Taylor - Pavlik: Closer Than the Judges Saw It

Aside from the Joe Louis documentary, the Taylor-Pavlik replay was a great technical fight to watch. Since I hadn’t bought the PPV, I had to satisfy myself until last night with the accounts of other boxing sportscasters. My view today is that they came up short and let me down somewhat. Taylor came close to winning the fight, in my humble opinion, and the judge’s scores seemed wide. The last two rounds were up for grabs and I had Pavlik with an edge in the 11th and the rounds even in the less exciting 12th. One could make the argument that the fight was a draw, in which case the decision properly might go to Pavlik. I can’t help thinking that somewhere within Jermain Taylor is a great fighter waiting to come out. And waiting.

Klitschko-Ibragimov: Blunder Without Thunder

Klitschko won by decision with a guy who shouldn't have lasted 12 rounds. Teddy Atlas must have been sipping kool-aid. Klitschko has taken one step toward unifying the heavyweight field but came up with a lame story when he was asked whether he'd take on the winner of Maskaev vs Sam Peter. Klitschko's likable in the same way that Barak Obama is likable, but both guys seem to ramble on forever when the question requires a simple "yes" or "no."

The Klitschko-Ibragimov Blunder Without Thunder was a fight that boxers should watch as a model of how not to fight. Actually, it wasn’t a boxing match so much as it was a negotiating session. Klitschko fired an obligatory four jabs a round according to his contract and Ibragimov kept his contract promise of circling mostly in the wrong direction so that he couldn’t be effective with either a right hook or a straight left hand.

Joe Louis Documentary on HBO

HBO televised a great mini-documentary of the Joe Louis saga just prior to its televising of the Klitchscho-Ibragimov Blunder Without Thunder. Much of material was known to fans of boxing history but, even so, news of Joe Louis’ “betrayal” was passed along to a new audience. My wife, a woman who had never watched a boxing match in her life before marrying me, was beside herself when she got the news that Louis was hounded by the IRS for tax evasion even while he did so much for America.

The paean was tinged with sadness as Louis’ decline was chronicled in his later years, but Louis’ persona and accomplishments were of such resilience and power that he can never be diminished. My own father, an uneducated factory worker born in the same year as Joe Louis, mentioned Joe Louis so often to us that he seemed part of our family. With a right hand like a mechanized power train, Joe Louis tumbled the Third Reich face first on the canvas in Yankee Stadium.

Pay Per View Boxing Costs Too High?

I finally got to watch the Pavlik-Taylor fight on HBO’s replay last night. It may be boxing heresy that I didn’t buy the fight for $49.95 on the day it occurred but I can no longer support all those PPV fights with that kind of a price tag. Don’t jump on me with sententious assertions that the fighters deserve to make money. Of course, they do. Anyone who participates in the penultimate grueling sport knows that careers are short-lived, the chances of getting seriously hurt are significant, and that boxers run the risk of ending their boxing careers with little to show for it except scars and occasional smiles of recognition from people with short memories.

My point is that PPV fees are often too high. I’m not sure how it is for other people, but I’ve bought into quite a few PPV boxing events in the $20 to $25 range. I’ve also bought into quite a few for $49.95, and very often that’s been something I regret when the DirectTV bill comes. The pricing policies set by HBO execs have the effect of narrowing the audience. Paying $50 for a televised boxing event is a counterproductive pricing policy at a time when boxing needs to expand its audience.

Boxing is a business but it’s often a badly run business. The boxing business would do well to emulate the competitive pricing policies of mainstream businesses with pricing strategies designed to expand market share and the customer base. My hit on it is that HBO, SHOWTIME boxing, and other television boxing promoters would increase market share, customer base, and television profits by lowering prices. I don’t know if there are any studies to support this but I haven’t seen any proof that $50.00 PPV price tags help the boxers, the television boxing business, the customer, or the bottom line. By putting prices out of reach of the common man, the television boxing promoters are putting the fighters themselves out of the running for the adulation of the common fan.

Smart Boxing Fans Pick Pavlik

Clearly, many of the people who voted on this blog regarding the outcome of the Pavlik-Taylor rematch are very smart. Most of my millions of readers picked Pavlik to win by decision or KO. I was leaning toward Pavlik, too, but I wish I had the same kind of certitude about it that some people did. Yo, it's boxing and Taylor didn't get to where he got by laying down and letting people run right over him. All props to Pavlik for getting it done for Youngstown, home of the great Boom-Boom Mancini. If anything, Taylor emerges even bigger after losing twice to Pavlik. Both these guys will be interesting to watch as they fight on into the future.

