Billel Dib, Ahmed Dib to make boxing return in Sydney

By day they are a lawyer and an accountant – but by night one is an undefeated junior middleweight, and the other has a world title in his sights. Boxing brothers Billel and Ahmed Dib both have a point to prove when they return to the ring this week.

If there’s one thing you can say about the boxing Dib brothers, it’s that they never do anything by halves.

After a series of extraordinary setbacks for high-flying Sydney criminal lawyer Ahmed Dib and Gold Coast accountant Billel Dib, both are making their fiery returns to the boxing ring on December 9 at the Whitlam Centre in Sydney’s southwest.

Ahmed – famously a fighter in the courtroom and in the ring – has an undefeated record, with 20 fights and 20 wins in the books.

But a variety of setbacks, including a serious case of Covid-19 that left him hospitalised and a motorbike crash where he was hit from behind, have seen six years pass since his last bout.

When a planned fight between Billel and old foe Paul Fleming in October was canned due to fears of fan violence, it was only a mutual promise that provoked both to return to the ring.

Portraits of boxing brothers Ahmed and Billel Dib at their training gym in Lakemba. Picture: Julian Andrews

“As a fighter it becomes really demotivating, you leave your family, he hadn’t seen his kids for four weeks, and we went to get something nice at a restaurant and he said he was thinking about quitting,” Ahmed said.

“I said I’ll make a comeback if you come back – and without me knowing, I made the promise hoping it was a joke, but my dad called and said I spoke to a manager, I’ve organised your fight in seven weeks.”

Overnight, Ahmed changed everything.

Normally the type to burn the midnight oil, and sometimes travel to four different courthouses a day for his clients, he started going to bed at 10.30pm, running 10km before work and foregoing smoking shisha every night when he clocked off.

“I had to lose 20kg to make a comeback,” he said.

“The people who are really successful give up things that other people don’t want to give up – going out, hanging out with friends, that was a sacrifice I made because that doesn’t help me achieve what I want to achieve.”

Billel and Ahmed fight again on December 7.

Billel – the world number 13 – also has something to prove, with a super featherweight world title tilt in sight if he triumphs over world number seven Francisco Fonseca.

His last bid to be on top of the world came crashing to a halt after a fateful trip to Lebanon while he was living in Miami and throwing everything at his boxing career.

“At that point, I was fourth in the world, I was on the verge of a big world title shot, and I was invited to be the ambassador for a charity in Lebanon and I travelled over there,” Billel said.

“It was when Donald Trump came into power and he introduced the visa ban for certain countries – after I travelled to Lebanon, they cancelled my visa.”

The pair balance intense professional demands with pro sport.

Three world title shots were promptly up in smoke, but despite the cost, Billel said he wouldn’t change a thing.

“My friends had a house on the water, and I have three children – and I was looking at one of my boys, they were eating hot dogs, and he had tomato sauce all over his face,” Billel said.

“I had recently seen a picture of refugee kids eating grass, and I thought how unfair that was – if you’re in a position to help, I feel like you should, and there were tough consequences but I would do it all again.”

After his aborted grudge match with Fleming in October and his past visa drama, the stakes have never been higher for Billel.

Accountant Billel Dib.

Criminal solicitor Ahmed Dib.

“This is the most important fight of my career – at this stage, a win is everything, and a loss could be the end of the road,” Billel said.

“I’ve been world ranked for so long, this could catapult me to the top of the world.”

The brothers have grown up working their guts out to prove themselves.

The only Lebanese people in their Gold Coast high school and university cohort, who went from living in a waterfront home to a two-bedroom apartment when their father went bankrupt, have always fought hard for everything they now have.

Ahmed’s firm Dib & Associates represents some of Sydney’s most high profile underworld figures, and he is also highly sought after in complex drug matters.

In a funny twist, Sydney rapper and his longstanding legal client Chillinit will rap him out when he takes to the ring on Friday night.

Billel Dib.

Ahmed Dib.

Billel’s accounting firm Dib & Associates Accounting has offices on the Gold Coast and in Sydney and Melbourne.

Both are well known to work hard, and fight hard.

Against the odds, it was a joint commitment to each other that saw the brothers – who were both contemplating retirement from boxing – fighting their way back to peak form.

The Dib brothers agree neither would be gearing up for a fight without the other to motivate them.

“My brother is at a stage where if he wins, the world title is knocking at the door, that’s huge for him and huge for Australian boxing,” Ahmed said.

“My dad was saying, your brother’s in the world rankings, look how quick you got your mojo back again, if you dedicate yourself you could be fighting on TV cards again.”

Billel Dib and his championship belt.

They also give significant credit to their dad – who instilled in them the importance of family.

“Family means everything – my dad was raised, unfortunately, in the war (in Lebanon), and he taught us that when everything disappears, wealth, success, family is what remains,” Ahmed said.

“My brother and I would be arguing about something as kids, because he’s my best mate, and my dad would say ‘you’re dreaming if you think you’re getting off that couch before you’ve sorted it out’.”

As to their chances in the ring, neither – as in life – is entertaining the possibility of failure.

“I don’t think about losing, I don’t consider it at all,” Billel said.

“I only do positive mindsets – I know it’s going to be a tough fight, you’re not world ranked if you can’t fight, but I’ve worked my arse off.”

Billel Dib takes on Francisco Fonseca at the Whitlam Centre on December 9.

Ahmed Dib will fight New Zealander Callum Butcher before the main event.