Dmitriy “Star of David” Salita

New York, NY —

In the 1920’s and 30’s almost a third of all professional boxers in America were Jewish. This included The Ghetto Wizard-- Benny Leonard and The Pride of the Ghetto-- Barney Ross. They were world champions between 1910 and 1940. The last Jewish world champ was Mike Rossman who held the light heavy weight crown in the late 1970’s. Dmitriy Salita was born in Ukraine and started boxing in Brooklyn when he was a teenager. Today the 23 year-old Orthodox Jew is a professional boxer with an undefeated record. Jon Kalish reports.

REPORTER: Dmitriy Salita's family left Odessa when he was nine years old and settled in Brooklyn.

SALITA: It wasn't easy. You don't speak English. You don't wear clothes that's called cool or hip. And kids pick on you, kids make fun of the way you speak and the way you dress. When kids used to pick on me, I used to get in a lot of fights because I wouldn't take anything. But bit by bit, I learned. My English got better. I adjusted to the culture and some of he kids I fought with became friends and I think most people have to go through the initiation process, so to say.

REPORTER: Salita was 13 when he joined a boxing club at the Starret City housing project in Brooklyn.

SALITA: One of the great things about boxing, one of the great things particularly about the Starret City Boxing Club, it's a kind of micro-society of New York City, the melting pot. And there are people there from all different walks of life, training and working together. And for the period of time that they're in the gym, they're all the same and they're all helping each other out, or trying to accomplish a similar goal.

REPORTER: Salita says the hiphop soundtrack at Starret City’s gym had a profound effect on his rhythm in the ring. Jimmy O’Pharrow, Salita’s first trainer, says Salita boxes “black.”

O’PHARROW: When I took him out to box, everywhere we went, all over the country, he didn’t fight no white boys. He fought all black boys or Spanish boys. So, when he got in the ring, these black boys said, “I’m gonna kick that white boy’s butt!” And then after the first round, they said, “Oh, hell. We’re in trouble." Because they found out he had the moves, the slips, the slides, he knew how he got out of the way, how to get in. You know, he don’t fight the way the average white boy does.

REPORTER: Salita is a strict observer of the Jewish sabbath. He studies with a rabbi named Zalman Liberow, who is affiliated with the Lubavitcher chasidim.

LIBEROW: He understands that even in such a sport, you can serve God. So in a way we’re bringing heaven down to earth. Dimitriy agrees that the ring is not heaven, right? It’s earth. Okay, but when he comes into the ring, it’s heaven.

REPORTER: Salita’s boxing matches draw religious Jews, many of them proud of a successful Jewish athlete who keeps the sabbath. When he enters the ring, it is sometimes to the accompaniment of a recording by the chasidic rapper Matisyahu or to a live klezmer band.

REPORTER: So far the undefeated Salita is 22 and 0. He’s considered an up and coming prospect in the junior welterweight division. Earlier this year he signed a deal with Lou Dibella, a former HBO executive who is now a boxing promoter. Dibella says he sees great things ahead for Salita.

DIBELLA: I believe in Dimitriy Salita. I believe in him as a fighter. I think he could be a champion. But I believe in him even more as a person. That's why I think he could be a champion. And this is a business where it's not just about guts and skill. It's very much about character. And this kid has guts and skill and character.

REPORTER: Boxing observers praise Salita’s left jab and hand speed but say that he’s lacking for power. Among the formidable opponents Salita is likely to face down the road is another junior welterweight from Brooklyn, Paul Malignaggi. Malignaggi is currently ranked eighth in the world. His ring antics and over-the-top persona are the antithesis of Salita’s soft-spoken, polite demeanor. Thomas Hauser is a boxing writer who has followed Salita’s career.

HAUSER: Paulie and Dmitriy, in one sense, would be a natural fight, because they’re both from New York and they both have their own individual constituencies. It would be a real throwback fight to the days when you had the Jewish fight clubs and the Irish fight clubs and the Italian fight clubs. And when the guys from the clubs fought each other, you had great barn-burner fights. But at this stage I just don’t think Dmitriy is ready for Paulie. Dmitriy’s got to step up the level of opposition and see what he’s made of.

REPORTER: Salita believes he’s made of the stuff of champions.

SALITA: If I wouldn't feel that I could accomplish the things that I want to accomplish, I wouldn't box because I don't want to be average and I don't want to stop halfway. I want to, God willing, accomplish the goals that I've set for myself. And you’ve got to set the bar as high as it can go.

REPORTER: Dimitriy Salita faces off against New Mexico slugger Shawn Gallegos tonight at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan. For WNYC, I’m Jon Kalish.

FIGHT ANNOUNCER: Dmitriy “Star of David” Salita!