Salita, The Fight Goes On

We had to delete a number of anti-Semitic "well wishing" comments coming from British islands. This brings us to a sad realization -- the land of Shakespeare is producing today a lot of morons.

NJJewishnews.com:

...“I trained very hard and was well prepared,” Dmitriy responded. “He caught me early and I couldn’t get it going. The crowd was pretty hostile, I am not sure if that froze me or I just started late.”

There were no excuses, no alibis even though I opened the door for him to easily hang onto one. That’s one of his endearing qualities.

All the whys, wherefores, and what-ifs are meaningless. Real life is not a film or video that can be replayed and edited.  It is one minute and sixteen seconds that Dmitriy Salita would very much like to have cut out of his life, but it can’t be done. There will be rationalizing and hypothesizing and from that, possibly some solace. There were no excuses or alibis. Dmitriy explained that “He caught me early and I couldn’t get it going. …. I am not mad at myself because I did all in my power to prepare for the fight.”

There was no devastating, hurting punch. He got tagged by the first right hand that Khan threw and went to the canvas. He pulled himself up but it seemed as though his equilibrium and legs were gone. The rapid flurry of punches that Khan followed up with, though not making solid contact with Salita’s chin, were enough to topple him to the canvas again.

When Dmitriy was cowering in a corner trying to shield himself from punches, he threw nothing back in return.  Luis Pabon, the referee, rightfully stepped in and called a halt. Dmitriy was relatively unhurt, at least physically.

There were two champions that night: Amir Khan, who kept his crown with a sparkling performance, and one who didn’t get the crown he reached for but there are more ways to be a champion …

“An hour and a half after the fight, Dmitriy entered a packed conference room at his hotel, where he was greeted to thunderous cheers and applause. Despite the lateness of the hour, over 100 people crammed into the conference room to wish Dmitriy well. We made “l’chaims”, sang songs and Dmitriy smiled and joked. He raised a glass and thanked everyone for their support. There were a number of people there who have been involved in boxing for more than thirty years, including one former world champion. They all made the same toast. “We have never in our entire lives seen a fight that ended like tonight’s and yet is being greeted with so much warmth and support from so many people.” It was indeed remarkable.

The post fight party continued until the wee hours of the morning. At that moment it was easy to forget the fight and be reminded of the positive impact Dmitriy has had on so many different people in so many different ways, and realize that the result of a single boxing match will never change that.

— Chaim Marcus

Dmitriy Salita is a champion to all those who know him! [Read the whole story]

AP:

Wed Dec 9, 9:52 AM ET

American Jewish boxer, Dmitriy Salita, prays next to the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site in Jerusalem's Old City, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009. Salita, the Ukraine-born Orthodox Jewish boxer from Brooklyn nicknamed 'the Star of David' flew to Israel Tuesday night to clear his head just days after a humbling Saturday-night defeat in England. Salita said he came to Israel to clear his head after his bout with WBA light-welterweight champion Amir Khan in Newcastle on Saturday.(AP Photo)

posted by: jrtelegraph

Comments

[Mike]

Who put censorship on Dmitriy's ring entrance? I thought England is a country with a true democracy. However, not when it comes to jews. Skybox is a shamed to broadcast the abuse that took place as Salita was entering the ring. Somehow the entrance was only 4 feet wide instead of 8 like we have in America, so hateful fans could reach, grab and cut us. They don't want to show it...

[Mike]

I thought I'm in the Nazi's Germany, but the name of the new capital of modern fascism is England.
Dmitriy faced a lot of hate in England.
He worried for the life of his wife and his friends, it could cost him a fight.

[Jon]

Jeff, nobody is arguing the point about Amir Khan winning and Salita loosing. That was indeed settled in the ring. The point is that Salita showed himself once again a very brave and strong young man. The real losers in this fight were so called Newcastle fans, who proved to be a crazed anti-Semitic mob. Talking about putting a town on the map. According to all accounts Muslim fans of Amir Khan were fine, the Brits on the other hand behaved as complete morons.

[Jeff]

If Salita went down with one punch, it must have been a pretty devastating one, particularly if his legs were wobbling afterward, and he later in the same round went down without Khan making "solid contact with his chin."

He might have taken the loss pretty well to party through the night but that is not the definition of a boxing champion. That's settled in the ring.