Dave Tiberi Interview

This Thursday Night at the Delaware Park in Wilmington, DE former middleweight contender Dave Tiberi and TNT Productions brings a night of fights to America’s first state. As you may recall, Tiberi left the ring in 1992 after a losing a decision to James Toney in a fight that is considered to be amongst the most heinous rulings in the history of the sport. Though he hasn’t been active inside of the ring, he has been plenty busy outside of it over the past 15 years. Dave “TNT” Tiberi recently took the time to discuss his boxing background, his work beyond the mat as well as his upcoming card which features the undefeated Chucky Cavallo and Larry “Laser” Marks.


Dave thanks for taking the time to talk about the upcoming card. What can we expect to see?

There is going to be a neat flavor with this card on Thursday to honor each branch of the United States Military. We are going to have the Iraqi war veterans theme played, then we are going to ask those in attendance to please stand up if you served, branch by branch. This night is not just about boxing matches. A lot of people in the audience will be involved. In Delaware alone we have something like 92,000 war veterans. I do a lot of volunteer work; I am a self defense trainer and also work with young people in the PAL. There is also going to be a major presentation to Police Athletic League.

Is it true that you have a close affiliation with the PAL?

We are looking to build the largest PAL in country which will be 5000 sq ft. We have raised $250,000 for it so far. I also plan on giving $10,000 of the proceeds from this fight to the PAL. I was recently told that 17 PAL centers in the area were forced to close their doors over the past couple of years alone. The PAL brought us Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier! With all of the murders and crime in the cities, why would they do something like this? I was so glad when he told me and that he took the time to research this. If everyone works together meaning the guys in the media and all people in boxing, great this can be accomplished.

What are some of the changes that you would like to see happen in boxing?

There is a lot of darkness in this sport but I want to help shine the light through. There are a handful of people in boxing who are controlling the sport and sometimes they are the worst example. I also think there are a lot of great people in this sport and this is a new era. People like Bernard Hopkins, who was my chief sparring partner. He is out there and he speaks to people. He works with at risk kids and helps others in need; he doesn’t forget where he came from. I want to see a boxers fund to help them with insurance or put them or their kids through college. I have received a warm welcome for my strong stance again issues that need to be addressed. If we start addressing these issues together who knows what can happen. This is a great sport; fighters want fair, safe fights with fair judging and fair officiating. Fans deserve good competitive fights, no mismatches.


As a promoter, what do you look for in a fighter who will be on one of your cards?

I am always looking at who comes to fight every round. I also made a policy that if there is any cursing or negativity you won’t fight for me again. I expect courtesy, families are watching so I expect you to carry yourself like a professional. I want talented fighters, but also want people who carry themselves as a good person outside of the ring too.

Now that it is getting close to fight night, tell us a bit about how it came together.

I am very excited about this card, my brother Nick has done a few cards for ESPN and has gotten a great response. Being the matchmaker is fun because we get to pick a competitive fight card. We had a good time throwing names around to make this night. Take Jake Rodriguez for example. He is a guy who is experienced and is tough despite his record. Richard Stewart is tough; I think this is going to be a unique fight. My trainer (Hall of Famer) Marty Feldman always said “records don’t go in the ring, abilities do” and he is right. This is a fighter that Richie can’t take lightly.

Larry Marks fought against fighters like Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis and Cory Spinks to name a few. His opponent Dhafir Smith won himself a title recently and defended it successfully in Philly last month. If Marks comes to a fight and if he is psychologically there, he is unbeatable. They say about Dhafir the same thing, I wonder who is going to show up?

I think the co feature is going to be really interesting because we have Shannon Miller fighting Chucky Cavallo in what a lot of people are calling a step up fight for the undefeated Cavallo. Miller is a tough journeyman who has fought a lot of people, and a lot of them are name guys. The people love watching Cavallo and the way he fights,
He has such a good following and he enjoys being in the ring. I am interested to see how he is going to adapt from the 6 rounders to the 8 rounders? Chucky is still learning how to set a pace, what is he going to do when Miller tries to set the pace? Miller has already been there and knows what to do. I think it is going to be a very good fight.

