Image by getty images

Orthodox Jewish boxer Dmitriy Salita said he will make aliyah at the end of his professional career.

On a visit to Argentina as part of fundraising activities for the network of Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish schools Oholey Jinuj, the Ukraine-born pugilist spoke with JTA about his future.

“I will make Aliyah with my family,” Salita told JTA Wednesday night during a gala dinner in Buenos Aires, after checking with his Israeli-born wife, Alona, to make sure he can go public with the news.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Salita has developed the “DS fitness program,” which includes training and self-defense techniques, as well as inspirational messages. In the future he said wants to teach and develop this program in Israel and perhaps collaborate with Jerusalem Boxing Club and Maccabi Tel Aviv training young Israeli boxers. He has started to teach with his personal method at the Gym Factory in Brooklyn.

Salita, who sports a Star of David on his trunks during boxing matches, told JTA that his loss to Amir Kahan to the world title in 2009 was a very sad moment. He traveled to Israel for first time two days after the fight. “I was at Yad Vashem. It was a very traumatic experience, but at the end of the museum you can see the wonderful sight of Israel. The message is that our people can recover that after the darkest moment… Israel is our light. I also feel that, I realize that after this hard defeat I need to do my best to come back and also that Israel is at the end of my journey” he told JTA.

The 2001 Golden Gloves Champion spoke at Wednesday’s dinner about his Judaism, his values, and his experiences as a boxer and an Orthodox Jew.

Salita, whose nickname is the “Star of David,” has fought more than 100 fights in his boxing career an amateur record of 59-5 and a professional record of 35-1-1 record. He lives with his wife Alona Aharonov and his two-year-old daughter Milaliah in New York, and trains in Detroit.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount