Dmitry Salita
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| Dmitry Salita | |
| Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Real name | Dmitry Aleksandrovich Lekhtman |
| Nickname(s) | Star of David |
| Rated at | Junior welterweight |
| Nationality |  Ukrainian |
| Birth date | April 4, 1982 |
| Birth place | Odessa, Soviet Union |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 30 |
| Wins | 30 |
| Wins by KO | 16 |
| Losses | 0 |
| Draws | 1 |
| No contests | 0 |
Dmitry Salita (Russian: Дмитрий Салита; Ukrainian: Дмитро Саліта; "Star of David"; born April 4, 1982) is a Ukrainian-born undefeated boxer from Brooklyn, New York in the junior welterweight division.
He has a 30-0-1 record, with 16 KOs.[1] He is 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m), and his reach is 69".[2]
He is a practicing Orthodox Jew, and does not fight on the Sabbath or Jewish holidays.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Born in Odessa, Ukraine as Dmitry Aleksandrovich Lekhtman, Salita was five years old when he saw his first boxing match. "It was Mike Tyson, and I remember dancing around my room that night imitating the moves," he says.[2] Salita moved with his family to Flatbush, Brooklyn, at the age of nine because of the escalating violence against Jews in Ukraine.[3] His father, Aleksander Lekhtman, was an engineer; his late mother, Lyudmila Salita, was an accountant. He has one brother, Mikhail. He uses his mother's maiden name as his professional name.
He said: “Basically, we came to America because Jews were discriminated against. My parents thought that my brother and I wouldn’t grow up with the opportunity to be the best that we could be. My brother, who is nine years older then I am, used to get into a lot of fights, because he was often called names. There were rumors of pogrom every now and then, and Jews would go away to the suburbs from the city. ‘Pogrom’ means that groups of people would break into homes and bash the house. I remember that my father bought a gun just in case something was to happen. It was very difficult to get top jobs or to go to top schools and still remain proud of your Judaism. I am very grateful to America for letting me pursue my goals, and have freedom of religion and speech. You don’t normally appreciate it, but when you don’t have it, you understand just how great it is to have it. Now that I am older, I understand it.”[4][5]
In New York, classmates picked on Salita in school. He said, “When I first started going to school, I had the clothes that I wore over in Russia. I used to get made fun of because of it, and the fact that I didn’t speak English. I had to learn how to defend myself. I got involved in karate, and as time went on my brother brought me to a boxing club. That is how it all started. I got called into the principal’s office. I got suspended a few times, but I got my respect. I started kicking some ass at school.” [6]
[edit] Boxing career
| “My gym’s like a league of nations. I seen every kind of kid come through the doors, but I ain’t never seen one like this Dmitriy. Kid looks Russian, prays Jewish, and fights Black. [7] |
| — Jimmy O'Pharrow |
He started boxing at the age of 13 at the Starrett City Boxing Club, which is run by Jimmy O’Pharrow.[8] Among others, he trained with Zab Judah.
Salita said, “Jimmy runs an old school gym, a ghetto gym. My style isn’t European. It isn’t even American. It’s a city style. It’s Black. I don’t know how else to say it. But some of us White boys got it like that.” [9]
The radio at Starrett was always tuned to HOT 97; Salita described it as “Blasting. A lot of Biggie. A lot of Tupac. I think that changed my style. That’s what gave me some rhythm.” [10]
[edit] Amateur career
Salita had an amateur record of 59-5. When he was 16, he represented New York in the Junior Olympics and won a bronze medal. "I thought, 'I'm ranked in America as a boxer.' That's when I really felt like an American," he said.[3]
His last lost came when he was 17 in a split decision in the finals of the Golden Gloves tournament in 2000.[11]
At the 2001 New York Golden Gloves, he won the championship at 139 pounds. Salita won the finals on 4-5-01 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Bill Farrell of the New York Daily News reported, “In a bout that lived up to all its expectations, Dmitriy Salita battled past Joey Rios to win the Golden Gloves 139-pound open title last night at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. The 3-2 decision won by Salita in as fine a boxing match ever staged in the Golden Gloves finals earned Salita the Sugar Ray Robinson Award as the outstanding boxer in the tournament. Salita, who is as talented as they come, got into his rhythm midway through Round 2, and finally took control of the bout to earn the decision and a pair of Golden Gloves.”[12]
Salita said, “You know, with me growing up in New York, the New York Golden Gloves is a big, big deal. A lot of the great fighters that have come out of New York have all managed to win the Golden Gloves. The Golden Gloves in New York is like the Olympic games, everyone knows about it. You really get your respect after you win the New York Golden Gloves. I thought that it was an important step, and that it would boost my professional career. Plus, I was just dying to have those Golden Gloves around my neck.”[13]
[edit] Pro career
He turned pro at the age of 19, in the summer of 2001.[1] He signed a contract with Las Vegas-based promoter Bob Arum, whose Top Rank stable of fighters has included George Foreman, Larry Holmes, and Oscar De La Hoya.[3]
On August 25, 2005, Salita captured the North American Boxing Association light welterweight championship by downing Shawn Gallegos with a 9th round TKO.[4]
