SubscribeGuest column: Salita, After the Fight
Thanks to boxing author and Korner friend Ron Ross for contributing this story on Dmitiry Salita’s loss to Amir Kahn in Newcastle, England on Dec. 5.
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When a fight is over — bang, bang — in a little more that a minute of the first round, it is a pretty persuasive win and there is no diminishing its decisiveness. That’s why I refrained from reporting certain events surrounding Amir Khan’s convincing stoppage of Dmitriy Salita in Newcastle, England Saturday night.
I made it plain that I was not an impartial observer – I have known Dmitriy since the beginning of his career and have forged a strong bond with him –- and by relating what occurred would seem an attempt at alibiing and detracting from Khan’s superb performance. It would not have been fair to present anything other than what had taken place in the ring.
Both fighters were shining examples of what true sportsmanship is all about. They displayed mutual respect and conducted themselves with dignity and class before, during and after the fight and both stand out as credits to the sport.
Unfortunately, these attributes were sorely missing from the hate-spewing, abusively anti-Semitic mob that greeted Dmitriy as he journeyed from dressing room to ring and threatened his fans on the streets as well as in the arena.
The following accounts are from fans in attendance, people who traveled to a country they perceived as “friends” from one of the most civilized nations on this planet.
I took the train right after shabbos from London to Newcastle. The ride is a little over three hours. As we got closer, it seemed that everyone on the train was drunk, rude and anti-Semitic. As we walked up to the arena, we could already hear people shouting racial slurs at us and it became abundantly clear that this was a very hostile environment.
The stadium was packed with 10,000 rabid and mostly drunk Khan fans. During the “ring walk” the shouting, boos and cursing became deafening. As Dmitriy and his team made their way to the ring, people reached over the railing and swiped at Dmitriy while screaming nasty insults at him. He was hit numerous times. Two people jumped the railing in an attempt to hit Dmitriy and were arrested. Four other people were arrested close to the ring. The booing and insults were thunderous. As an orthodox Jew, I feared for my life. When we left the arena the insults and near-fights continued. Had Dmitriy won, I don’t know how we could have gotten out of there alive, without exaggeration. When Dmitry left the arena there was a mob waiting for him, screaming anti-Israel and ant-Semitic things at him and the rest of the group. Barely escaped that moment as well. At 3 a.m., leaving Dmitriy’s hotel, we were accosted again by a group looking for a fight: ”Are you some kinda F***ing Jews? etc. etc. It was unreal.”
— Chaim Marcus, a fan and friend of Dmitriy’s who traveled from California.
I myself sensed Dmitriy was unusually tense before the fight. During Shabbat — I think there was fear before the fight, going into the ring, and then the fight itself.
From what I observed the real hostility towards Dmitriy came not from the Moslems [sic] but came from the drunken Geordies (as the local population is called). The Jew-Moslem [sic] issue was a non-issue.”
— Myron Sugerman, businessman and long-time boxing expert from NJ
I broached the subject of the extreme hostility and rowdiness bordering on the physical of the fans to Dmitriy. I told him that when he entered the ring amid the torrent of abusive catcalls and booing and fans pelting him and reaching to try to strike him. “I saw a look on your face of … let’s call it a combination of hurt, surprise, and distraction and I was worried that your focus had been momentarily shifted,” I told him.
“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!
Behavior by the crowd was pretty disgraceful. Unfortunately, I’m not all that surprised. Hopefully Salita can resurrect his career and work towards another title shot after a pretty bleak showing, but it’s not going to to be easy. Nice to hear further confirmation that Salita is a great guy out of the ring, however, as that is what’s more important at the end of the day anyway.
Obviously, the a******* causing the disturbance weren’t Jew lovers,but antisemitism is stretching it, regarding England..taking into context Marvin Hagler being covered by his old Italian trainers from bottle throwers after he won the middleweight title from Alan Minter in England in 1980…and most obviously ,given their record for soccer violence.
Dmitriy was worried about well being of his wife and friends there was possibility of being killed, it was like being at Nazi Germany.
Before I make my comment, Max Schmeling hid 2 Jewish boys during Krystalnacht in peril of his life, and also refused to fire his Jewish manager when Hitler and Goebbels demanded it.
This event is similar to the Joe Louis-Schmeling second fight. Dimitry must have frozen allowing his opponent who is one of the top fighters in the world to knock him in the first round. Khan trainer is one of the top 5 in the world.
If Dimitry ever wants another title shot he must attempt to find someone like Freddy Roach. Secondly, Dimitry should pass up another title shot if it means repeating the same experience.
Just an idea but if Dimitry stages a comeback, ,if a promoter with enough money can be found, why not entice a world class opponent to fight Salita either in the US or Israel. If he fights in any other country the same anti-semitic beasts will show up.