Tweet
DiBella v. Hopkins
By Thomas Hauser
Lou DiBella has won a $610,000 libel judgment against Bernard Hopkins in a jury trial in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. DiBella's lawsuit was filed in December 2001, shortly after Hopkins accused him of soliciting and accepting a $50,000 bribe while DiBella was still a senior vice president at HBO Sports.
The jury's verdict was a significant victory and marked the end of a long and winding road for DiBella. For Hopkins, one of the great fighters in ring history, there is damaged credibility and a large chunk of money won in the ring has been lost.
DiBella and Hopkins joined forces as advisor and fighter on a handshake agreement in early 2000, two months after "The Executioner" received $100,000 for defending his IBF middleweight title against Antwun Echols. With DiBella's support, Hopkins made $525,000 for a May 2000 defense against Syd Vanderpool and $650,000 for a December 2000 rematch against Echols. Then, in 2001, DiBella engineered Hopkins's entry into Don King's middleweight championship tournament. For that bit of business, Hopkins received $1,000,000 for fighting Keith Holmes, $2,750,000 for fighting Felix Trinidad, $50,000 in expenses for each fight, and a $200,000 signing bonus. In sum, before DiBella, Hopkins was an extremely talented fighter with limited name recognition who rarely made big money. With DiBella in his camp, he became a star.
DiBella believed in Hopkins. Sitting in Madison Square Garden moments before Bernard was to enter the ring for his historic bout against Trinidad, DiBella declared, "Tonight is important to my company financially, but it's hugely important to me personally because Bernard will always be hugely important to me. I cherish the relationship I have with Bernard."
But once Hopkins beat Trinidad, he figured he didn't need DiBella anymore. So he dumped him. If Hopkins had simply said, "Lou did a good job, but I don't want to work with him in the future," DiBella would have been hurt and angry, but there wouldn't have been a lawsuit. However, Hopkins went further. In late December 2001, stung by media criticism that he was an ingrate, he gave an interview to internet writer Steve Kim in which he accused DiBella of demanding and receiving a $50,000 bribe to put him on HBO at a time when DiBella was still employed by HBO.
Mike Trainer, who handled Sugar Ray Leonard's business affairs during the fighter's ring career, once said, "To survive in boxing, you take on the characteristics of those you abhor. You become like them."
Throughout his years in boxing, DiBella has defied that trend. He's one of the honorable people in the sport. And his passion for fairness didn't end when he left HBO and the checkbook he was balancing became his own.
When the Association of Boxing Commissions set up a fighters relief fund, DiBella donated $5,000. No other donor, corporate or individual, contributed more than $1,000. In November 2001, DiBella took a $70,000 loss to turn one of his fight cards into a fundraiser for the Twin Towers Fund. Earlier this year, he paid travel and hotel expenses for Gerald McClellan and McClellan's sister to attend a dinner in New York where Teddy Blackburn was honored for his work with the disabled fighter.
As of late, DiBella, like many others in boxing, has been struggling. "I knew the impediments I'd face when I set up my own business," he said recently. "I understood that the entrenched powers would line up against me. What I didn't count on, and maybe I was naive, was that the fighters -- and I won't even say the fighters; I'll limit myself to one particular fighter -- would react the way they did. The only reason I'm not where I want to be today is Bernard Hopkins. Bernard has poisoned the well for me with a lot of fighters. And Bernard should have fought two major fights this year instead of one minor one. If he had, I could have made $800,000 instead of paying $200,000 in legal fees. That's a swing of one million dollars.
the rest of the article
By Thomas Hauser
Lou DiBella has won a $610,000 libel judgment against Bernard Hopkins in a jury trial in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. DiBella's lawsuit was filed in December 2001, shortly after Hopkins accused him of soliciting and accepting a $50,000 bribe while DiBella was still a senior vice president at HBO Sports.
The jury's verdict was a significant victory and marked the end of a long and winding road for DiBella. For Hopkins, one of the great fighters in ring history, there is damaged credibility and a large chunk of money won in the ring has been lost.
DiBella and Hopkins joined forces as advisor and fighter on a handshake agreement in early 2000, two months after "The Executioner" received $100,000 for defending his IBF middleweight title against Antwun Echols. With DiBella's support, Hopkins made $525,000 for a May 2000 defense against Syd Vanderpool and $650,000 for a December 2000 rematch against Echols. Then, in 2001, DiBella engineered Hopkins's entry into Don King's middleweight championship tournament. For that bit of business, Hopkins received $1,000,000 for fighting Keith Holmes, $2,750,000 for fighting Felix Trinidad, $50,000 in expenses for each fight, and a $200,000 signing bonus. In sum, before DiBella, Hopkins was an extremely talented fighter with limited name recognition who rarely made big money. With DiBella in his camp, he became a star.
DiBella believed in Hopkins. Sitting in Madison Square Garden moments before Bernard was to enter the ring for his historic bout against Trinidad, DiBella declared, "Tonight is important to my company financially, but it's hugely important to me personally because Bernard will always be hugely important to me. I cherish the relationship I have with Bernard."
But once Hopkins beat Trinidad, he figured he didn't need DiBella anymore. So he dumped him. If Hopkins had simply said, "Lou did a good job, but I don't want to work with him in the future," DiBella would have been hurt and angry, but there wouldn't have been a lawsuit. However, Hopkins went further. In late December 2001, stung by media criticism that he was an ingrate, he gave an interview to internet writer Steve Kim in which he accused DiBella of demanding and receiving a $50,000 bribe to put him on HBO at a time when DiBella was still employed by HBO.
Mike Trainer, who handled Sugar Ray Leonard's business affairs during the fighter's ring career, once said, "To survive in boxing, you take on the characteristics of those you abhor. You become like them."
Throughout his years in boxing, DiBella has defied that trend. He's one of the honorable people in the sport. And his passion for fairness didn't end when he left HBO and the checkbook he was balancing became his own.
When the Association of Boxing Commissions set up a fighters relief fund, DiBella donated $5,000. No other donor, corporate or individual, contributed more than $1,000. In November 2001, DiBella took a $70,000 loss to turn one of his fight cards into a fundraiser for the Twin Towers Fund. Earlier this year, he paid travel and hotel expenses for Gerald McClellan and McClellan's sister to attend a dinner in New York where Teddy Blackburn was honored for his work with the disabled fighter.
As of late, DiBella, like many others in boxing, has been struggling. "I knew the impediments I'd face when I set up my own business," he said recently. "I understood that the entrenched powers would line up against me. What I didn't count on, and maybe I was naive, was that the fighters -- and I won't even say the fighters; I'll limit myself to one particular fighter -- would react the way they did. The only reason I'm not where I want to be today is Bernard Hopkins. Bernard has poisoned the well for me with a lot of fighters. And Bernard should have fought two major fights this year instead of one minor one. If he had, I could have made $800,000 instead of paying $200,000 in legal fees. That's a swing of one million dollars.
the rest of the article
Comment