They can find a new heavy hitter to knock out 15 guys and call him the “next Berlanga”. They can find a smooth boxer and market him as the “next Hitchins”.
By doing this in-house, they control the story and, more importantly, the cost. DiBella says that if the Zuffa model works, the days of a fighter like Berlanga commanding “overpaid” wallets are over because the system will simply produce a cheaper version of that same “asset.”
“I’ve got to be honest with you, I don’t think it really matters. If they (Zuffa Boxing) do things the right way, those guys are largely irrelevant,” DiBella told Ariel Helwani.
“No offense to Richardson. He’s a good fighter. In five years nobody’s going to give a *** about Richardson Hitchins or Berlanga. It doesn’t matter.”
Berlanga delivered the sharpest criticism. DiBella showed how his early run was built and how it shaped perception.
“Maybe no fighter in the history of boxing, and this is a tribute to Keith Connolly, a little bit of a tribute to Berlanga, and a little bit of a tribute to Top Rank, has understood that you can take a mediocre fighter and feed him 15 ham sandwiches to knock him out. After the 15 ham sandwiches, he’s 15-0 knockouts.”
When talking about Berlanga, Dibella describes a guy whose entire reputation is built on a padded record designed to look spectacular on paper.
“So, a little bit of a tribute to everybody there. Berlanga is the most overpaid fighter, one of the most overpaid fighters in the history of boxing,” DiBella said.