Teddy Atlas Picks Ibragimov to Beat Klitschko

Carlos Quintana reaching out to touch someone...


Teddy Atlas appeared as usual on ESPN’s Friday Night Fight series. Brian Kenney ran the show from the ESPN studios while Atlas did his usual bit in the “coaches corner.”

As an amateur boxing coach, I always found Teddy’s commentary very interesting. Of course, he knows his stuff. After a career as a professional boxer, Teddy Atlas went to the late Cus D’Amato’s camp in the Catskills where he helped train and coach Mike Tyson, among others.

Before any fight in the ESPN Friday night fight series, Teddy opines on the “keys to victory” for each fighter. He has a great eye for detail and, if you listen you will learn some unusual things of interest to fight people if no one else.

Bottom line is that Brian Kenney and everyone else was going off on how little chance Ibragimov has to beat Klitchscho tonight in a heavyweight unification bout. The odds are huge against Ibragimov. Teddy shocked everyone by predicting an Ibragimov victory. The reason?

You’ve have to see the Paul William vs. Carlos Quintana fight to understand why. It was a classic short-guy, tall-guy matchup and Quintana broke the 8-1 favorite Paul Williams down as though he were an amateur. Perhaps that was part of the problem. Williams is reported to have had less than ten fights in the amateurs. Don’t take anything away from Quintana, though. Carlos took the fight on short notice and against all advice and did everything a southpaw should do with a guy who was about 2 feet taller. It was real-life Rocky stuff, I’m telling you. Tall guys should watch it to learn what not to do in the ring.

So I had the same thought as Teddy Atlas, though I’m not as brave as he is in predicting an Ibragimov victory. Ibragimov could win though but Klitschko ought to know by now how to handle the sport’s many difficult angles.

Andre Berto: A Boxing Name You Need to Know

A word must be said about Andre Berto in the wake of his victory over European welterweight champion Michael Trabant. It’s true that Trabant was a one-dimensional man without a big power punch, but that’s not what I want to talk about. It’s Andre Berto, his skills, and a style that will be hard to beat.

Andre Berto seems to have it all in a division where you need it. The welterweights are so packed with talent that a fighter like Berto needs corporate management to pick a path through it. That may sound like heresy to some boxing fans, but how else do you deal with a world so packed with talent and deep in fighters? The time is now for Berto to step it up to the big boys in the division but I think it would be stupid to jump him up to the Mayweather-Cotto level. I think Andre will pick off many of the welterweights and I think he’ll do it in a convincing way. He can face the tops in the division later. There are business considerations, after all, and would you want to fight a guy like Berto for the amusement of your friends? For about three seconds if you're really fast on your feet.

What does Andre Berto bring to a fight? A whole hell of a lot, if you ask me. He’s superbly conditioned, and supposed to be something of a gym rat. Good, I like gym rats. He has a good chin and full body armor. Best of all, I like his fighting style. He works off the previous punch, in well-timed combinations. All executed with power and speed. It breaks you down, takes you apart. How many guys have you seen mix a jab with a double left hook, one to the body and one up? Besides Mayweather, who is fast enough to double with the right hand, hitting with the uppercut and following through with a straight right? It’s likely I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know if you’ve watched Berto’s fights. Look for him to fight the top of the division within a year or two at the most.

Andre Berto Mugs German Boxing Tourist Michael Trabant

Michael Trabant’s visit to Jompoc did not go well and he quit in his corner after 6 rounds of a mugging by Andre Berto. Berto’s a growing threat to a division so packed with talent that it scares me. It’s likely to put the betting trade in the unemployment lines. Who would venture a guess on fights that feature Cotto, Mayweather, Kermit Cintron, Paul Williams, Quintana, and more?

I wouldn't look at the Berto-Trabant fight as a romp. Berto was taking a chance in fighting a guy with double the experience than he with his 20 fight record. Berto applied too much forward pressure for the German to deal with and it broke him down.

Carlos Quintana 8-1 Underdog Defeats Paul Williams

Did someone forget to tell Carlos Quintana he was merely an opponent for the undefeated WBO Welterweight titleholder Paul “the Punisher” Williams? Apparently. Not only that, but the fight did look like a basic training camp for a boxer who had only ten fights as an amateur.

Williams has both the body and the skills to kill in the division, but Quintana picked his lock and opened the door to a unanimous decision against a guy who was at least a foot taller and 2 feet longer in reach. This was the kind of fight that should serve as a training film for young fighters, especially tall ones with pronounced athletic skills. While Williams had a powerful jab working effectively in spots, it was predictable and sporadic. Quintana had it figured, and repeatedly pounded Williams with straight power left hands launched upward from the sturdy missile pad of his compact frame. Quintana also did nice work with short right hooks to the body and head when the two fighters closed. He swept the tall fighter’s head into the path of destruction.

Williams’ mistake was in forfeiting height and physical advantages, at times leaning inward to punch, and closing space so often that he rarely had enough room to punch. “The Punisher” was trying to make good on his promise to “bring it”, something he might have done better in the later rounds had he boxed from the outside, even at the risk of looking too “technical.”

As always, Howard Lederman detracted from the proceedings with his grating voice and conventional failings. Lederman’s account of any fight is most often colored by the Nevada betting odds, with Quintana the 8-1 underdog. Lederman’s account had Williams winning the fight by 3 rounds; two judges had Quintana winning by 4 rounds, and the 3rd judge by 3 rounds. As ever, I would like to know why HBO employs Lederman in its broadcasts. He adds absolutely nothing. Is he some kind of boxing “Godfather?”

Paul"The Punisher" Williams & Andre Berto Face Opponents

Carlos Quintana's only loss was to Miguel Cotto. Tonight he'll face tall Paul "The Punisher" Williams. Suppose people forget to tell Quintana that he's merely an "opponent?" Williams had better not let Quintana get started.

I'm looking forward to Williams- Quintana tonight on HBO. It'll be a first look at Paul Williams for me and my peeps have told me he's a handful. Like early Thomas Hearns, they say, only southpaw. I hope that, when the bell rings, Paul Willians knows it's not basic training. Williams has very little amateur experience but he wouldn’t be the first guy to succeed without it. It does sound like he's had a "look" at some tough competition. Sechew Powell and the other names he drops as training partners are no joke. Quintana's tough... But tall, with leverage, is hard to beat if Williams is "The Truth", as he says and if he's going to really "bring it."

I've seen Andre Berto before. He reminds me of a Curtis Stevens on amphetamines. Berto showed recently he can settle down and then explode at the right moment. I don’t know much about Berto’s opponent, Michael Trabant, a German fighter with 43 bouts, 2 losses, one draw.... We'll find out later tonight as HBO's Boxing After Dark continues one what looks to be a great night of boxing.

Welcome to Jompac, Trabant.... Hope you have lasting fond memories.

Jermain Taylor - Kelly Pavlik Could Surprise

Taylor-Pavlik rematch has me worried. I’m hoping for a repeat of a Pavlik win but Jermain Taylor looks sturdier and Pavlik was down in his last fight. I love the way Pavlik fights but it’s a good thing boxing trunks don’t have pockets. I think, if they did, Kelly would probably stroll around the ring jingling his now substantial pocket change.

I’ve no hate on for Jermain Taylor. He’s powerful, he’s fast, and losing to Pavlik in the first fight may have matured him in a way that only getting knocked out can do.

Rockin' With the Philly Rock Ministries

Brian Pedone’s Heavy Hitters Boxing Club of Stroudsburg, PA. continues to build the skills of its young boxers (and some not quite so young). Pedone, who is not averse to entering the ring himself, took his fighters to Philadelphia recently for a field trip to the Rock Ministries in North Philly.

Anyone who knows Philly knows it’s a big fight town and that many Philly Kids, whether involved in boxing or not, can walk off the streets and get respect in the boxing ring. But real boxing is a long term exercise. It takes skill, endurance, self-discipline and a willingness to work to succeed in boxing. No matter how much support you get from the people around you, you find yourself eventually alone in the ring with somebody who's tryin to snatch away your heart and your willingness to fight.

Pedone’s fighters struggled in the ring against Philadelphia fighters with more experience but a few have long been training with Pedone and established themselves early and well in the sparring sessions. It wasn't always pretty but you got the feeling that Pedone's fighters were rising up.

