By Flattop
Photo: Team Salita
Former world title challenger Dmitriy Salita hopes to fight WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi when Golden Boy Promotions presents the inaugural boxing event on October 20th at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. “This is a fight for boxing fans and the non-boxing fans,” said Eli Tov, the advisor to Salita. “On a local level, this fight will fill the arena but the matchup is also a crossover fight that will appeal to people across New York City, across the U.S. and across the world. From Italy to Israel to New York to Los Angeles to Miami.”
Both fighters are Brooklynites. Dmitry – who moved from the Ukraine to the States in 1991 – lives in the community of Flatbush and Malignaggi resides at Sheepshead Bay. The fighters have known each other for over twenty years. Both gentlemen had outstanding amateur careers and they turned pro within weeks of each other during 2001.
“This a throwback fight to the days when the arriving immigrants to America would fight each other in the ring,” commented Tov. “This is a Jew fighting an Italian.”
Salita had been negotiating a fight with interim WBA welterweight titlist Ismael El Massoudi but the contest – that was tentatively scheduled for late 2011 – fell apart. Coincidentally, Malignaggi captured the WBA welterweight title with a stunning TKO of then-champ Vyacheslav Senchenko back on April 29th.
“This fight has been talked about a lot over the years,” continued Tov. “They know each other and they have a lot of respect for each other. This is the right fight for the first boxing card at the Barclays Center.”
Photo courtesy of Team Salita: Dmitriy Salita and Paulie Malignaggi pose to the crowd at Brooklyn’s Fight Factory Gym.
