Billy ‘The Kid’ Dib returns Halloween night in Australia
| NEW YORK (Oct. 30, 2014) – Former International Boxing Federation (IBF) featherweight champion Billy “The Kid” Dib(37-3, 21 KOs) will not be trick-or-treating tomorrow night (Friday) at home in Australia. Instead, he’ll be dressed in trunks and wearing boxing gloves for his 12-round fight with his upset-minded Indonesian opponent Ruben Manakane (14-11-1, 9 KOs) for the vacant PABA super featherweight title. |
Dib, whose only three losses as a professional have been in world title fights to undefeatedEvgeny Gradovich twice and Steve Luevano, based on his tremendous experience and talent advantage, will likely throw a horrific scare, if not worse, into his young opponent.
The 29-year-old Dib will be fighting in Australia for the first time in more than four years having fought three of his last four fights in the United States with the other in Macao, China. This fight will mark Dib’s professional debut in Melbourne, where he last fought 13 years ago as an amateur in the Australian National Championship.
“The opportunity came about when I heard (promoter) Tarik Solak and (Dib’s trainer) Billy Hussein discussing it,” Dib explained to Aus-Boxing.com why he’s fighting in Melbourne. “I mentioned that I’d love to fight back in Australia, so Billy and Tarik were like, let’s do it. After my brother and manager Emid (Dib) got clearance from the team at SMS (Promotions) and (Dib’s promoter) 50 Cent(Curtis Jackson), we decided that the next stop should be Melbourne.
“I know that he (Manakane) is currently ranked fourth by the PABA and that he has eight wins from his last ten outings. He stretched world-class Filipino AJ Banal the full distance a few years back, too. He’s only 21 years of age, so I’m expecting him to come out fast and do all he can to cease the moment. I never take any of my opposition lightly and I know that Manakane stands in the way of my journey to another world championship. One step at a time.”
After being stopped for the first time in his career last November to Gradovich in their rematch, Dib decided to move up in weight and campaign as a super featherweight, staring this past July 2 at Foxwoods Resort Casino on ESPN Friday Night Fights against former WBA featherweight title challenger Alberto Garza (26-7-1, 21 KOs). Dib overcame a nasty cut over his right eye from an unintentional head-butt in the opening round to win a unanimous 10-round decision.
