A Split Decision for Hopkins

They are very different people who traveled very different roads en route to boxing. Bernard Hopkins’ training for the brutality of the sport was a Pennsylvania prison, where he spent nearly five years for armed robbery. Lou DiBella’s training ground for the cutthroat wheeling and dealing of the sport was Harvard Law School.

Yet when their paths intersected, this odd couple formed a relationship that helped both reach their destinations.

Hopkins yearned for the fame and fortune he felt he had been unfairly denied because his ability and appeal were considered marginal by many of boxing’s power brokers.

DiBella yearned for recognition of a different sort. After more than a decade at HBO, building the cable network into a force in boxing, DiBella wanted to create a new model for power brokers. He would officially be neither a promoter nor a manager nor a television executive but would, in actuality, serve as all three at times. Labeling himself an advisor, DiBella would be free of the requirement of getting licensed by state commissions.

Innovative and certainly not illegal.

It proved to be an ideal match. Earlier this year, Hopkins, at DiBella’s urging, entered a middleweight tournament being staged by promoter Don King. Hopkins emerged in September as the winner, his upset victory over Felix Trinidad making Hopkins the undisputed middleweight champion.

DiBella proved there was room in boxing for the new territory he had staked out.

But this success story has an unhappy ending. Don’t most boxing stories?

This unusual partnership is ending in name-calling, charges and lawsuits. Don’t all too many partnerships in boxing?

Hopkins, claiming DiBella is demanding 10% of his purse from the Trinidad fight or roughly $300,000, says DiBella already received $600,000 from King for getting Hopkins into the tournament, and that DiBella once received $50,000 from Hopkins for getting Hopkins a fight around the time DiBella was leaving HBO.

DiBella sued Hopkins in U.S. District Court in New York Friday, charging him with libel and breach of contract, and asking for $11 million in damages.

With King as his promoter and his ties to DiBella severed, Hopkins is close to finalizing a deal to defend his title Feb. 2 against Carl Daniels at a site to be determined.

“People say Bernard Hopkins is an ingrate,” said Hopkins, who refers to himself in the third person. “People say Bernard Hopkins dumped Lou DiBella. I never dumped him until he asked me for money out of the clear, blue sky.

“Look, I had a one-year relationship with Lou DiBella. It was gravy for him and gravy for me. The timing was perfect for both of us. He got $600,000 for delivering the produce to the produce man, Don King. He got paid, so it was a total shock when he wanted to dip his hands into my pocket.

“People are saying Lou DiBella is Bernard Hopkins’ savior and now Bernard Hopkins is cutting his head off. And now, guess who is promoting Bernard Hopkins? Right, Don King. That’s a great perception, but it’s wrong.”

Hopkins’ side is that he paid DiBella $50,000 to get him a fight with Syd Vanderpool in May of last year, the money coming out of Hopkins’ $500,000 purse.

According to the court papers, Hopkins’ payment to DiBella came nearly eight months after DiBella had left HBO, $30,000 to replace loans DiBella had made to Hopkins and the rest for services rendered in two Hopkins fights. Also in the court papers, DiBella says he worked with Hopkins with the full knowledge and consent of HBO officials.

Sources close to the dispute say King paid DiBella for an HBO fight date DiBella owned as part of his settlement package with the cable network. In the court papers, DiBella says Hopkins’ purse for the Trinidad fight was $2.75 million, with DiBella receiving $300,000.

Hopkins insists DiBella is asking for more.

“Maybe he didn’t ask for it before,” Hopkins said, “because he didn’t think Bernard Hopkins could beat Trinidad. He wants to be my friend for another $300,000. I can get friends cheaper than that.”

Hopkins says he is only leveling these charges at DiBella because of DiBella’s alleged demands.

“Because of greed,” Hopkins said, “he pulled the covers off himself. But if he were to make the drive down the turnpike [from DiBella’s New York home to Hopkins in Philadelphia] and say, ‘I’m sorry. I’ve been a little greedy,’ I would forgive him.”

DiBella, saying that the lawsuit speaks for itself, would only add, “There’s no need to respond to insanity. This is obviously all nonsense.”

Been There, Seen That

Word that featherweights Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera exchanged punches last week while at a Houston news conference to publicize their March 2 fight drew little reaction from the boxing world.

It’s getting to be an old act. At least when Lennox Lewis and Hasim Rahman engaged in a wrestling match before their heavyweight title fight, they did so on national TV.

“These two guys don’t like each other,” publicist Bill Caplan said of Morales and Barrera.

No kidding.

Morales keeps hearing how he didn’t really win his first fight with Barrera, the close decision hotly disputed, and Barrera keeps hearing that he must beat Morales to prove his worth.

They don’t need to throw punches at a news conference to generate interest. Those who truly appreciate the sport know these two will throw enough quality punches on March 2 to justify the price of a ticket.