Salita doesn’t Want Bout with Khan to be called a Jew vs. a Muslim

By William Mackay: Light welterweight contender Dmitry Salita (30-0-1, 16 KO’s) is concerned about his planned upcoming bout against World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Amir Khan (21-1, 15 KO’s), thinking that some sports writers may refer to the bout as a Jew vs. a Muslim, according to the Jewish Telegraph. Salita, 27, is Jewish, whereas Khan is a Muslim.

The last thing that Salita wants to have happen is the fight is build up in terms of the two fighter’s respective religions. Salita, Khan’s WBA mandatory challenger, is likely is worried for nothing, because it’s hard to imagine a sports writer focusing on either of Khan or Salita’s religion when mentioning this fight. I’ve personally rarely hear anything about Khan’s religion and I imagine that it would be the same situation with Salita’s own religion.

There are reportedly discussions being held between Khan’s promoter, Frank Warren, and the management for Salita about a fight between Khan and Salita for December, which will likely take place in London.

The thing that boxing writers will likely focus on for this fight is how Salita ended up as the number #1 mandatory challenger for Khan when Salita hasn’t faced anyone aside from B level opposition. Much of the time, a fighter generally has to beat at least one top contender to become the mandatory challenger for a champion.

However, in Salita’s case, I can’t see any top contender on his boxing resume. That’s worrisome for me, because Salita will be making a huge step up in competition from the 2nd tier opponents that he’s built up his impressive 30-0 record on when he faces Khan in December.

I’m happy for Salita to get the fight, but he might be better served if he had at least fought some slightly lesser top tier opponents that would help get him prepared for what he’s going to be facing when he fights the 22-year-old Khan. I’m sure Salita will be a fast learner in the ring, but against a world class fighter like Khan, it’s better if an inexperienced fighter like Salita get as much relevant experience as possible before being thrown in with a champion with the speed and boxing ability like Khan.

Salita will likely be getting a good payday in this fight, but in my view, it seems way too soon for Salita to be facing a guy like Khan. I know Khan has been moved up pretty quickly himself, but at least in his case, he was an Olympic Silver Medalist in the past and he’s fought better opponents that Salita, and looked a lot better than him, with the exception of the Breidis Prescott fight.

I didn’t like the way Salita looked in fights against Ramon Montano, Franciso Campos and Derrick Campos. Salita took a lot of head shots in those fights and was knocked down twice in the 1st round against the light punching Montano in 2006. Salita came back to earn an eight round draw in that fight, but he continued to get hit a lot throughout the fight.

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