Meeting 'Kid Kosher'

Quite frankly, when it's a Monday afternoon and it's pouring outside, the last place I want to be is in Starrett City without a car.

But that's exactly where I found myself when I met Dmitriy Salita, the undefeated welterweight Jewish boxer that won the New York Golden Gloves in 2001.

Salita's got a quiet braggadocio. He's silent as he works his way around the gym -- the famed Starrett City Boxing Club, which is nothing more than a hole in the wall in a drab, suburban office complex -- but he moves around with confidence.

As Salita and I talk religion (he's an orthodox Jew by way of Chabad) a young boxer walks by, fresh from defeat in a practice sparring match. Salita pulls him over, interrupting our conversation:

"You move backwards too much. You gotta get in there; get low. You've got more talent than most guys your age, but you can't be scared."

The same could be said for Salita, who is only 26, but is making strides toward a full professional career.

In this way, Salita is New York: he's a Ukrainian immigrant; he lives in Flatbush, Brooklyn; he's an orthodox Jewish boxer who has already won in boxing's biggest house, Madison Square Garden.

All he needs to do now is land a knockout punch on the right guy at the right time, and he's a step from being a New York legend. --Andrew Nusca