Starrett City Club Boxer Wins Title In Garden Pro Debut

By Tim Persinko

Starrett Club boxer Dmitry Salita with former trainer, Jimmy O'Pharrow. Courtesy of Starrett City Boxing Club In twenty-nine bouts as a professional, Dmitry Salita, a welterweight boxer out of Starrett City Boxing Club, had never lost. Fighting for the first time as a professional in Madison Square Garden on November 8, Salita maintained his unbeaten streak and captured the IBF Junior Welterweight title and the WBA Super Lightweight Championship.

"Ever since I was a young kid I wanted to fight at the Garden," Salita said after the fight. "To get two belts was incredible."

Salita, nicknamed "the Star of David," faced a tough opponent, Derrick Campos (17 - 6), of Topeka, Kansas. Campos was aggressive, but Salita's superior footwork and boxing skills kept him out of trouble. Salita twice landed right hooks that sent Campos' mouth guard flying across the ring. He won by unanimous decision after twelve rounds.

Jimmy O'Pharrow, president of the Starrett City Boxing Club, was in Salita's corner for the fight.

"His feet got him in and out of trouble," O'Pharrow said. "His boxing won him the fight. You've heard of the matador and the bull? Well, he was the matador."

In twelve rounds, Salita threw 826 total punches, connecting on 18 percent of his jabs and 41 percent of his power punches.

As a practicing Orthodox Jew, Dmitry Salita cannot work or travel on Saturdays. At sundown on the Saturday of his Garden bout, Salita hurried from his home in Midwood, to make it to the Garden in time for his 9 p.m. match. Before entering the ring, Salita has a rabbi say a prayer in the dressing room. After that, O'Pharrow said his own prayer in the dressing room.

"It wasn't the same thing but I guess it was the same thing," said O'Pharrow. "Go out there and kick some butt, period. I didn't say it like that when I said it to the man upstairs, but that's what it basically meant."

Dmitry Salita has trained at the Starrett City Boxing Club since 1995. He first came to the boxing club as a recently-arrived immigrant from Russia at the age of thirteen. Salita said he quickly felt at home in the environment.

"It was very inspirational," he said about the gym. "I saw other boxers and I felt that I could relate to them because they were hungry, and I was hungry myself. I think Starrett City Boxing is one of the best after school programs in the country. It has helped and saved so many different lives of so many different kids."

Throughout his career as an amateur and then as a professional, Jimmy O'Pharrow has been in Salita's corner at every fight. O'Pharrow is no longer Salita's day-to-day trainer, but he still serves as a mentor to the undefeated fighter.

"I've had him since I was thirteen years old," Salita said, "and I wouldn't have it any other way. I am blessed to know him and I am blessed to have him in my corner."