Salita remained in contention for a junior welterweight title bout, extending his unbeaten streak to 28, with a unanimous 10-round decision over Grover Wiley at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York in March 2007. Salita staggered Wiley (30-9-1) with a series of body punches in the 7th round.[14]
In May 2009 he scored a dominant 10-round shutout victory over Raul "El Toro" Munoz (20-12-1, 15 KOs)[15] in Las Vegas for his 30th win.[16] "Salita wobbled Munoz with a barrage of power shots. An uppercut flush under the chin awakened a startled Munoz, who somehow found his way back to the middle of the ring," noted distinguished boxing reporter Albert Howell.[17][18]
He will next face the winner of the July 18 (postponed from June 27) bout between WBA world champion Andreas Kotelnik and Amir Khan, in what will be Salita's first-ever title fight, most likely in October or November.[19] ASalita indicated that Khan is the favorite, but he thinks Kotelnik should be the favorite.[20] Salita wants to win the junior welterweight title and then move up to welterweight.[21]
[edit] Style
He is a sharp, accurate puncher with good handspeed. He is also relentless.[3]
[edit] Family
His mother, Lyudmila, originally opposed Dmitriy’s boxing, but eventually became an enthusiastic supporter. She died in January 1999, after a two-year battle with breast cancer. When she was hospitalized, Salita divided his time between James Madison High School, the Starrett gym, and Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital. He said, “I’d spend the night sleeping in a chair at the hospital and wake up to do my roadwork.” [22]
[edit] Jewish heritage
| “I enjoy being different. People are surprised at how good the White, Jewish kid is, surprised that I can fight. I take that as a compliment.”[23] |
| — Salita |
After he moved to Brooklyn, he was exposed to Orthodox Judaism and became an observant Jew. He strictly follows Jewish law –if he has a fight on a Saturday, it must begin after sundown, the end of the sabbath. He said, “Anyone who wants a good whuppin’ from me is just going to have to wait until sundown.” There are as many as 70 Jewish holy days on which he will not fight, and he follows Jewish dietary laws. When he’s training, he stays within walking distance of a synagogue for Friday and Saturday services, and he does not drive on the sabbath.[2][24][25]
Promoter Bob Arum said, “If he’s as good as it appears he is, and he can be held up as an example of religious devotion to both Jews and gentiles, he’ll be a great attraction.” [26]
Salita said, “I will never compromise my beliefs. Never. It’s not a question. I have a personal relationship with God that I won’t compromise. My boxing is such a big part of my life, but it won’t get in the way of my religion. It can’t, and it won’t.” [27]
Salita is one of three top Jewish boxers in July 2009, the others being Roman Greenberg, the heavyweight (27-1-0), and Yuri Foreman the undefeated middleweight (27-0-0). Salita enters the ring to Yiddish rap. [28]
A fourth boxer, former junior welterweight and undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah (36-5-0), has been referred to in the press as "the best Jewish fighter of all time", but there is some confusion as to his religion since in 2006 he thanked his lord and savior Jesus Christ after a fight against Mayweather.[29]
[edit] Personal Life
In June 2009 Salita became engaged to Alona Aharonov, who attended a Chabad high school in Monsey, New York. Aharonov, born in 1991, lives in West Bloomfield, Michigan.[30]
[edit] Movies
Orthodox Stance, a Jason Hutt-directed documentary of Salita's career to date (2007) and his life as an Orthodox Jew, received its world premiere at the 2007 Silverdocs Documentary Festival and had its second showing and West Coast premiere at the 2007 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival as part of an evening devoted to Jewish boxers. Both Salita and director Hutt participated in a panel discussion following the presentation.
He was offered a small role in an HBO boxing movie, "Infamous", as a fighter who loses a match against the film's protagonist, played by John Leguizamo. Salita turned down the part. "It was tempting, but if I did that, a lot of people who never saw me fight would see me lose."[3]
[edit] Trivia
His mentor is Rabbi Zalman Liberov from Chabad Lubavitch of Flatbush.[31] His Hebrew name is David.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Zaslow, Ron (January 2007). "Prospects: Dmitry Salita" (PDF). Boxing Digest Mazagine. 41. http://www.dsalita.com/pdf/BoxingDigest0107.pdf.
- ^ a b "Dmitry Salita biography". Official Website. http://www.dsalita.com/?c=17&lang=en. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
- ^ a b c d Wartofsky, Alona (2002-09-01). "The Ring and a Prayer". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A16265-2002Aug30¬Found=true.
- ^ "Unbeaten Jewish Star Dmitriy Salita Returns on Dec 15". East Side Boxing. November 2005. http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=5340&more=1.
[edit] Links
- Dmitry Salita - official website
- Professional boxing record for Dmitry Salita from Boxrec
- YRB article
- NY Sports Express, "Kid Kosher"
- Washington Post, "The Ring and a Prayer," 9/02
- Kehilas Moreshes Yaakov, "The Kosher Knockout," 1/03
- East Side Boxing, "Unbeaten Jewish Star Dmitriy Salita Returns on Dec 15," 11/05
- New York Magazine, "God In His Corner," 7/06
- Boxing Digest article, 1/07
- "Great Jewish Hope deserves a championship bout," ESPN, 3/21/07
- Dmitriy Salita Biography at J-Grit: The Internet Index of Tough Jews
- "The Friday Interview: Bobbing-and-weaving with the Star of David," The Jerusalem Post, 5/22/09
