Followers

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Faith and the future


Salita: Former Golden Gloves winner

Dmitriy Salita's success of course is something of a rarity in modern times, given the fact that there are so few Jewish professionals these days.

However this was not always the case.

There was in fact a 'Golden Age' of Jewish boxing in the first half of the last century.

Men such as Abe Attell, Benny Leonard and Barney Ross were all household names and provided inspiration to Jewish ghetto kids everywhere.

As esteemed boxing writer Budd Schulberg explains: "I still think of Benny Leonard as an early century counterpart to the latter day boxing saint Muhammad Ali.

"Like Ali, Benny Leonard, with his six-pointed star he wore so proudly on his trunks, sent a message to Jewish ghettos across America."

Salita of course also wears his six-pointed star with pride and the fighter himself is acutely aware of his fistic heritage.

"I have read a few books on Barney Ross 'No Man Stands Alone' and 'Barney Ross' which has recently been released and both are great books.

"I am a huge fan of Ross. I think he was a tremendous human being.

"Benny Leonard is another great Jewish fighter. I really hope that I can be mentioned in the same paragraph as those two great fighters.

"It would be a tremendous complement and a dream achieved. I still have some work to do before I reach that level."

Salita has a deep religious faith, which some may find odd given his chosen professional.

However the fighter himself explains that he uses his faith and experiences in a positive way before fights.

"A lot has been written about it but in boxing their are many boxers who are fairly religious from many different faiths.

"To me boxing by nature is a very spiritual sport you go through a lot of different, strong emotions when you are getting ready for a fight.

"My early boxing experiences helped me develop a personal spiritual connection.

"When I was 14 I started going to a Chabad Lubavitch synagogue. Step by step I began to become more observant.

"It has helped me mature personally and professionally. It's one of the reasons that Russian Jews came to America to be able to feel Jewish and practice their traditions."

Salita, who moved to America from Ukraine when just a child, admits things were not always easy in those early years.

"The fist few years were hard. I think most immigrants go through the same process.

"It was easier for me to get acclimated then my parents who were older. Immigration is a hard thing.

Thank God that everything has worked out well and I believe that I am living the American Dream.

"When my family first came here we had nothing and through my parents great upbringing and teaching by example, I have the mental capacity to work hard and achieve my goals.

"I first started boxing at the Starret City boxing club, I like to call it the new Kronk because it has so many world class fighters amateur and pro.

"I grew up with a lot of talent. Curtis Stevens Lou Collazo, Monte Barret, Zab Judah. So I think that it was great for my boxing foundation."

Salita was a decorated amateur but like most youngsters who don't have the multi-million dollar backing of the American networks, his decision to turn pro was taken after some careful consideration.

"I turned pro early because I had just won the nationals and the Golden Gloves. I had graduated from high school and I wanted to get acclimated to the professional style earlier rather then later.

"I had two choices. Go to college, have a part-time job and box amateur or turn pro and go after my dream.

"I decided on the latter though I still take college courses on a part-time basis."

The decision proved a shrew call as Salita streaked to 24-0 as a pro, beating good men such as Rocky Matrinez, Louis Brown and Shawn Gallegos along the way.

Last time out however he had to climb off the floor twice in the opening round to punch out a thrilling draw with rugged Mexican Ramon Montano in order to preserve his unbeaten record.

The fighter himself admits he was not 100% for the Montano fight, but it is testament to his character and ability that he managed to ride out the early storm and claim a share of the spoils.

"There were reasons for the results of that fight. There are times in life when things are rough and I probably should not have fought. I definitely learned a lot from that experience and I feel that I matured a few years after that fight."

Salita is next out on July 20 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, and while no opponent has been announced at time of writing he is already training hard for the contest.

This gifted, intelligent and personable athlete is unquestionably a man on a mission, and having already crammed in plenty to his 24 years to date, you get the feeling there are plenty more chapters in the Dmitriy Salita story still to be written.

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