By Charles Jay

New York-based promoter Lou DiBella, who numbers rapper Damon Dash as one of his partners and is thus also known as Diabolical L.O.U., will be going straight from promoting a charity roast for veteran matchmaker Johnny Bos on Thursday night to promoting a boxing show at the Hammerstein Ballroom on Saturday night, one that features his junior welterweight, Paul Malignaggi, his junior middleweight, Sechew Powell, and his hard-hitting welterweight, Andre Berto.

 

It's really not a bad show, if you're in the neighborhood that night. A couple of the fights seem competitive. Malignaggi, who showed guts while getting battered by Miguel Angel Cotto in a WBO title fight last June, may face an interesting challenge from Edner Cherry, a native of the Bahamas who lives in Florida and holds the NABF title at 135 pounds.

Cherry's got a couple of good wins to his credit, over people like Jaime Rangel and Daniel Alicea. And he almost boxed his way into the IBF's #2 spot but was beaten on a majority decision by Ricky Quiles. Malignaggi, in terms of his outside-the-ring personality, actually does a one-notch-above-pedestrian imitation of, I don't know, maybe a Hector Camacho; that is, if anybody cared enough to pay attention.

 

They don't.

 

The other ten-round fight, which should probably be the main event, pits Powell against Ishe Smith in a battle between guys who are just a little short of being true championship-caliber. Powell had a chance to step up to the plate last August but was beaten by Kassim Ouma (by ten rounds to zero on one judge's card); Smith lost only on "The Contender" to eventual winner Sergio Mora and before that beat David Estrada in a good fight on ShoBox. The respective first names of these fighters look like mistakes on birth certificates. I'm sorry - I just had to get that in.

 

In a featured eight-rounder, Berto, who is one of the best prospects in all of boxing - maybe THE best - is fighting a guy (Norberto Bravo) who's got 12 career losses, and whose best career win came in a five-round fight. Enough said there.

 

Once again, I don't mean to register any complaints about the competitiveness of the two 10-round fights on that show. But when I worked for USA Network we would occasionally put on better stuff than this from the standpoint of name value. I think the subscriber got charged about ten cents a month for all of that.

 

Ten cents is tip money for me, buddy. But $14.95 isn't.

 

Now I'm just trying to figure out, between the Silver package and the Bronze package and the Gold package, whether I can dig deep and find a Cubic Zirconia package that might allow me to save a few bucks if I can leave "Boxing After Dark" out of the mix.

 

Saturday's card is a little closer to what we may have been used to seeing on ESPN in the past than what the boxing public has become accustomed to viewing on a premium channel like this. I mean, HBO comes on real strong like they are the most awesome force in the history of civilization when it comes to boxing. Why shouldn't I expect to see something that has some genuine significance? Shock and awe is what I'm looking for, but what I get is "Aw, s**t."

 

At least you know that ShoBox has a certain theme to it, somewhat reminiscent of those old "crossroads" fights NBC used to air with their "matchmaker," Freddie Pacheco. But is this what HBO was trying to deal us with "B.A.D."? Paul Malignaggi? Sechew Powell? Jorge Arce and Jason Litzau before that? (Hey, I don't want to single out Diabolical L.O.U.'s shows - he's used to serving up something better).

 

Any marketing power attributed to Malignaggi is a figment of someone's imagination. I don't even know if they're going to be able to sell out a 1600-seat ballroom on Saturday night. And incidentally, I cry "foul" when it comes to his nickname - "Magic Man." Isn't that supposed to be reserved for ersatz "promoter" Rick Glaser?

 

Truth be known, Powell is technically-proficient, but watching him fight is kind of like biting into a slice of pizza and finding out it's just a piece of cardboard.

 

There's one guy on the show who has a chance to be a real star in this game - Berto. And they've got him in a "refrigerator" fight. Oh stop it, you know what that means.

 

I think the word I might be looking for is "cachet." You know, as it sort of rhymes with "Ishe." Ishe will be there. Cachet will take the night off.

 

Oh well, at least we have irony. Oh, do we have irony.

 

Now pay attention, because this is the part of the column that sounds like one of those movie flashbacks.

 

OK - if you take a close look at Malignaggi's record - no, I mean REAL close - what do you see? No, check that. What DON'T you see? If you said "no wins over legitimate world contenders," you win a general admission seat to the eagerly anticipated Joe Mesi-George Linberger fight.

 

So Paulie Malignaggi actually received a shot at a world title (WBO version) against a real fighter (Cotto) without having to beat any real Top 10 fighters on the way up. Hey, that's good work if you can get it. And good work by his handler. And just who was that handler, you ask? The aforementioned Johnny Bos, who signed Malignaggi out of the amateurs and shopped him around before eventually bringing him to DiBella eight or nine fights into the kid's career.

 

Bos picked all the opponents carefully and brought Malignaggi to the brink of his title shot. He basically created the kid's pro career. Then what happens? He gets dumped by the fighter. So he doesn't get any money when Paulie makes the biggest payday of his life. DiBella, however, still has a deal with Malignaggi, so he cashes in.

 

What's wrong with this picture?

 

In the press materials promoting Bos' charity dinner, it was emphasized that he has been stiffed numerous times by managers and fighters he has helped to make money. Malignaggi was one of those people he made specific reference to.

 

So now The Diabolical One has taken charge of Bos' charity bash.

 

And you thought only Jewish sons got this ravaged with guilt.

 

Did it ever occur to anyone that if DiBella had just gotten Bos the money he was owed - something he could have easily done - there might not have been a need for this charity thing to begin with?

 

I don't know - maybe this way's cheaper for him.

 

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Actually, I don't mean to come down that hard on DiBella. In reality, he's a very humorous guy. Case in point - I'm on the phone one night with promoter Mike Acri and agent Don Majeski and I have a revelation. So we get DiBella on a conference call and I tell him, "I've got a great name for Bos' charity dinner - Bosfest." He starts laughing like hell. "That's great," he says. Next thing I know, everything Mike Marley and all the rest of these guys are writing about the event carries the name "Bosfest."

 

So it's a few weeks later; the same guys are on a conference call, and the subject of "Bosfest" comes up again. And DiBella says, "You know, I'm the one who came up with that name." This time WE were the ones laughing like hell. But that's DiBella for 'ya.

 

Carl Moretti, don't say we didn't warn you.

 

I just sent Johnny Bos a note wishing him luck on his event. I pointed out that his story about getting stiffed by fighters and managers really resonated with me, because over the years I've been stiffed by quite a few people myself. In fact, I noticed at least a couple of them bought tables for Bosfest.

 

I'm not going to be on hand, but as long as my money's going to be there, I certainly hope it has a good time. So dark the con of Man...........