A.J. Liebling Analyzes Eddie Chambers Vs. Alexander Potevkin

ESPN Writer Don Steinberg has a great piece on up and coming heavyweight Eddie Chambers, a Pennsylvania fighter. Chambers goes to Germany this coming Saturday to fight a European champion on his first trip out of the country. Steinberg's entire story makes for good reading but I had to laugh at a quote he used from old-school pundit A.J. Liebling:

"The fighter must be confirmed in the belief that he can lick anybody in the world and at the same time be restrained from testing this belief on a subject too advanced for his attainments."

That seems to fit this fight against Alexander Potevkin, an active and aggressive boxer who is a big step up for Chambers. Chambers has the bigger record with 30 and 0 but those Russians are wild men. Potevkin has a 14-0 record but the impressive thing is that 11 of them have been KOs. Chris Byrd and Larry Donald are his two best-known victims. It's worrisome that Potevkin reacted well to the boxing skills of a Chris Byrd.

Roy Jones Triumphant as Golota Finds Redemption

Roy Jones Wins!

Golota the Gentleman


I’m back on my win streak. After a long drought when I failed to predict the outcomes of several boxing matches, I’m back on top with my prediction of a Jones win over Felix Trinidad. An ESPN boxing writer justifiably criticized Roy Jones for being careful in the early rounds but that’s what a good trainer would have suggested for a comeback fighter. In the end, it was strength and durability that won out, and Trinidad looked impressive in losing.

POLL RESULTS: I guess I can't crow about picking the correct results on this one. Everyone who voted picked Jones to win, also.

I didn’t see the Golota-Mollo fight but the Polish thug has always been one of my sentimental favorites. Golota makes all of us whiteboys look like a bunch of larcenous, out-of-control and reckless thugs striving to make things right in the end. We need that to stay humble and not feel morally superior as we hypocritically condemn those who grow up in difficult circumstances and neighborhoods. Hey, we behave like assholes, too! I’d match Andrew up with Tyson in that competition and Andrew might win that one although it’s more likely to be a draw. Anyway, I got to show some love for Andrew Golota.

Golota didn’t bite anyone, he didn’t quit, and he didn’t steal any wallets or cars. Even better, Andrew won in a grueling 12 rounder with a much younger opponent with one eye closed.

Sunset for Kelvin Davis in Key West Florida

Kelvin Davis on the left as Eric Fields fires straight right.

ESPN’s Friday night fights is free, you know, and offers a chance to see good boxers at both the beginnings and the end of their careers. Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas always provide interesting background and I would like to hire both of them to add to my staff. So far, they have not responded.

Anyway, there’s Eric Fields, now 11-0, with his KO of the powerful cruiserweight Kelvin Davis. An interesting and tragic backstory concerns Kelvin Davis who announced his retirement in the wake of his first minute KO. Over a year ago, Davis was out in the dark of a morning jog when a car shot out from nowhere and headed straight at him. Davis was on a bridge at the time and there was no place to go except over the side. He jumped, hurtling through the air to land on a slab of concrete some thirty feet below. It was miraculous that he survived with broken back, broken neck, broken everything. Apparently, he wanted to see if he had anything left in boxing. He might have, except for young and dynamic Eric Fields. The reflexes weren’t there for Davis as the tall cruiserweight knew how to close a show, ripping into Davis with rapid, precision punches thrown with deliberation and power.

Another oddity, if I may call it that, is that the fights came from Mallory Square in Key West, Florida. The joint was packed with a lot of the audience comprised of seemingly non-boxing people as well as the usual hard-core fans. It was a bright and lively venue for the fighters and for the fans.

Roy Jones Vs Felix Trinidad: Diamonds or Rust?

The January 19, 2008 upcoming match between Felix Trinidad and Roy Jones is hard to analyze for several reasons. Felix Trinidad last fought in May of 2005, and that one was a loss to ring technician Ronald “Winky” Wright. Trinidad’s only other loss was to Bernard Hopkins, another great technical fighter. In that one, Trinidad was TKOd in the 12th. With 44 fights at age 34, Trinidad ought to be able to get his body together enough to make a good showing against Roy Jones with 51 fights on his record. Jones, too, is at risk from Father Time. Jones, at least, has been busy with unanimous decisions over Prince Badi Adjamu in 2006 and Anthony Hanshaw in July of 2007. This was after 3 consecutive losses, two to Antonio Tarver and one to Glen Johnson.

