American-Ukrainian promoter and former pro boxer Dmitry Salita, head of Salita Promotions, has once again caused turbulence in the boxing world after American heavyweight contender Jarrell Miller came out yesterday on Instagram to denounce the promoter in a scathing video. Along with the likelihood of Miller challenging Salita in court, the American heavyweight’s issues with his [former] promoter has resulted in the cancellation of a planned bout against British veteran Derek Chisora on February 8 next year.
A week ago, boxing reporter/writer Dan Rafael reported that a fight had been arranged between heavyweights (200+ lbs) Derek Chisora (35-13. 23 KO’s) and Jarrell Miller (26-1-2, 22 KO’s) on a card that would purportedly be promoted by Queensberry Promotions on February 8―with the fight further expected to be held in Manchester, England.
However, the Chisora-Miller bout no longer seems to be on the cards after Jarrell Miller recently came out on social media to announce the cancellation of the match:
“The fight with Chisora is off,” Miller stated. “Chisora is a good dude, he wants to fight, I want to fight―[but] the fight is off because this little piece of s*** named Dmitry Salita.
“[He is] the dirtiest piece of s*** I have ever met in my life―and I have been around a lot of dirty motherf******. But Salita is the worst human being that’s ever walked the planet.
“I know this guy since I was 16-years old. Him and his dirty a** lawyer, John Worth, are compulsive liars. Now my contract is up with him [Salita,] but he’s exercising his first and last right [of] refusal, and blatantly made up an entire story to try and get more money out of me.“
The “first and last right of refusal” is a clause in contracts fighters sign with their promoters which gives the promoter certain rights for the fighters’ future bouts, even when the fighters’ contract expires. In the scenario of the fighter negotiating with another promoter for a bout, such as Jarrell Miller who reached an agreement with Queensberry Promotions to fight Derek Chisora, the right of refusal would allow Dmitry Salita to match any offer that Miller received from Queensberry and allow Salita Promotions to stage the fight instead.
However, according to Miller, Salita is allegedly using the clause to extract more money from Miller―which is a possibility if the contract between Miller and Salita stipulated a way for Salita to get paid. This would likely be by Salita requesting a “step-aside fee” of sorts and enabling him to block the Chisora-Miller fight if he was not compensated.
The circumstances suggest Miller, who is now a free agent, has decided to challenge Salita’s right of refusal which will culminate in a legal battle.
Peculiarly, this is not the first time Dmitry Salita has been embroiled in a legal case with one of his own fighters. Another American heavyweight in Jermaine Franklin (23-2, 15 KO’s) had similar issues with Salita last year and filed a legal case against the promoter for allegedly taking a undeserved cut of his earnings.
Dmitry Salita was also included by “boxing insider” Rick Glaser on a list of the “Top 12 Bad Guys in Boxing” last year, suggesting the promoter has had a collection of experiences related to circumstances similar to Franklin’s and Miller’s conflict with Salita.
It is unknown whether the planned February 8 card will still go ahead and whether Chisora will find a replacement opponent as the Queensberry card had not been officially announced.
Chisora is currently on a high after an upset unanimous decision (UD) victory over highly-lauded British heavyweight contender Joe Joyce (16-3, 15 KO’s) by in July.
