PROMOTER SNAPSHOT: SALITA PROMOTIONS By Adam Abramowitz
“I ’ve seen so many fighters that could have been world champions, but due to foolish and irresponsible matchmaking, they don’t make it to where they should have.” Those are the words from Dmitriy Salita, the president and CEO of Salita Promotions, who believes that the art of matchmaking is one of the secret sauces that distinguishes great boxing companies from merely good ones. As a fighter under the Top Rank banner, Salita worked with respected matchmakers Bruce Trampler, Brad Goodman and Sean Gibbons, studying how fighters were moved and developed by some of the best talent evaluators in the business. “I use this as an example,” Salita said. “You take someone who was meant to be a great surgeon. And you take him from high school and put him right in the operating room. He’s going to panic, close up or overreact. He might not do the right thing. He even risks killing someone. Now he is gone. He’s going to leave medicine and do something else. “However, if he finishes high school, goes to college, goes to medical school, goes to residency and then enters the operating room, now he’s going to save a lot of lives and be as great as he could be.” Salita has been promoting since 2010. First, he promoted himself on
Salita’s “fighter first” approach helped multi-division champ Claressa Shields become a brand unto herself.
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