I was inspired to follow up on my previous post about hip hop and boxing by a brief biting comment from Janice, who I assume is Janice Spence of Write On Point!, a UK based online hip hop zine. If you check out the 2004 Archives on her site, you'll see an earlier more hopeful take on Damon Dash's possible effects on the UK hip hop scene that haven't gone as well as hoped. Mostly I recall the Posh Spice deal devolving into scandal.
As I wrote about back when Dash/DiBella Promotions was getting off the ground, some folks in boxing welcomed the partnership, though I also recall a lot of scepticism in the comments sections following various articles on boxing sites. However, I mostly think that Damon Dash is a good fit for boxing promotion.
Last month, BallerStatus.net ran an earlier interview with Dash regarding his interest in boxing and what he'll bring to the sport:
"Back in the day when we first started to get a few dollars, it was a big event to go to a fight. We would get dressed up and wear our best jewelry. It was status to have good seats and there was electricity. It's like being in a club; you're not only watching the fight, but you're looking to see who is there. That made you want to go to more fights. I developed a love for the sport from that perspective, and because of the art and skill of it. I'm trying to bring it back to suit-and-tie status because I feel boxing deserves that kind of attention and should be that kind of event."
He also commented on what he and Lou DiBella bring to their partnership:
"Lou knows the business of boxing, and I learned that and I know the business of marketing, enough where I could bring in other demographics. Together and combined -- once any of these fighters win a bunch of fights and become champions -- we'll be able to put together the ideal event because he has the infrastructure to facilitate the business part of boxing and promoting, and I have the infrastructure to facilitate the awareness and also make sure the girls look good, the jewelry is correct -- everything."
So Dash brings marketing skills and infrastructure allied with an understanding of girls and jewelry. His comments make me smirk yet they also support my feeling that he might do ok. More importantly, they confirm Janice's comments that the promoters are ultimately dependent on the boxers doing well or the glitz and glamour won't follow.
SecondsOut.com has a really great feature on Lou DiBella about whom I have to admit I knew very little. Thomas Hauser describes DiBella's decision to leave his position at HBO Sports where he was "once one of the most powerful people in boxing." Going independent and trying to reform boxing is not an easy thing to do.
Back in 2000, DiBella said:
"I'll work for the fighter . . . I'll hire the promoter, who will be responsible for promoting each fight in accordance with the laws of the state in which the fight is held. The promoter will control the legal administration of the show, but I'll negotiate the site fee and close the television deal. In other words, the promoter will work for the fighter. I'm trying to make a point. I'm trying to rattle the cage and do things differently. I can't turn boxing upside down overnight. But it's as important to me now to shake this business up as it is to make money."
He ran into a lot of problems, overspending on a boxer who didn't do so well and getting ditched by a boxer who did. Hauser describes critics as saying that "he gave new meaning to the word 'lou-dicrous' and could start a fist-fight in an empty room." A story that suggests he and Dash may have been meant for each other, at least in terms of their personalities!
Hauser discusses DiBella's current status in the "second tier of promoters behind Top Rank and Don King Productions." About his partnership with Damon Dash, DiBella states:
"For a long time, I've thought that something had to be done with marketing to revitalize the sport . . . The idea is to create a synergy between boxing, rap music, and urban style; particularly with African-American fighters. There have been attempts to sexy-up the sport for the young urban market before. But for the most part, they've been undertaken by white television executives, who are the wrong people for the job."
After being burned by his early business endeavors, he looks at boxers a bit more cynically now and has some choice words about the business of boxing:
"I've been tempered by reality. I still think boxing is a miserable business. Everything is a deal. People lie all the time and don't even consider it lying. Sooner or later, virtually everyone in the business adopts a go-along mentality or they get crushed. I've come to the conclusion that I can't change the way other people do business. So I operate my own company consistent with my conscience and no longer get a stomach ache every time I see an injustice in boxing. I can't say that I enjoy the business, but it's addictive. And I don't want to be pushed out by the bad guys. I won't let the bastards beat me. If I quit, I want it to be when I'm on top. Maybe then I'll decide that I don't want to be a big fish swimming around in a sewage tank."
Believe it or not, there's plenty more worth reading in Thomas Hauser's article, including a discussion of DiBella's Broadway Boxing endeavor and a great trash talking encounter between DiBella and boxer Bernard Hopkins. If nothing else, it sounds like Damon Dash and Lou DiBella will provide plenty of material for future discussion.
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