Dib jabs at John camp

He was against Oganov. On topic good on Dib challenging John. He will probably lose but I hope he can spring the upset if it happens.

 

John fight not happening.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...hting-for-family/story-e6frg7mf-1226233592870












Sport


From bigots to big hits, Billy Dib's fighting for family

• by: Dave Lewis
• From: The Australian
• December 31, 2011 12:00AM

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Boxer Billy Dib with his extended family, clockwise, father Ali, Emaid, Jordan, mother Ahlam, Biba, Nasser, Sabrina and Youssef outside his parents' home in Sydney. Picture: Jane Dempster Source: The Australian



AS he prepares for a second IBF world featherweight title defence early in the new year, Billy Dib appears far removed from the asthmatic kid taunted at school for being different and whose family home had bricks thrown at it by bigots and was daubed in anti-immigrant graffiti.

But beneath the bravado imbedded in every boxer, the 26-year-old Sydney-born son of Lebanese migrants remains, if you happen to live in suburban Greenacre in Sydney's west, the boy next door.
He has his own boxing gym in Canterbury, hangs out with Underbelly actor Firass Dirani yet is umbilically tied to his roots, living out of a granny flat at the home of mum, Ahlam, and dad, Ali. Family, which includes five brothers and a sister, brings equilibrium to a pugilist whose career curve has brought heady ups -- supping from the same goblet as boxing royalty Oscar De La Hoya, Bernard Hopkins and "Sugar" Shane Mosley during his stint on the Golden Boy ticket -- and dreadful downs -- being cast out by his American promoter and left fighting for $800 purses at Sydney's Croatian Club after a title shot gone wrong.









A career-saving title challenge against Mexico's Jorge Lacierva in August, followed by a successful defence against Italian Alberto Servidei last month have muted the Dib doubters, of which there were many, including, at times, even himself.
"My trainer Billy Hussein, my brother Emaid and my cousin and best friend Ahmed were all there when I lost belief in myself and they gave me the motivation to continue," Dib told The Weekend Australian. "People wrote me off and put me down. I was in a pretty bleak place (back in 2008 after being dropped by Golden Boy). But I was brought back from the brink."
The Dib clan are tethered by an unbreakable bond. They convene at the family HQ each Wednesday at the behest of dad Ali where Billy is just a face in a crowd which includes sister Sabrina, 23, and brothers Nasser, 27, Youssef, 19, Muhammad, 31, Emaid, 32, and Jihad 39. While devout Muslim Billy was only a toddler at the time, recollections of the family taking over a run-down corner store in the outer Sydney suburb of Engadine back in the 1980s, are still raw. Their presence went down as well as the arrival of inter-stellar beings, with Dib explaining: "We were the first multicultural family in an area full of kids with blond hair and blue eyes. My mum wore the scarf and that was another shock to people. I remember growing up and thinking, 'far out I've got another day of torture ahead' at school.
"There were a few scuffles and I just tried to handle things myself rather than rely on teachers. I used to get called 'wog' the whole time. It got to the point where I wouldn't go to school if I had even a little stain on my shirt because I knew that was a point for people to pick on." The kids were huddled together in two rooms behind the shop -- "Sabrina's Mixed Business" -- which they turned from a health hazard into a thriving family concern despite visceral antagonism which saw bricks hurled at windows with such regularity that cardboard was left in place of glass in the face of the inevitable.
Brother Emaid recalls: "We had 'Wogs get out' spray painted on the fence. Stones came through the windows almost every night.
"As brothers we wanted to fight back. But dad wanted to win people over with kindness and love, so we turned the other cheek. It was hard to understand the animosity and hatred. Over time, we developed friendships through football clubs and sporting associations. We all played rugby league and you fast forward to now and Billy is a kind of a hero to a lot of people in Sutherland shire."
Dib -- who boasts a professional record of 33 wins and one defeat -- was 12 when he first walked into Sutherland PCYC with a pair of boxing gloves given to him by an older brother. It was love at first sight.
"Within a month I was getting in the ring for exhibitions. I knew it was what I was destined to do," he says. "By the time I was 16 I had a huge streak of wins behind me, was representing NSW. I won an Australian title in 2002 and went to the Australian Institute of Sport. That set me up for a professional career."
Dib's looming title defence on March 7 in Hobart against Mexican mauler Eduardo Escobedo is on the same bill as Australia's other IBF belt holder, middleweight Daniel Geale.
"I've gone to another level," he adds. "Escobedo is the top mandatory contender but I am predicting a stunning knock-out because he is out of his depth against me."
Gazing far beyond Hobart, Dib jets to Los Angeles next week for talks with unnamed promoters on taking his show back to the big US stage. He has all but given up on a unification bout with Perth-based Indonesian Chris John, the long-time WBA champion, because of what the Dib camp considers unrealistic cash demands, adding: "In my eyes Chris John is diminished. You can't do business with people like that."
Beyond boxing, another stage beckons. "For me, this is a short career -- I want to get out with my marbles intact maybe around 31 or so and get into acting. My friend Firass has been a big influence there but even before meeting him I've done a one-year acting course," Dib discloses. There's even a boxing-based play about to premiere at the Sydney Festival in January, I'm Your Man, in which Dib is heavily portrayed. "I'd like to do some movies . . . maybe even a bit of comedy because I think I can be funny."
Right now, though, nobody who faces him is laughing.