Ryan Belasco is also on the card. I remember when he used to come to the gym as a kid, he and his dad were best friend. His dad trained him and his dad fought through him. It was really sad when his dad passed away a few years ago. His last fight with Elad Schmouel, I told them don’t push him too fast with a guy that experienced. No one expected Ryan to come out like he did in that first round scoring two knockdowns. Ryan is a great kid who is just so committed to what he does.

There is also a 4 round fight that I am happy but surprised they signed with two polished amateurs making their debut. We have Tevon Walker out of Philly who was 56-3 as an amateur and went to nationals; he is fighting Darrell Martin from Baltimore who won the eastern regional. This isn’t normally what you get when you have a guy making his debut but it is a fight they both wanted.

There are definitely some interesting things going on. What are you looking to accomplish as a promoter?

I made my promotional debut last July. There are a lot of people interested in what I am doing and I have a big push right now. I would like to do more with TV and there are some major venues interested. I trained in Philadelphia and would love to stay close to the area. I would love to have cards every 6 – 8 weeks in this area to keep regional kids busy. Boxing needs to have enough going on so the kids can develop regional following. So when they get to the point where they are featured on TV, people can get excited about them and say hey I saw this kid when he was coming through the ranks.

Speaking of coming through the ranks, how did you get started in boxing?

I have six older brothers, all seven of us boxed with four of us turning professional. Five of us won the Pennsylvania Golden Gloves, and then went on to represent the USA in international competition.

You made it to an IBF Middleweight Title fight against James Toney which has been well documented as possibly the worst decision ever. I can even imagine the feeling you had when the decision was announced.

My trainer Marty Feldman told me that Toney doesn’t have the same punch backing up and I stayed on him the entire fight. I remember when the fight ended when I was hoisted in the air knowing we got the win, then hearing the cards read, it all went blank. I retired in 1992 after the Toney fight and would only return under the condition that they over turn the decision.

This sparked off a lot of controversy.

After my loss to James Toney in 1992 I refused to step back into the ring. I was offered multimillion deal for rematch with James Toney but there is a moral issue of right and wrong. Two of the judges scoring the fight were unlicensed, Frank Brunette was only licensed judge and he is the one who got the score right. There were three gloves ripped in the same fight but not one was found after the fight. It expanded from my fight to a full blown investigation into the sport of boxing because there were a lot of patterns that weren’t right. In 1993 – 94 I spoke on Senate floor with Bobby Czyz to bring attention to these issues. We did get the Ali bill under Senator John McCain. There is still work to be done, we need to pass a bill to unify the sport.

After retiring I got involved in the legislative side of things. They offered me millions of dollars to fight Roy Jones, no doubt hardest decision I had to make in my life. I look at it as God used me as the vehicle to bring reform to boxing. More exposure to what happened that night brought more controversy.


Aside from James Toney, what are some of the other memorable moments in your career as a pro?

Another fight that sticks out was the fight against Tony Thornton. I was ahead on the scorecards but I got cut bad and they stopped the fight. Some of my hardest fights came in sparring at Champs Gym. My regular sparring partners were Bernard Hopkins, Robert “Bam Bam” Hines, and Prince Charles Williams. Out of everything I have to say fighting at The Legendary Blue Horizon has to be the most memorable. The people who watch the fights at The Blue are there for the right reasons. They don’t care who you are, if you are black, white, whatever. They are great fight fans, it is hard to get pumped up fighting at a casino but at The Blue you hear them because they are always into it.

We covered a lot, is there anything you would like to add?

I just want to thank you for the support and I will see you on Thursday!


Special Thanks to Jennifer Oberle of Delaware Park for coordinating this interview

Tickets are available on www.delawarepark.com for $35- Reserved Seating and $25- General Admission.


If you have any questions, comments or suggestions you can email Philly Keith at keith@phillykeith.com

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