Page 4 - Italian-American Herald - November 2022

4 ITALIANAMERICANHERALD.COM | NOVEMBER2022 ITALIAN-AMERICANHERALD SPORTS
Tiberi: Boxing honor bestowed
Continued from front page
heart a little bit. It was really nice.” “He’s being inducted because that
fight changed the landscape of boxing,” Atlantic City Boxing Hall of Fame founder Ray McCline said. That fight, on Feb. 8, 1992, was a middleweight bout against James “Lights Out” Toney. The three judges narrowly voted Toney the winner, but
the vote was controversial. Tiberi rejected plans for a rematch, and he retired from competition.
Two judges turned out to be unlicensed, and the ref’s competence was debated. Tiberi’s follow-up testimony before Congress became part of the push for the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, which increased the safety and protection of boxers in the ring and by promoters and managers, McCline said.
The induction ceremony was in the same casino (then called the Taj Mahal, now the Hard Rock Cafe), and Toney was inducted as well. McCline called their joint appearance a statement about sportsmanship. “Opponents don’t have to be enemies,” he explained.
Tiberi viewed the ceremony – the first time he’s seen Toney since then and the first time he’s returned to that building – as a chance to heal and for his fans to celebrate his career, accept what happened in that infamous fight and see how his life has turned out. “God has a great sense of humor,” he said. “Who would think I would be going back 30 years later in celebration mode?”
Footage from ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” coverage is on YouTube, and his career became the focus of “Tiberi: The Uncrowned Champion,” a book by Andy Ercole and Ed Okonowicz.
Faith and boxing have been important throughout Tiberi’s life. He was named David – for the strong Biblical hero – after his pregnant mother was injured in a car accident. He started boxing at age 5.
He was the youngest of 14 kids in the family, one of seven brothers who enjoyed the boxing ring outside their Wilmington home. He recalls the stern rules and folksy sayings from his father, who was born in Abruzzi. “Everything was built around
the work ethic,” he said. “My dad was no-nonsense.”
He visited Italy in 2016 – 10 days with his wife, Angela; and daughters Alexis, Angela Marie and Ariel, who all studied Italian at St. Mark’s High – and hopes to return. “When we landed, I looked out the window and said ‘Angela, my heart of hearts, I feel like we’re home.’ I’d love to be able to spend 20 to 30 days there, just reaching out to family and friends I have known over the years.”
His Italian heritage shows in his love
of its fine fresh food, his respect for elders and “that creative flair that separates us as a culture,” he said. “My security business, my nonprofit work, my boxing – everything I’ve ever done has an artistic flair to it. I’m always planning it out, and it just reminds me of our culture. That creative eye is deep in my heritage. Everything turns out beautiful.”
Tiberi’s artistic flair blossomed as a boxer (“Figuring out ways to win, learning my opponent’s style and finding my sanctuary”) and also showed up in the media, first with a weekly cable TV program, working with Ercole and then on his own (“I love the artistic side of TV”) and then TNT Video Multimedia and Television Productions, which he co-founded with his wife.
Dave Tiberi is surrounded by his family (from top) future-son-in-law Ryan MacLeish, daughter Alexis Tiberi, daughter Ariel Tiberi, wife Angela, grandson Callahan David MacLeish; daughter Angela Marie Tiberi, and Ariel’s boyfriend Mark McMullen.
In 1995, they founded Emergency Response Protocol, a security firm that “combines their video and software experience with Angela’s background in fire protection and first responders,” Delaware Today reported in 2017, when it named Tiberi as one of 36 “intriguing” Delawareans. The magazine five years before had
named him one of the most 50 influential Delawareans of the past 50 years.
“Dave does a lot for kids. It’s been his life’s work. Dave Tiberi is all about everyone else,” boxer Henry Milligan wrote in 2012.
In 1995, Tiberi was named an Outstanding Young American by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce, and in 1998, he was voted Young Italian American of
the Year by the National Italian American Federation. “When I speak to young Italian Americans, I tell them we have such a rich history and rich culture, and we should try to keep it alive,” he said.
Tiberi devotes a lot of energy to community activities.
In 2020, he co-founded Donate Delaware to supply much needed PPEs throughout
Dave Tiberi and fellow boxers (from left) heavyweight champion Pinklon Thomas, heavyweight champion Michael Spinks and cruiserweight champion Al “Ice” Cole.
Tiberi viewed the ceremony as a chance to heal and for his fans to celebrate his career, accept what happened in that infamous fight and see how his life has turned out.