LAS VEGAS – Bernard Hopkins accepted the Manager of the Year Award at the Boxing Writers Dinner held at Mandalay Bay Friday night, a rare occurrence when a fighter is recognized for taking charge of his own career.
“This is something we all need to do,” Hopkins told an A-list of boxers at the gathering, including Winky Wright, Chris Byrd, Monte Barrett, Zab Judah, Sugar Shane Mosley, Jeff Lacy, James Toney, Hasim Rahman, Vitali Klitschko, Lamon Brewster, Diego Corrales and Sugar Ray Leonard.
Hopkins was recognized for negotiating a $10 million deal to fight Oscar De La Hoya last September and subsequently becoming a partner in Golden Boy Promotions. Earlier this month, he signed a multi-fight deal with HBO, something he has yearned for throughout his career. It would seem to have been a magical year for Hopkins, except for losing his appeal on the libel lawsuit won by Manhattan-based promoter Lou DiBella.
As many lessons as there are to learn about Hopkins’ success as a self-manager for 11 years, there are also lessons to learn from this courtroom defeat.
If you read the April 4, 2005, decision of the United States Court of Appeals For The Second Circuit in the matter of Lou DiBella and DiBella Entertainment versus Bernard Hopkins, you don’t see a Manager of the Year in Hopkins. You see a fighter who let his mouth and emotions carry him too far.
The appeals court upheld a district court ruling that Hopkins slandered DiBella in an interview published on Maxboxing.com on Dec. 20, 2001. Hopkins told a reporter that DiBella, while the lead boxing programmer at HBO, extorted $50,000 from him as a bribe to fight on the network.
“What I’m saying is that every time Lou DiBella did something for Bernard Hopkins or played a role for Bernard Hopkins, even when he was with HBO, he got paid,” Hopkins was quoted as saying.
He repeated the allegations in the Boston Globe: “I paid [DiBella] $50,000 to get on the Roy Jones undercard in Indianapolis to fight Syd Vanderpool or I wouldn’t have been on the card.”
And the Philadelphia Daily News: “When the guy says, ‘I got HBO dates, you give me this [$50,000] and I’ll get you one,’ what am I supposed to do?”
The district court followed the time sheet. Hopkins defeated Vanderpool on May 13, 2000, a day after DiBella officially left HBO and three months after DiBella reached a handshake agreement to advise Hopkins and assist in marketing him once DiBella left HBO. Hopkins agreed to pay DiBella the $50,000 as an advance fee for Dibella’s marketing services. Testimony revealed Hopkins paid DiBella the fee in January 2001.
The District Court of the appeals court concurred Hopkins knew his statements were false when he accused DiBella of extortion. He was hit with $110,000 in compensatory damages and $500,000 in punitive damages.
“When I get rid of the legal fees and the taxes, what I’m getting from him when I finally get that money has no impact on my life,” DiBella said. “But what he did to two years of my life hurt me in every way: hurt my family, hurt my marriage, hurt my career, and hurt my business.”
Now the lawsuit serves as a backdrop to Hopkins’ next defense of his undisputed middleweight title against Jermain Taylor on July 16 at MGM. DiBella is Taylor’s promoter. Hopkins has made it personal saying he hopes to put DiBella out of business by beating Taylor.
Truth is, Hopkins should avoid talking about the libel suit as if he were wronged. A good self-manager knows when to shut up and move on.
