Lou DiBella Gives His Thoughts On The State of Boxing.

There is little about boxing that veteran promoter Lou DiBella has not come across. The 60-year-old New Yorker has promoted some of the biggest names in the sport and worked with some of the biggest broadcasters. In June, he was to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. However, Covid-19 saw the ceremony postponed until 2021.

This week DiBella guested on the Brooklyn Boxing Podcast and gave his unfiltered take on the contemporary boxing landscape.

“I think boxing done the right way is more theatrical, more poetic more drama than any other sport. I think now that we have these exclusive deals and these exclusive avenues we’re not getting the best storylines, and we’re not getting the fights, and they’re not simmering the right way,’ DiBella said, speaking to the podcast’s host Pay Healy.

“These exclusive deals with fighters being exclusive to one avenue or one streaming platform or one television platform it detracts from the ability to make the biggest and best fights. It results in programming that is inferior, and its really really hurt boxing.

“”It is not going to fix until somebody wakes up and changes it… had DAZN done it the right way and not made a stupid deal with Eddie Hearn to come over here and give a billion dollars to a couple of promoters. They could have wrapped up the whole industry with a billion dollars they could have literally created a UFC.

“They could have bought Top Rank and probably made a deal with [Al] Haymon. I mean, they could have taken my company and ten other mid-range companies with it, and they could have wrapped up the whole industry.”

DiBella, who may be most well known for masterminding HBO’s Boxing After Dark Series, was equally open sharing his views about the people tasked with running the sport as he was with the broadcasters.

“We have no commissioner. The rating organizations are renegades, desperados, and banditos, and honestly, they have no religion. Their ratings mean nothing. They are all politicized; there’s a lot of corruption the whole system of judging is f*d up and inappropriate,” DiBella exclaimed.

“There are bad decisions constantly. Boxing’s been its own worst enemy, which is unfortunate because we’re a great product. When done well, we are the sport of kings. Unfortunately, we are a s**tshow right now. We are not the sport of kings.”

Covid-19 has turned the world upside down, causing every sport to take a look at itself and ask what it needs to do to adapt to the new reality we live in. It appears that DiBella is unafraid to say what he feels needs to change to improve boxing.

Here is the full interview for those who want to check it out.