Post fight interview with Dmitriy Salita

RC: Dmitriy, you seemed to have a tougher time than expected time against Paul Delgado last Thursday night, why don’t you give us your thoughts on your performance?

DS: I definitely felt that I could have done better. His style was very awkward, the things that he did, the wrestling, the head butt, and the elbows, I didn’t expect him to do so much of that kind of stuff.

The awkwardness from looking at tapes, compared to when you actually get in there, that awkwardness mixed in with the dirty tactics and his kind of clam like style of holding, head butting and all of that stuff takes you off. Because you are ready to counter and do something, and he head butts you, or he elbows you, which gets your timing completely off and you have to adjust. The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth round I started to figure him out. But it was good because it was a learning process and I think it will help me in my future fights and in my progression.

RC: What did you walk away learning from that fight?

DS: That sometimes you have to get physical with a guy and expect anything in the ring. I mean you can talk about it and you can say many things, but until you experience it and until you deal with it, you are not going to learn from it. The best thing is to take positive things from every situation, so I intend to take the positive from this situation, learn, get better, and hope that all of my fights from now on are exciting and a great performance.

RC: How would you grade yourself on your performance?

DS: I would give myself a “C”

RC: At any point and time did you feel as if you were behind in the fight?

DS: No, I felt that he was getting weaker every round, and to me that is what effective aggression is, when a guy wins every round. I felt that he was getting tired, and every time I catch him with a good shot, he would hold and as the fight went on, he started getting a little dirty. Actually, he is taller than I am, so the fact that he head butted me so much, some of those had to be intentional, because in order for him to head butt me he had to come down low underneath. And that was something that I had to deal with that I never had to deal with before.

I am looking forward to walking away and learning from this experience and just getting better. As I mentioned before, I take the good from every situation and I intend on doing the same with this one getting better, and putting on a great performance in my next fight.

RC: Many at ringside felt that the fight was much closer than the scorecards (78-74 twice, and 75-77) reflected, and felt that it played out that way because you had the obvious hometown advantage, what’s your take?

DS: I think once people see the fight on tape, they are going to see a lot of things that they didn’t. He didn’t hit me as much as people think, a lot of those punches were on the gloves and a lot of those punches missed me. I mean, my trainer always told me that if a punch misses you by an inch, it’s the same as if it missed by a foot, and a lot of those punches missed by an inch.

I felt that the judges were correct and they did a great job, and I personally, as well as my corner agree with the scoring. A lot of people that I spoke to agree with the scoring, that is what is so great about the sport, people are going to have their opinions and that is what makes it fun and exciting.

RC: If you had to fight Delgado again, you would obviously have a better understanding of what to expect, but how would you react to?

DS: I wouldn’t do as much counter punching; I would be more aggressive from the beginning. The thing is the fact that I was trying to counterpunch him in the beginning, that was the plan but his awkwardness and his body language set it off. So with guys like that, for my style to counter act that style, you have to put pressure on him and just keep beating him down, round after round. Especially in a ten round fight, if you keep putting pressure on him like that, I don’t see him going the distance. And in this fight, even the people that felt it was a very close fight, everyone, from what I understand and from what I have been told, even the people that said they had it close, everyone says that if it was a ninth and tenth round, it wouldn’t have gone the tens rounds because he was exhausted.

RC: Being that many felt it was a very close, and some even feeling it went the other way, is a rematch something that might take place to put any doubt to rest?

DS: As of now, I don’t see what another fight would do for me. Unless Paul Delgado goes and beat some big names or something like that and gets himself in position, then we will see. But at this point and time the rematch doesn’t do anything for me, I look forward to fighting bigger names and going better things, I want to keep moving forward.

RC: Billy Giles, trainer for your good friend, undefeated prospect Paul Malignaggi, did and exclusive one on one video interview with Boxingtalk.com at the fight last Thursday night, and called you his Jewish pastry, and feels that you are a coward and will continue to duck Malignaggi, what are your thoughts on his comments?

DS: Look, I don’t want to get involved in childish games with Billy Giles, who is a 65 year old man, so I really don’t want to comment on it. There is really nothing much to say, I don’t want to get involved in a childish back and forth situation. So I will let Billy say what he says and time will tell.

Billy is not someone that his words mean much to me. I am not that type of individual, I am not that type of person, I don’t think all of this back and forth talk…..I don’t think it makes sense. I just want to do what I got to do, and show it in my actions. I don’t need to talk. I don’t have a comment on anything that Billy says, I don’t take it seriously.

RC: By him saying things like that, does that affect your friendship with Paulie in any way?

DS: As fare as I know, Paulie didn’t say anything.  Billy is Billy, and Billy is going to do what he is going to do.

RC: How long do you think before, you and Paulie actually do step into the ring against one another?

DS: Whenever it develops, whenever it really matures, and I don’t know when that is going to be or how long it is going to be. When the people really start demanding it and both of us I guess are in title contention, or maybe have a title or something like that.

RC: When can we expect to see you back in action?

DS: Early February, in NYC baby.

RC: That fight made your second appearance as a professional in NY what is it like after the referee raises your hand in victory after a hard fought fight like that?

DS: It is great. I appreciate all of the fans coming out and showing their support, and after each fight, the effect of the fans is growing, it is getting bigger and better. I think people even got turned down at the door at least that is what I heard from a few people. Hopefully the next time it will be a bigger venue. We want to keep doing it large.

RC: Is there anything else you would like to say in closing?

DS: I want to thank everybody for showing their support, and I look forward to my next fight. And I want to thank Boxingtalk.com for their unbelievable coverage.

For more information on Dmitriy Salita, be sure to check out: www.DSalita.com

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