Promoter Lou DiBella humbled to be International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee

After 30 years in boxing, Lou DiBella is weary, but like many of the champions he has promoted, he keeps on punching.

DiBella, 59, of Sea Cliff, will be enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame on June 14 in Canastota, New York. In the course of his career, he was an executive at HBO, a promoter and a producer of boxing films.

“I’m humbled and I’m truly grateful for this recognition,” DiBella said, “an affirmation that I gave my best to a sport I love.”

Among those being inducted with DiBella are former middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins and female fighters Christy Martin and Lucia Rijker. This is the first year female fighters were included on the ballot. That’s fitting, because DiBella has long championed women’s boxing.

It is interesting that Hopkins and DiBella will go into the Hall together. One of DiBella’s first major promotions was Hopkins’ TKO win over Felix Trinidad at the Garden in 2001. It was a breakout moment for Hopkins, a fight orchestrated by DiBella. Shortly after, though, the two found themselves in a bitter libel suit that DiBella ultimately won.

In the course of his career, there have been far more highs than lows, but the recent death of one of his fighters, Freeport’s Patrick Day, has given DiBella reason to pause.

“I’m asking more questions than I ever have and I am more uncomfortable with some of the status quo than I’ve ever been,” he said. “As I’m looking ahead to induction into the Hall of Fame, I’m probably debating the sport and my involvement in it more than I ever have. And I still love it. But the love for it doesn’t negate all of the darkness.”

DiBella, a graduate of Harvard Law School, initially sought a career in baseball. In 1989, he was 29 and interviewed to become general counsel for the Yankees. He passed several rounds of interviews and was ready to interview with George Steinbrenner, but The Boss canceled, thinking DiBella was too young.

“His secretary heard my disappointment,” he recalled. “She says to me, ‘I don’t know if this helps, but the guy who is getting the job was interviewing for head counsel of HBO Sports.’ And the light bulb went off in my head — boxing!”

DiBella was hired at HBO in 1989 and his career took off. He helped form TVKO, HBO’s pay-per-view arm, which televised some of the biggest fights of the 1990s, including Evander Holyfield-George Foreman and Oscar De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad.

Perhaps his greatest achievement at HBO was the creation of the Boxing After Dark series in 1996. Known simply as BAD, the series matched young, hungry fighters who otherwise couldn’t get TV dates. The careers of Arturo Gatti, Johnny Tapia and Marco Antonio Barrera were launched on BAD.

“What BAD did was create a brand that stood for great fights,” DiBella said. “BAD was going to give you guys who may not be stars but could well be. We were making matchups where the fighters were hungry. Boxing fans are smart, and the performance of the series showed it.”

After an 11-year run at HBO, DiBella left the network and started his own promotional company, DiBella Entertainment. Among the champs he’s promoted include Hopkins, Sergio Martinez, Andre Berto, Paulie Malignaggi, Jermain Taylor and Deontay Wilder.

The trilogy between Gatti and Micky Ward (2002-2003) is perhaps his greatest promotional achievement. “That first fight,” he said, “I will always think it was the most dramatic and greatest fight I ever attended personally.”

While he never worked for the Yankees, DiBella did return to baseball. He has owned a pair of minor-league franchises, including the Richmond Flying Squirrels, the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Among the players who came through DiBella’s team: World Series champions Madison Bumgarner and Brandon Belt.

DiBella later was an associate producer for “The Fighter,” the story of Ward’s life that starred Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale. The film earned two Academy Awards. DiBella also has produced four boxing documentaries.

In the past decade, DiBella has focused on advancing women’s boxing and has promoted world champions Amanda Serrano, Heather Hardy and Lindenhurst’s Alicia Napoleon.

Equality for women in the sport and better safety regulations for all fighters are two of DiBella’s primary causes in boxing.

“When it comes to my career in boxing, I can honestly say I can look in the mirror now and I don’t mind what I see,” he said. “I got real emotional when I got that phone call from Ed Brophy about the Hall of Fame. It was a message to me that people know you did the best you could do. That meant a lot.”