Ukrainian-born fighter remains unbeaten with unanimous 10-round decision over Francisco Campos in New York; Greenberg's Israel support costs him sponsorship.
By ALLON SINAISalita 298.88(photo credit: Alex Gorokhov)
Dmitriy Salita survived a cut over his left eye in the ninth round and remained unbeaten with a unanimous 10-round decision over Francisco Campos at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York on Wednesday night.
Salita, an observant Jew and a native of Ukraine who lives in Brooklyn, needed the win to remain in contention for a possible welterweight title shot.
"I do my job," Salita said when asked about his lackluster effort. "I go into the ring, win and knock out people. Then I move on to the next one."
Salita, who moved up from junior welterweight earlier this year, weighed 145 pounds and improved to 26-0-1.
"One more fight and hopefully I'll get a title bout early in 2007," said Salita, who is ranked seventh by the WBA. "I'm fighting often at this stage and that's unusual. However, that's the plan... stay busy until we get our title shot."
Campos, of Costa Rica, fell to 21-8-1.
Born in Odessa, Ukraine, Salita moved with his family to Brooklyn at the age of nine.
After the move, Salita was exposed to Orthodox Judaism and became an observant Jew. He strictly follows Jewish law and will not fight on a Sabbath.
Greenberg in Israel to promote fight
Israeli heavyweight boxer Roman Greenberg, home in Israel this week ahead of his next fight on November 4 against Alexei Varakin, has revealed that he lost his sponsor after speaking out in favor of Israel during the war in Lebanon.
"Due to my support for Israel I lost sponsors during the month of the war," Greenberg said. "Nevertheless, I will not change my opinion regarding the state of Israel, especially when it's defending its civilians.
During the war I was at my home in the "Krayot", but even that didn't push me back to England."
Greenberg, who spends most of his year training in London, also said: "Everybody in England asked me to come back immediately, but nothing will make me leave. I'm very patriotic and that's why I have the Star of David on my shorts."
The 24-year-old, who is the current IBO Intercontinental Champion, is undefeated in his 22 fights to date, but will have to be at his best if he's to beat the 31-year-old Russian.
"It's a test for Roman, but one that we believe he will come through with flying colors," Greenberg's manager Robert Waterman said.
"To beat the Russian heavyweight champion is a nice medal to have on your route to success."
AP contributed to this report
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