Tears, funerals, heroin and cancer: Inside the extraordinary journey to Billy Dib’s farewell fight

Billy Dib has lived a rollercoaster life, but on the eve of his last fight, new revelations make his story extraordinary, and shows why he has hope for the future.

As he watched his grandmother collapse to the floor suffering a heart attack when he was 15, Billy Dib began crying.

“We were at an engagement party and my grandmother, she had a heart attack and dropped in front of me, I started crying and somebody said ‘Stop crying like a little girl, you’re going to be champion of the world one day’ and he got up me for doing it,” Dib said.

“And from that moment, I was robbed of the ability to be able to express my feelings.”

It’s why this tough, two-time boxing world champion has written a book, Boys Do Cry, encouraging boys and young men to share their vulnerable emotions.

As society grapples with masculine identity in a social media driven generation, Dib’s book is timely.

Former world champion boxer Billy Dib in his home gym. Picture: Rohan Kelly.

Written with perspectives from his own life, including being bullied at school and the death of his first wife Sara to cancer, Boys Do Cry is an encouraging push, particularly for boys from various cultural backgrounds battling traditional stereotypes.

“My grandmother didn’t pass away at that time, they revived her, but then she died two years later when I was 17,” Dib said.

“Everybody was crying, but I didn’t cry.

“I was holding it in. And then eventually I walked out. My cousin, Ahmed, walks up to me and he goes, ‘Are you okay? You know, it’s okay to cry’. And the minute he said that, he gave me permission to cry again. And I actually shed tears.

“And then another time when I won the IBF world championship, I wanted to express tears of joy. And somebody screamed out, ‘Don’t cry’. Because they wanted me to be like a strong guy or whatever.

Billy Dib and his team celebrate after winning the IBF Featherweight World Title in 2012.

“But that was a moment in my life where I could have expressed how I felt, after all the heartache and everything that I’d been through to become a world champion.

“And that’s why I wrote the book. To show people that regardless of what it is that you’re going through, regardless of the feelings that you’re having, it’s okay to express them. It’s okay to shed some tears.

“You’re not weak if you shed tears.

“In fact, that’s going to help you overcome what you’re going through. When Sara passed away I cried so much. I cried day in and day out for weeks on end. But that helped me to heal.

“If I held that in, I wouldn’t be able to heal.”

Jihad Dib (centre left) comforts his brother, champion boxer Billy Dib (centre right) at his wife Sara Selim Dib's grave.

Now 39, married to wife Berry and with a five-year-old son, Laith, Dib is content.

And he has every reason to be. Just two years ago, he was given six months to live after being diagnosed with cancer.

He overcame chemotherapy, and now in remission, has remarkably regained fight-ready fitness.

With a professional boxing record of 48 wins and six defeats, Dib is now doing what most fighters rarely can; go out on his own terms.

Former world champion boxer Billy Dib with son Laith Dib, and his new book Boys Do Cry. Picture: Rohan Kelly.

His previous pro bout was a disqualification win over Jacob Ng in March 2022, prior to his cancer diagnosis.

But governing body WBC, which holds an annual convention, asked Dib if he’d like a farewell bout at the event being held in Hamburg, Germany, next week.

“I want to leave on my own terms, I don’t want cancer to be the reason why I left the sport of boxing,” Dib said.

“Coming off that Jacob Ng win, I was in a good position with the world rating. And then I was diagnosed with cancer, told by the doctor that I had six months to live.

“So to be here today, training and healthy again and fit is a blessing. And the WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman contacted me and said, ‘What do you think about having a farewell bout on our show’.

“I was like, ‘Man, I’d absolutely love that’. What an absolute honour and a dream that would be, to be able to perform in front of some of the greatest fighters in the history of boxing, people like Miguel Cotto are going to be there, Lennox Lewis, Roberto Duran, Julio Cesar Chavez, all these great champions of the past will be there witnessing me in my farewell fight.”

Billy Dib undergoes treatment at Westmead Hospital.

But there is another incredible twist to the story.

For this fight, against an opponent soon to be determined, Dib has reunited with his childhood trainer, Harry Hammond.

It was Hammond who guided Dib through 113 amateur fights and his first 17 pro bouts, before the pair mysteriously parted ways.

Many at the time labelled Dib disloyal.

“But he never told them the truth,” Hammond said.

“I was addicted to heroin.”

For years, Hammond lived in a darkened home and fed an addiction that at its peak cost him $1800 a day.

Former world champion boxer Billy Dib has reunited with former trainer Harry Hammond. Picture: Rohan Kelly.

All Dib could offer those asking why he’d abandoned his trainer was to say, “He’s sick”.

“It wasn’t my story to tell,” Dib said.

“For Harry to get ill the way he did was just heartbreaking. For me as a kid, I was devastated, because Harry was like my dad, he was like a father to me.”

Hammond said: “I hit the heroin scene, and for two years, I was out of contention. It took me 10 years to clean myself up properly.

“Billy won two world championships, but I believe in my heart that he would have won four or five world titles if I’d stayed with him.

“I blame myself.

“He had the talent to do it, and as he got older, he would have been better and better. But my stupidity got me ill.

“What made Billy a world champion was his bloody drive. He had a massive drive. And he did things that other kids who’ve got talent don’t want to do.

Billy Dib celebrates a world title victory.

“He wanted to become a world champion, and mate, he did. And I’m so happy for him. I’m proud of him, actually.”

For Dib, this is a fairytale finish for he and Hammond.

“It’s just a blessing that he’s still here, because a lot of people succumb to that and he didn’t,” Dib said.

“He overcame that through faith and having his family around him.

“I never left Harry’s side.

“Even through everything that he was going through I never gave up on him, I always believed that Harry could overcome that.

“And he has, and now to be having my last fight with Harry is the biggest buzz for me.

“I went through the journey and dealt with the cancer, you could say I beat an invisible opponent. I couldn’t see, but I worked it out and I battled through and I persevered. And I’m here today to tell the tale.

“And Harry is by my side, he overcame his battle, and together we’re writing a Cinderella story together.”

It’s enough to make a grown man cry.

Originally published as Tears, funerals, heroin and cancer: Inside the extraordinary journey to Billy Dib’s farewell fight