Editor's Note: Promoter Lou DiBella disputes the characterizations of what was said during the podcast, that were made by the author. DiBella had not spoken with the author prior to the publication of this article. 

Lou DiBella is fed up being treated like a second-class citizen in the boxing world.   

The former HBO Sports executive and veteran boxing promoter recently appeared on the SI Boxing Podcast to vent his frustration at being shut out of opportunities to work directly with the sport’s top television and streaming platforms. Although he has seen his influence wane in recent years, the New York-based DiBella still maintains a deep roster. The problem is that he has few outlets through which to exhibit his wares.

Unlike competitors Top Rank, Premier Boxing Champions, Matchroom, and Golden Boy, all entities that currently have a deal in place with a network that bankrolls and showcases their stable of fighters, DiBella does not have such a partnership. What’s more, the promoters that do have access to network coffers have little incentive to work with the sport’s other, less fortunate promoters, an unsettling reality for someone of DiBella’s standing: established, yet seemingly powerless.

But what seems to disturb DiBella the most, in the current configuration of the sport, is that the small-to-mid-tier promoters in the sport are having to either relinquish their rights to their top fighters ­– or have them heavily comprised – in order to get them onto the platforms enjoyed exclusively by the bigger promoters. DiBella foresees such a circumstance befalling one of his ace clients.

“No, they don’t work with us,” DiBella said, referring to the sport’s most powerful promotional entities. “I have a kid - Bakhodir Jalolov. He’s a tremendous talent. He’s six foot seven, he moves like a light heavyweight and he punches holes through walls. He’s a beast.

“[He's won] the gold medal [in Tokyo], I shouldn’t have to go through anybody else to get a deal. That’s absurd. You know? Fighters shouldn’t have to look to leave their promoters who got them to where they are because they know that at a certain moment in time that promoter has to go to someone else. So they’re not really open to other people, really.”

In DiBella’s view, his problems would be solved if he had a direct line to a powerful network. He has no appetite, otherwise, for other alternatives, especially one that would involve him working with the bigger promoters in a manner that would significantly curtail his role.

Not long ago, DiBella was the de facto East Coast promoter for Al Haymon’s PBC. But in that capacity, DiBella was strictly an event handler, in charge of the nuts and bolts of producing a fight card, with little say in the matchmaking and creative process. DiBella has no desire to go back to that.

“There are exceptions to every rule,” DiBella said. “But there’s no exceptions at ESPN right now. And there’s no exceptions at PBC. I have a tremendous respect for Al. You won’t hear me badmouth Al. But you don’t work with Al. You work for Al. And, by the way, Al did a lot of good for my company and my career for a long time, and I’m not going to tell you that he didn’t make a lot of fighters rich, and I’m not going to sit here, even though I have issues with him, and badmouth him. I have a lot of respect for him and for a number of years I benefited from that relationship. But part of the reason why the relationship doesn’t exist is the same reason why I didn’t elevate to president of HBO Sports or HBO. Because I’m not great at working for other people.”

At this point in his career, DiBella wants his own network deal – full stop.

“I would like to be hired by another substantial network that is not in the sport right now,” DiBella said, “or [work with] one of those three [Top Rank, PBC, Matchroom] if they elect to remove themselves from exclusivity and open up to the entire world of boxing in an attempt to make the best fights happen.”  

“I really wouldn’t potentially want to work for any one of them,” DiBella continued. “I really wouldn’t unless they changed. If ESPN said, ‘I’m going to do a deal with [Top Rank CEO Bob] Arum, and Arum is going to have x amount of the budget, but I’m opening up to the rest of the boxing world’ then that would probably be my choice.”