Brooklyn, NY - Prize-winning Jewish American boxer Dmitriy Salita arrived in Israel for his first visit in the country.

27 year old Salita is also known as "The Star of David” because of the Israeli flag he waves at tournaments and the star of David that appears on his sports uniform.

Dmitriy is an Orthodox Jew born in Odessa, Ukraine, and currently living in Brooklyn, New York. He is in Israel as a guest of the Nefesh B'Nefesh organization.

Dmitriy spoke about the combination between his religious-observant life as a Jew and the competitive-physical field of boxing. The Jewish boxer explained that boxing was Jewish field of sport since the 1920's and that his dream is to box in Israel.

Salita's arrival in Israel follows by just a few days his losing bid for a world championship, in a matchup with Muslim boxer and world champion Amir Khan, (as was reported here on VIN News).

Asked if he felt the Jew-versus-Muslim aspect during the match Dmitriy says that he and Amir Khan thought only of sport during the match, but that the atmosphere in terms of the audience was very tense.

 

For the masochistic, here is video of the fight: