anyone barring a nuthugger who doesn't think Arum should just end it all

As and when Arum takes his life Coxy, it's to be hoped it's via controlled explosion and that he's stood next to Sepp Blatter.

And people wonder why Oscar De La Hoya has a drug problem. Dealing with that nest of vipers, I'd need to be off my box as well!

Nobody ever summed up Arum better than Randall ' Tex ' Cobb, in my opinion :

“Don King is like everybody else in boxing. He’s a liar, a thief, a murderer and a racketeer. And a con man. But there ain’t anybody as bad as Bob Arum. That New York City Jew lawyer will make you hate city folks, Jews, and lawyers in the same day.”

"has to get off his ass and stop waiting for HBO to build Martinez up."
/////////////////////////////////////////////
Chavez is the one built up, he's a turd, just a name that's all, Martinez will destroy him

Another belter from Cobb Windy. Is interesting though that he is not alone in thinking Arum to be much worse than King. Remember reading something along the same lines from Gus T'omato who was asked if anyone was as bad as Arum, or something similar and he always answered that god could not make a mistake that big twice.

Dibella for President!

Perfectly said by him, Arum would sell us Manny vs Brook and pay Brook £500k if he could so he could pocket the rest.

The guy is near on dead anyway and has more money than sense so why not at this point of his career give us the bigger fights with great undercards?

Another belter from Cobb Windy. Is interesting though that he is not alone in thinking Arum to be much worse than King. Remember reading something along the same lines from Gus T'omato who was asked if anyone was as bad as Arum, or something similar and he always answered that god could not make a mistake that big twice.
........................
I think King's worse, both are bad for the sport imo, however i really do hate King, a criminal idiot who takes pleasure in ripping off fighters and fans respectively imo.

The guy is near on dead anyway and has more money than sense so why not at this point of his career give us the bigger fights with great undercards?
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You kinda answered your own question there. Putting on big fights and having to PAY PEOPLE WHAT THEY'RE WORTH would seriously impact on his money-to-sense ratio.

rowley wrote:Another belter from Cobb Windy. Is interesting though that he is not alone in thinking Arum to be much worse than King. Remember reading something along the same lines from Gus T'omato who was asked if anyone was as bad as Arum, or something similar and he always answered that god could not make a mistake that big twice.

Also a nice one, jeff.

Tell you what, though, Ol' Tex had a broadside or two for King, as well :

“Don King is one of the great humanitarians of our time. He has risen above that great term prejudice. He has screwed everybody he has ever been around. Hog, dog or frog, it don’t matter to Don. If you got a quarter, he wants the first twenty-six cents.”

“I love acting. It’s easy for me. All you do is look in the camera, smile, and lie with charm. I learned how to do that watching Don King promote fights.”

........................
I think King's worse, both are bad for the sport imo, however i really do hate King, a criminal idiot who takes pleasure in ripping off fighters and fans respectively imo.[/quote]

From recollection i think King was known for putting on good fight nights with good undercards. I admit the guy himself is a crook but for boxing he hasn't been too bad.......and at least he's funny, Arum doesn't at least make you laugh when he annoys you!

Seeing as how Martinez wiped the floor with one of Top Rank's biggest names (Pavlik) I don't think Big Bad Bob will be eager to put the likes of Pacquiao, Cotto or Chavez jr in with him.

Maybe Arum will be forced to retire and Todd DuBeouf will take over - can't be any worse than the old man surely?

Also, was anyone else surprised that the Chavez-Zbik fight was on HBO after the very public falling out he had with them over Pacquiao-Mosley?

To be honest nothing surprises me with Arum, for all his noble words about his move to Showtime being about being able to showcase his fighters on CBS and make them accessible to the masses he did it because he is sulking like a jilted lover over HBO cosying up to Golden Boy. Can absolutely guarantee if HBO and Oscar fell out and he thought he could be the house promoter again he would be back in there in a heartbeat.

rowley wrote:he did it because he is sulking like a jilted lover over HBO cosying up to Golden Boy.

That's a pretty accurate summary. Thomas Hauser has some pretty interesting articles over at Secondsout about the subject.

Big round of applause for DiBella. Arum's becoming more and more a parody of himself as time goes by.

rowley wrote: Have always found Bob very hypocritical. Is ridiculous for anyone to question a fighters PPV credentials then put Clottey in a PPV fight.

~ Dear me sir, a flaming article penned by a peach faced boxing scene fan boy is enough to short circuit recent boxing history is it now?

Mr. Clottey was the emergency replacement fighter for Mr. Moneybags who pulled out of the biggest superfight in history. Mr. Clottey also kicked Mr. Moneybags off of his scheduled fight date that Mr. Manny originally ceded him to get the negotiations ball rolling.

So what if Mr. Arum has a dust up with Mr. Di Bella?

Such is the mother's milk of boxing. Chavez Jr is being saved for a super bout, no matter what all the beeb's relocated Barney World expatriates think. That's why Mr. Arum is the promoter of record of some of boxing's biggest bouts ever while Barney did babysitting duties for Barney World.

While I sympathize for the plight of Mr. Martinez, there are plenty of fighters willing to fight him, but now he only wants a big money fight?

Only in Barney World!

Couple things, 'Perfessor':

1) Why shouldn't Martinez look to make as much money as possible? After all, no-one wants to be punched in the face for free.

2) I dunno if you're trying to be Russell Brand, but the mock-dandy style condescension is REALLY tiresome.

BALTIMORA wrote:1) Why shouldn't Martinez look to make as much money as possible? After all, no-one wants to be punched in the face for free?

Exactly - he's arguably in the top 3 Pound for Pound stakes and it doesn't look like either Pacquiao or Mayweather will face him. Plus he's probably near the end of his career and deserves to make the big money after tolling away in obscurity for so long.

If only he'd been picked up a few years back...

Mr. Clottey was the emergency replacement fighter for Mr. Moneybags who pulled out of the biggest superfight in history.
_________________________________________________________

Fought on 13th March, Clottey announced as opponent on 20 Jan. Geez thanks for stepping in at only eight weeks notice Johsua, you're a trooper and in light of this I realise my previous criticism of Arum may have been hasty, it could obviously not be easy to get a replacement in at only eight weeks notice and I am sure he had to draw on all his 40 years of experience and acumen to salvage the card at what I'm sure we would all agree is the dictionary definition of the 11th hour.

It was exactly the 11th hour rowley. The 11th hour out of the 1344 hours still to go before the fight...

BALTIMORA wrote:Couple things, 'Perfessor':

2) I dunno if you're trying to be Russell Brand, but the mock-dandy style condescension is REALLY tiresome.

Seconded. Such pretentious, pseudo-intellectual clap trap has no place here. Mildly amusing at first, now just patronising, pompous, tiresome jibberish. Please do everybody a favour and get over yourself.

Also, 'Mr Moneybags' as you oh-so-wittily call him did not pull out of the superfight in Jan '10, it was Pacquiao that walked away from negotiations after an agreement on drug testing could not be reached. Whether you think mayweathers demand for such testing was a red herring to dodge the fight is of little relevance, the fact is it was manny that walked away from the biggest fight in history to beat up a cab driver instead.

Arum is a Slug, is anyone shocked by his antics.

Also, I am in agreement the Albetus is a grade A fool.

BALTIMORA wrote:Couple things, 'Perfessor':

1) Why shouldn't Martinez look to make as much money as possible? After all, no-one wants to be punched in the face for free.

2) I dunno if you're trying to be Russell Brand, but the mock-dandy style condescension is REALLY tiresome.

~ Why sir, it's been proven beyond all doubt that soft lads, they do get quite weary quite easily you know.

1) Why shouldn't Mr. Junior look to make as much money as possible, or alternately, why would you wish to look the silly fool on this board for free?

2) Yes sir, you dunno what you never knew to begin with, but there is always hope for the humble donut.

~Only in mock-dandy Barney World

i just started coming to this site and already this mug professor is getting on my nerves talk properly.