Dmitry Salita born 4 April
1982 Dmitriy Aleksandrovich
Lektman, was always destined
for great things. Born in
the Ukraine, he arrived in
NY at the age of 9 and made
America his home.
At the age of 13 Salita
had his first taste of
boxing when he walked into
the Starret City Boxing Club
in NY where the bug first
bit. Unlike the antisemitism
he had encountered as a
young boy in the Ukraine,
this was completely
different and put Salita to
great ease.
Salita embraced the
camaraderie and ethnic
diversity, as well as the
respect each and every
person in the gym had for
one another irrespective of
race, religion and gender.
It was at this gym
where Dmitry met his mentor,
the legendary Jimmy
O’Pharrow who took him under
his wing.
Having
shown great potential, at
the age of 19 after winning
the US Nationals , NYC
Golden Gloves, and the
prestigious Sugar Ray
Robinson award given to to
the Outstanding Boxer of the
Tournament, Salita turned
professional.
Signing his first contract
with Bob Arum’s Top Rank It
certainly was not the
easiest of decisions,
especially as an orthodox
Jew, but it was a decision
that would take him to the
highest levels of the boxing
world.
Salita’s
span as a professional boxer
lasted 12 years in which he
built up one of the most
impressive records around.
35 wins, two losses and one
draw.
But as a
champion human being, Salita
also became a champion
boxer. In 2008 at Madison
Square Garden, NY, Salita
became a world champion when
we won the World Boxing
Federation’s world
Light
Welterweight title
against Derrick Campos.
After his fight with
Amir Khan Salita started
promoting his own fights in
2010. He quickly noticed a
lot of talented fighters
were left in the gym
training without any fights
scheduled.
As is the
case with everything Salita
had done previously in his
life, he proved to as
successful as a promoter as
he had been as a fighter.
Today Salita
promotes and manages the top
woman fighter in the world
Clarerssa Shields, as well
as top heavyweights Jarrel
Miller and Otto
Wallin to mention just a
few.
But more
importantly, Salita is a
champion human being. He is
a determined, respectful,
considerate and down to
earth young man who has
become one of the top
promoters in the world.
World Boxing
Federation (WBF) President
Howard Goldberg added:
‘Dmitry
is an exceptional young man.
He is true to his word, hard
working, and we are
extremely proud to have had
him as our world champion in
the past’.
