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Promoter Dmitriy Salita Will Not Watch Claressa Shields Fight

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Promoter Dmitriy Salita Will Not Watch Claressa Shields Fight

Claressa Shields will fight in a few hours, and her promoter, Dmitriy Salita, will not be present at the fight site in Atlantic City to see how the Flint, Michigan standout performs against considerable underdog Ivana Habazin.

No, there's no scandal or newsy development that is keeping Salita from being front and center, rinsgide at Ocean in New Jersey to watch if Claressa can snag a strap at yet another weight class, junior middleweight.

Salita will be off radar, and off-site, because he's Orthodox Jewish.

“I observe the Sabbath Friday night to Saturday night,” the 37 year old boyish wonder of promotion told me.

A few minutes before sun-down on Friday night, Salita took leave of the workplace and work-related tasks, in which he'd be exerting control over his environment, to begin a day of rest.

I asked if he'd tape the show, and then watch it right after Sabbath ends?

“Yes, that’s been the routine in the past,” said Salita, who often is able to see the main events he puts together, when his shows begin on a Saturday night, after the sun drops down and stars appear in the sky. “I am staying at Ocean but will have it taped.”

Founder/editor Michael Woods got addicted to boxing in 1990, when Buster Douglas shocked the world with his demolition of the then-impregnable Mike Tyson. The Brooklyn-based journalist has covered the sport since for ESPN The Magazine, ESPN.com, Bad Left Hook and RING. His journalism career started with NY Newsday in 1999. Michael Woods is also an accomplished blow by blow and color man, having done work for Top Rank, DiBella Entertainment, EPIX, and for Facebook Fightnight Live, since 2017.