Dmitriy Salita lasted all of 76 seconds (including counting for two knockdowns) Saturday night in his challenge for the World Boxing Association 140 title held by Amir Khan.
This was no lucky punch he never recovered from. If you follow the sport, you to would have noticed right away a serious difference in skill level between the two fighters.
The difference in Newcastle, England was between a young vibrant world champion and barely fringe world class fighter with no experience at the world class level.
So how was Khan the champion, and Salita the No. 1 contender or pretender rather allowed to get in the same ring?
Salita had something to sell. He was 31-0. But his knockout power (16 KO’s) was obviously suspect, especially considering his opponent list. He had 31 wins, but he wasn’t on a career path to be a top flight contender. His 30Th win wasn’t against anyone any better than his 15Th win. He was No. 1 and undefeated and living in America.
It was an easy defense for promoter Frank Warren’s champion who shares Freddie Roach with Manny Pacquiao.
It was an easy fight to promote to the degree nobody looked closely at Salita’s list of opponents.
But the insiders knew. Knowledgeable fans knew. Salita wasn’t much more than a publicist’s dream.
The chasm is bigger than just the difference between Khan and Salita. I’m talking about most, but not all the fighters that get to become mandatory No. 1 WBA contenders, or Interim Champions, or have rematch clauses that never expire.
Salita, a nice young man, just kept getting moved up in the rankings by attrition. Fighters fighting for other titles, moving to other weight divisions and staying busy himself. And once a fighter gets to No.1 and is designated the mandatory, he won’t fight anyone because of the chance of losing the big payday.
I took an interest in him years ago. What I know is he has bounced around among a few big-time promoters for the reason that he or his advisers didn’t want to fight anybody along the way. Just last year Salita fought for a vacant, minor title fight offered by the International Boxing Federation. He won but never defended it.
He never threatened, as far as I know, to fight on HBO or Showtime. There was never a positive buzz about him.
The WBA Heavyweight No. 1 contender is John Ruiz. Enough said. This is the WBA that just bumped off the awful 7’1 320 lbs. Nikolai Valuev. Valuev reminded me of the worst modern era heavyweight champion in Italian Primo Carnera. New WBA Heavyweight Champion David Haye has to either give Valuev an immediate rematch or face court-ordered No. 1 Ruiz again. It is a stranglehold that will never end.
Let’s drop down to the 140 division. Not only is Khan the champion, but Marcos Maidana is the Interim Champion. Salita was No.1 contender and the No. 2 contender, drum roll please is Manny Pacquiao! Yes, Manny Pacquiao! Like Manny would fight for that title!
What a joke.
When did the guys in the WBA Headquarters in Panama figure Manny would come in as a challenger to either Khan, Maidana or Salita and take the small end of the purse money available?
I appreciate what WBC boss Jose Sulaiman has been trying to do all these years and I respect young Gilberto Jesus Mendoza of the WBA. But this is really a horrible situation that deserves to be blown up and started again but with none of the same players.
I don’t want to take anything at all away from Khan. But what should be done is have Salita go learn to box and have the WBA Champion Khan fight the WBA Interim Champion Maidana and narrow it down to one champion.
Next case!
