Dmitriy Salita wants to implement a “retirement fund” for fighters in an attempt to safeguard their long-term futures.
There are as many fighters who struggle financially in retirement as there are those who struggle with their health.
The necessity of paying their bills often also leads to many making ill-advised comebacks – ones that could potentially be avoided if they were more secure.
Since he retired from fighting Salita has become an influential promoter – he most recently confirmed the date of June 3 for the rematch in Detroit between Hanna Gabriels and Claressa Shields – and one of his long-term ambitions surrounds providing fighters with greater stability.
As an active fighter Salita rarely had the security that perhaps only exists among those at the very top, but he told ProBox TV: “I’ve seen it since I was a kid. Fighters earn a tremendous amount of money – a couple of years go by, they’ve got nothing.
“They don’t have a car; they don’t have a house, and they don’t have clothes, and it’s shameful. It’s terrible, and I’ve been thinking about this for many years.
“One of the things I’d like to do is form a retirement fund for the fighters. The [boxing promotional] company contributes to it as well as the fighters.”
Salita’s reputation was regardless recently undermined by the revelation that the heavyweight Jermaine Franklin, 29, had filed a lawsuit against him.
“The fighters have to contribute to their own financial success, post-their boxing career,” he said. “And the promoter does as well.
“I’ve been thinking about a system of having a retirement fund for fighters, that I’d love to implement, as a result.”