DiBella v. Hopkins

MEMORANDUM DECISION

CHIN, District Judge.

In this diversity case, plaintiff Lou Di-Bella, a boxing advisor, matchmaker, and television packager formerly employed by the cable network Home Box Office (“HBO”), alleges that he was defamed by defendant Bernard Hopkins, the professional boxer. Hopkins became the undisputed middleweight champion of the world on September 29, 2001, when he beat Felix Trinidad by a final round technical knockout. That fight was the culmination of DiBella’s efforts to promote and develop Hopkins’s boxing career. Within weeks after the fight, however, Hopkins terminated…