Thomas
Provides Insight on Dibella SIgning With three pro fights under his belt, Detroiter Isiah Thomas already caught the eye of renowned promoter Lou DiBella. Last week, DiBella Entertainment announced that it had signed Thomas to a promotional contract.
DiBella – home to such boxers as Andre Berto, Jermain Taylor, Kermit Cintron, Paul Malignaggi and fellow Detroiter Ronald Hearns – had added another Detroiter to their list of thirty-some boxers. The light heavyweight touts a 3-0 record since turning pro nine months ago, all wins coming by way of first round knockouts in three different states. While the bigtime contract will mean some change in the life of Thomas, one thing that will not change is his trainer. Veteran trainer Henry Hill helped prepare Thomas for his third fight and will continue to be his trainer, Thomas told Sportssummary last Wednesday. The 20-year old fighter is currently self-managed, with help from his parents, he told us, but Hill also acts as an advisor. Thomas had an impressive amateur career with a self-reported 80-4 record that included two national Junior Olympics titles while fighting under the famed Kronk name. The highlight, however, came in late 2005 in international competition. He was the sole American to win gold at the 2005 Cadet World Championships held in England (two other Americans won silver and two more won bronze), after three decisions in the heavyweight division.
Why Dibella? After he won Worlds, Thomas was riding high. His name appeared in national media with quotes from Emanuel Steward that once again he had boxing’s next rising star. But, after a couple high profile losses in 2006 and ’07 including to future 2008 Olympic medalist Deontay Wilder, the well started drying up. Thomas felt abandoned by Team Kronk after those losses. “It left a bad taste in my mouth,” Thomas said. Bad enough that he said he trained himself for his first pro fight, walking away from the famed gym.
But things are looking up again. DeBella Entertainment is one of the three top promotional companies in the country and Thomas met Lou DiBella twice, at a training camp in January and at the Taylor-Lacy fight, finding him “funny” and “honest.” Thomas’ trainer kept in touch with DiBella since their meetings and that’s how the deal came together. Hill told Sportssummary that he had talked with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions and Bob Arum’s Top Rank but realized that both companies had their own recruiters and he already had a relationship with DiBella. “We’ll be fighting every other month (with DiBella),” Hill said this week. “DiBella has a proven record. Lou’s the man.” Thomas said that everything he had heard about Lou DiBella was positive, including back in the day from Steward, and his impression was similar during their short talks. “In
boxing, you usually hear two sides but I only heard good things
about DiBella,” Thomas said. |
