Who is Lou DiBella?

The New York promoter who offered International Boxing Federation (IBF) superbantamweight Manny Pacquiao a $200,000 (roughly P10 million) purse to stake his crown against an opponent of his choice on Aug. 17 in Virginia is a Harvard Law School graduate from Tufts University.

Lou DiBella, 41, doesn’t peddle bull. He’s what you call a straight shooter. DiBella’s lawyer Gary Gittelsohn tendered the offer in his behalf to Pacquiao’s manager Marty Elorde the other day. Elorde then relayed the bid to Pacquaio’s business manager Rod Nazario.

Yesterday, Gittelsohn sent a fax to formalize the offer. Elorde declined to disclose the terms of the contract but said the nine-fight, three-year deal was "interesting." Tomorrow, Elorde and Nazario are sitting down to discuss Gittelsohn’s offer and if it arrives on time, a bid from New Jersey promoter Murad Muhammad.

Gittelsohn himself has extensive experience as a fight manager. A history of his clients profile lists IBF featherweight titleholder Johnny Tapia, Junior Jones, Prince Charles Williams and Tony Tucker.

DiBella joined the Home Box Office (HBO) cable TV’s legal department in 1989 and became Vice President of HBO Sports four years later. He was described as the driving force behind HBO’s "Boxing After Dark" program. Before the start of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, DiBella quit HBO and formed DiBella Entertainment, a full-service sports and entertainment company specializing in pro boxing.

DiBella’s stable includes several Sydney Olympians, including flyweight Brian Viloria. Additionally, he advises middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins and flamboyant featherweight Naseem Hamed.

Nazario said he met DiBella in Los Angeles last year. DiBella sent a car to fetch Nazario for their meeting.

It wasn’t DiBella with whom Nazario negotiated for Pacquiao’s fights against Lehlo Ledwaba, Agapito Sanchez, and Jorge Eliecer Julio in the US. It was Murad Muhammad who operates the New Jersey company M&M Sports. Muhammad used to promote Roy Jones until the world lightheavyweight champion decided to do it on his own. In his ads, Muhammad claims that fighters sign up with him "for his honesty, integrity, and his ability to fulfill their dreams."

Nazario said his three-fight contract with Muhammad has expired. But he verbally assured Muhammad of priority in promoting Pacquiao’s coming US fight. Nazario said he set a 10-day deadline for Muhammad to submit a bid for Pacquiao’s next bout. Muhammad has until tomorrow to relay his offer.

Clarence (Bones) Adams looms as a top candidate to be Pacquiao’s next challenger. Adams has publicly announced he’s ready to take on Pacquiao. The problem is the IBF will require Pacquiao to make a mandatory defense against the highest-ranked available contender before the year ends. That contender could be Fahprakob Rakkiat-gym of Thailand. Unfortunately, the US market couldn’t care less about a Pacquiao defense against a Thai. The fans are eager to see Pacquiao test his mettle against an American like Adams or a crowd favorite like Tapia.

If you ask Nazario, he’d like Tapia to be at the top of Pacquiao’s hit list. Even if Pacquaio weighed in only at 121 1/2 pounds for the Julio bout without reducing, Nazario said the hard-hitting General Santos City southpaw should beat Tapia easily. Tapia holds the IBF featherweight crown which Pacquiao covets to live his dream of becoming the first and only Filipino to win world titles in three different divisions. Another Pacquiao dream is to unify the 122-pound class but it doesn’t look like the other champions, World Boxing Council (WBC) titlist Willie Jorrin and World Boxing Association (WBA) king Osamu Sato, will oblige.

If Muhammad continues to represent Pacquiao in the US, he’s got to put his money where his mouth is. Nazario said he’ll go with the best offer even if Muhammad has "priority."

Surely, DiBella’s bid can’t be ignored.

Pacquiao hasn’t earned a purse bigger than $120,000 which he got in the Sanchez fight. Nobody’s revealing how much Pacquiao bankrolled for disposing of Julio but the rumor is the purse was only $70,000. Insiders justified the drop in money to the "investment" of fighting before millions of fans in the undercard of the Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson mainer. So if DiBella’s offer of $200,000 is firm, it’s definitely nothing to scoff at.

One thing about DiBella, he’s supposed to be a clean operator. He has a reputation as a tireless campaigner for boxing reform. Nigel Collins said "he’s one of the few people in the business with the brains, ethics, and muscle to help change the sport for the better."

So who will win Pacquiao’s heart? DiBella or Muhammad? What about Don King who’s also trying to get into the act? As the saying goes, may the best man win.

Postscript. In a correction to yesterday’s column, Bong Alvarez’ scoring average was 11.9–not 1.9–points during the recent Samsung Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors Cup. And RenRen Ritualo was shackled, not shacked, by Danny Johnson.