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By Thomas Gerbasi - As he sat in Newcastle, just days before the most important fight of his career – a challenge of Amir Khan for the WBA junior welterweight title this Saturday, Dmitriy Salita decided to tell a story, one which better described what the last few years of his boxing career had been like.
“It’s kinda like if you’re a writer and you’re writing for the college paper, and you’re promised that you’re gonna work for the New York Times,” he said. “You’re always promised it, and your articles are very good and you know that you can do it, but it never comes.”
Most observers didn’t expect that it would take 31 fights (30 wins and one draw) for Salita to get a shot at a world title. When he started out as a pro in 2001, the former New York Golden Gloves champ was expected to have a golden road to the top. He was loved by the New York media, he had an exciting style in the ring, and his story captivated anyone who heard it. If this was baseball, he would have been a five tool player, as he had all the ingredients needed to become one of boxing’s rare crossover stars. Yet for some reason, despite the notoriety, despite the wins and the unbeaten record, his career stalled.
“It’s very difficult to describe because it seemed like all the things were there – I was a really good amateur, I had a great fanbase and a good story, so all the things seemed to be there, but it took me a really long time to get to this stage and to this level,” he said. “At times, it was incredibly frustrating.” [Click Here To Read More]
“It’s kinda like if you’re a writer and you’re writing for the college paper, and you’re promised that you’re gonna work for the New York Times,” he said. “You’re always promised it, and your articles are very good and you know that you can do it, but it never comes.”
Most observers didn’t expect that it would take 31 fights (30 wins and one draw) for Salita to get a shot at a world title. When he started out as a pro in 2001, the former New York Golden Gloves champ was expected to have a golden road to the top. He was loved by the New York media, he had an exciting style in the ring, and his story captivated anyone who heard it. If this was baseball, he would have been a five tool player, as he had all the ingredients needed to become one of boxing’s rare crossover stars. Yet for some reason, despite the notoriety, despite the wins and the unbeaten record, his career stalled.
“It’s very difficult to describe because it seemed like all the things were there – I was a really good amateur, I had a great fanbase and a good story, so all the things seemed to be there, but it took me a really long time to get to this stage and to this level,” he said. “At times, it was incredibly frustrating.” [Click Here To Read More]
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