I’m looking at Jones KO rate (a big 38), often at weights above his natural category. Truth to tell, I don’t know any more what Jones’ natural weight is. He started in the 154 pound class. Jones is like Jack the Giant Killer, having fought guys considerably bigger up to the 226 pound John Ruiz. It will be interesting to see if Jones’ body can take the ups and downs but I expect it will. Jones has shown by his activity he can still rock. He didn’t KO his last two opponents, it’s true, but maybe he needed the work. I’m going to go with the long range and unpredictable power shots of Roy Jones to win over Felix Trinidad.

Friday Night Fights: Miranda, Juarez, Marquez,Guerrero,Pittman,Pascal and Honorio

Friday Night Fights is back on the ESPN air with Teddy Atlas and Brian Kenney so last night provided some choices. There was a time overlap and it worried me, having experienced a recent boxing drought. Showtime Boxing had Robert Guerrero against Martin Honorio and Rocky Juarez vs. Juan Marquez. At just about the same time, the headline fight on ESPN featured El Pantera vs. David Banks. El Pantera is Edison Miranda, a Colombian fighter who bristles with danger. Miranda’s a wild and dangerous fighter who has improved in boxing skill since his stunning loss to Kelly Pavlik. Pavlik is currently the middleweight champion, and he has a rematch scheduled in February with former Champion Jermain Taylor. It’s crazy to see the middle-weight and super middleweight classes bunched up like that but it makes for some interesting days ahead in the boxing life.

David Banks, you will remember, was the slick, smooth guy who waltzed to some sort of Pyrrhic victory in the Contender Series. I wondered what came over Banks’ people to match him with Edison Miranda. Banks did alright on the Contender but putting him in the way of El Pantera Edison Miranda was a big mistake and I thought so well before the fight.

The Panther stalked Banks across the ring early in the fight and blasted David Banks so hard that he was asleep before falling. Have you ever heard the grizzled old fight people call someone a “stiff”? Watch the replay of this one and you’ll see the derivative roots of that slang. Banks landed splayed out and stiff straight on the bottom ropes and hung there, half in and half out of the ring, in seeming suspended animation until he woke up about half a minute later. He looked somewhat like a broken kite which had floated back to earth.

Now Miranda gets to fight Jean Pascal, a Canadian via Haiti who didn’t look too hot against Omar Pittman, a North Philly club fighter who came alive in the middle rounds to nearly KO the self-confident Pascal. My prediction is that Pascal will share the same fate with David Banks with the likelihood that he’ll manage to avoid the demolition ball a wee bit longer than Banks did.

Banks wasn’t the only fighter to hit the rack early on Friday night. Mexican Martin Honorio walked into a hard straight power shot from southpaw Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero in the first round. When Honorio finally managed to peel himself off the deck, he pitched forward in a dizzy charge at the ring ropes across the way. Honorio’s a better fighter and tougher opponent than this would indicate. He got caught cold, that’s all, and he rose to his feet from sheer effort of will, though in no shape to continue.

I want to give a shout out to Omar Pittman, a fighter who was hand-picked to lose and make Canadian Jean Pascal look good in doing so. Someone must have forgotten to tell “Pit Bull” Pittman that, however. Though he began sluggishly and was described by Teddy Atlas as having “no confidence”, he caught Pascal with a left hook during the middle rounds which sent Pascal back against the ropes in a wobbly condition. Pittman attacked with renewed confidence, wobbling Pascal a few times more though unable to close the show. The decision went to Pascal, much to the amusement of Miranda, who was smiling and appeared to be wondering how life could be so tough in his Colombian homeland and so full of fat and gravy in the United States. Miranda clearly has little respect for Pascal, the Canadian champion and future opponent.

Which brings me to the 12 round marathon between Juan Marquez and the resilient Rocky Juarez. If a boxing video could be effectively turned into a textbook, it would be this one. At age 34, Juan Marquez seemed more brilliant than ever and completely indefatigable, as fresh in 12 as he was in 1. He worked with the precision of a heat-seeking missile guided by lasers with punches coming from more angles than a circle has.

