Music impresario Chris Gotti took the time out to speak with Boxingtalk about the fighters he manages, Jaidon "The Don" Codrington and Curtis "Showtime" Stevens better known as the "Chin Checkers". He shares his thoughts about how he came to get close with these fighters and how he was able to sign them and get them signed to DiBella Entertainment. Now Dame Dash is in the picture as they have formed a joint venture circling around the aforemntioned Chin Checkers as well as Andre Berto. Chris tells us what he thinks of the marriage that is now Dash/DiBella Promotions. Don't miss what he has to say.

Jose Aguirre: Growing up, what was your first recollection in the sport of boxing?

Chris Gotti: "Aw man. Whew. I'm thirty seven years old and I've been following boxing since it was on close circuit tv. My father was a big boxing fan. In my early days when I was a little kid I just remember him coming back from a fight at one of those theatres where they would show a closed circuit fight with (Muhammad) Ali on it. Then he would come back and tell you about the whole fight because it wasn't on tv. You had to go to these little theatres."

JA: We all know you have a background in music, at what point did you realize that you wanted to get involved in the sport of boxing?

CG: "I already do athletes. I do basketball players and football players. I have an agent named Mark Fleisher out in Connecticut and I've been doing that for years now. I jumped in about three years ago with J Prince out in Connecticut. He's the one who really showed me and explained to me and made me understand the business of it so I could understand it and do it myself."

JA: How did you come about aquiring Jaidon Codrington and Curtis Stevens better known as the "Chin Checkers"?

CG: "I got them because of Pitt. Jaidon's cousin.  There are a whole group of fighters that I deal with and I call the LNB. And that's Little Nigga Box. Jaidon and Curt were part of LNB. When I first got to meet them I took them out to Las Vegas for a Floyd Mayweather fight. We were all on the floor. I. got attached to the kids from there. Jaidon and Curt were the first two that ended up turning pro and moving into the pro ranks doing what they doing. I took them out of my group LNB and labeled them the Chin Checkers because that's what they do."

JA: What was your impression of them when you first saw them in action?

CG: "To be totally truthful I seen Jaidon first. I had seen Curt a little bit, I was seeing more of Jai. I just seen with Jai a great boxer. Great boxing challenges. Great skills. Stature physically is bigger than the normal sized kid in his weight. If you watch his fights most of his opponents at sixty eight he looks like he's towering over them. He's genuinely one sixty eight. He's not walking around here at two hundred pounds and dropping down trying to make weight. He's just a sixty eight. He's walks around about one seventy five and comes down about seven pounds to make weight. He's right there. As far as Curtis I just seen brute strength that is just God given talent. Hands speed that is again God given talent. Those are things you cannot teach."

JA: You're aware of the joint venture that Lou DiBella and Damin Dash have formed with your fighters the Chin Checkers. How do you feel this works for them?

CG: "It works great. First of all I bought them (Chin Checkers) to Lou DiBella. Then I bought Dame to Lou DiBella to make that happen. Dame was telling me he wanted to get into boxing. I told him it would be a good marriage to get with a promoter who's already experienced with connections and you could catapult off of that. He kept asking about him and Lou has been a stand up guy with me. Everything he's told me he's been a man of his word and I'm a guy that goes off of that. I don't care what people think of people or anybody else. If you tell me one thing and you always stick to it I don't care what other people may think of you I'm always going to ride out with you.  And Lou has always been a man of his word. And me and Dame have a long history together. He's a good friend of mine. And he's always been a man of his word so I thought that would be a great marriage. They could helop each other because the things that Dame does Lou can't do and vice verser, at this point."

JA: What can we expect from the Chin Checkers as well as yourself in 2005?

CG: "I do stuff with J Prince. I co manager with J Prince. I only want to do fighters that I like. I'm a new aged manager. I'm kind of revolutionizing the managing game in my approach of how I'm attacking the whole business of it."

JA: Thanks for your time Chris.

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