Lou DiBella hopes he has found a permanent streaming home for his promotional company’s long-running “Broadway Boxing” series.
DAZN will stream “Broadway Boxing” for the first time Thursday night, when it will offer a six-fight card to its subscribers from Sony Hall in New York. The show, which will begin at 7:30 p.m. EDT, will feature Mongolian junior lightweight prospect Tsendbaatar Erdenebat (5-0, 3 KOs), who is suddenly famous for hurting Ryan Garcia in sparring recently, junior middleweight Brian Ceballo (13-1, 7 KOs) and 19-year-old junior welterweight prospect David Lopez (2-0, 2 KOs).
“It’s a grassroots, club-level boxing show, but it’s a high level of that kind of show,” DiBella told BoxingScene.com. “And my understanding is that [DAZN] has been looking at more developmental stuff with other promoters. Offering more content to your subscribers is a win for your subscribers. I think it’s a real plus for the service and it’s a real plus for the fighters.
“The fighters fighting on this ‘Broadway Boxing’ card are excited that this is being distributed by DAZN because DAZN does have cache in terms of being one of the biggest players in boxing. And there’s a lot of talent on this little, six-fight card [Thursday] night. And if you can offer those cards with regularity, it’s a real selling point to DAZN subscribers.”
DiBella again has partnered with Boxing Insider’s Larry Goldberg, whose company will at least co-promote its fourth boxing card at Sony Hall in Manhattan’s Times Square since October 13. The International Boxing Hall of Fame promoter commended Goldberg for investing in club-level boxing, particularly in Manhattan, where costs can mount quickly.
“I wanna give credit to Larry Goldberg and Boxing Insider for putting their money where their mouth is,” DiBella said, “for trying to be a player and re-establishing televised-quality club boxing in New York. People like to say a lot of things about the New York commission, but the New York commission does not approve fights that are complete mismatches. New York is probably the hardest commission in the country to get a fight approved by.
“So, to do a club show in New York, you have to be willing to do a certain level of quality of fight. And the reason I’m partnering with Larry on this show is because he is also bringing something to the table. He has a great deal with this great, little venue, which has really good lighting for television. The room is gonna be full, and the vibe is gonna be really, really good. It’s gonna be a lively crowd.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.