On the other side of the ring was the durable Rocky Juarez, bleeding from a bad cut over the eye. The cut was sustained in the early rounds by an accidental head butt and it bled profusely throughout the fight. Instead of getting out under the 4 when he could have gotten a “no-contest” instead of a loss, Juarez battled onward, a one-eyed fighter with matchless heart. The doctors kept looking at it and Rocky pushed them off. Juarez, too, was a boxing virtuoso, though always slightly behind in punch volume and speed. He was not ineffective, however, and seemed to gather inspiration in the later rounds as combinations flowed along with the river of blood covering both fighters. The decision clearly belonged to Marquez, but it was a fight that belonged to boxing history as the two great Mexican champions neither relented nor tired.

Herman Ngoudju Defeats Malignaggi!

That's the headline that should have been but wasn't. My boxing reporter in Reno, Alias Rosetti, reports that Ngoudju was robbed and that he's never trusted decisions in AC. My lovely wife Christine thought the same and she's a fairly astute judge of boxing matches inasmuch as she's a disinterested third party. Christine did decide to cheer Ngoudju on, however, after watching the interviews.

Herman landed some long bombs and a few of them seemed to hurt Malignaggi. They certainly slowed him down and left him hanging on. Ngoudgu has a nice style and can hit from across the ring. Malignaggi appeared desperate at times. If Malignaggi had held on to Ngoudgu's arms any longer, you'd have expected him to plan a wedding. It's funny how most of the boxing websites called it wrong. The key difference here is that I thought Herman would give Malignaggi trouble--I didn't realize how much. The other key differences is that most of the other websites and sportswriters continue to call it wrong. It's called "copping an alibi" if you don't know.

Malignaggi had his moments. He's not a bad fighter. It doesn't bother me he doesn't have KO power. But the best I can see this fight from his side is a draw. That's being kinder than from friend from Nevada who called it Malignaggi's early Christmas gift.

Paulie Malignaggi: Campaign to Save Brooklyn

I was so put out by the dearth of boxing venues on HBO this month that I switched to Showtime. I thought I’d take a second look at Paulie Malignaggi.

Malignaggi sort of grows on you—I have to admit I didn’t like his wardrobe designers. The punk-ass Brooklyn attitude didn’t bother me, not at all, except that it seemed a rehearsed third or fourth edition. Now I’m getting used to him, he seems to have refined the act so that it seems to fit him better. Malignaggi is what the old-school trainers used to call a “cutey pie.”

The rap on Malignaggi was that he’s a flashy puncher with great handspeed but that he’s undergunned in the power department. His other attributes are that he’s smooth on his feet and has a great sense of where he is located in the boxing ring and where the other guy is located, too. I’m beginning to be won over and sort of get a kick out of the guy. I can see him as part of the “Save Brooklyn” movement which I just invented. Besides, I was impressed that Malignaggi could take such a horrible beating from Miguel Cotto and stay in there when I would have been looking for a soft spot on the canvas where I could fall without hurting myself.

So anyway, I’m watching him tonight against Herman Ngoudgu, a 16-1 Canadian fighter who KO’d 9. Ngoudgu’s only loss was to Jose Luis Castillo in Jan 2007; he should be a good test for Malignaggi and a W on his record over the better known “Magic Man” would put his name up in lights. Should Ngoudgu get lucky, however…

Oscar Bonavena, Lou DiBella, and Love Ranch

Oscar "Ringo" Bonavena went 15 grueling rounds with the Greatest. Knocked down three times in the 15th round by Ali, the would-be champion went down for the last time in the remaining minute of the bout.


People in the boxing world are familiar with the name of Lou DiBella, boxing promoter. DiBella has been a positive force in east coast boxing circles, and is well-known in that greatest of all boxing venues, New York City. DiBella Entertainment currently promotes Jermain Taylor, Ike Quartey, Andre Berto, and Paulie Malignaggi. Lou DiBella is also the force behind Broadway Boxing which has featured such exciting boxers Curtis Stevens and Jaidon Codrington. Jaidon Codrington was well-known to east coast boxing aficionados for his appearances on Broadway Boxing, but has attracted widespread media attention from his finalist Contender Series loss to Sakio Biko.

What most people don’t know about Lou DiBella is that he’s a repressed movie mogul. Dibella’s pal, Mark Jacobsen, wrote the New York Magazine piece upon which the film “American Gangster” was based. Now Jacobsen is working on the production of a film called “Love Ranch.”