Detroit-based promoter Dmitriy Salita aims to bring the city back to the forefront of professional boxing by hosting a fight card at the historic Fox Theatre on Sept. 19.
Flint native Deandre Savage and Florida native Brandon Moore will headline the iconic venue’s second-ever professional boxing card.
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Moore (18-1, 10 KOs) and Savage (10-0, 10 KOs) will both take on the toughest challenge of their professional careers with the winner remaining firmly on the path to being America’s next great heavyweight.
In a co-feature, Chicago’s Olivia Curry (7-2, 2 KOs) will collide with Australia’s Kaye Scott (4-1) for the Unified WBA/WBC Middleweight World Championship.
The event, sponsored by M Select Luxury Water will stream live on boxing streaming service, DAZN.
Building momentum from Claressa Shields’ July 26 fight against Lani Daniels which brought over 15,600 fans to Little Caesar’s Arena, Salita Promotions sees an opportunity for Detroit to become the nation’s premier venue for boxing.
“Detroit is one of the historic hometowns of boxing,” said Salita. “Now boxing is coming back. We had a great fight at Little Caesars Arena with Claressa Shields selling out the building. Just an electric, incredible atmosphere and we want to keep that excitement going. We want to rebuild boxing in Detroit again, produce so many great champions, so many superstars. And today the state of Michigan, the city of Detroit has some of the best fighters in the country, some of the best fighters in the world.
“You want the fighters from the local gyms to have an opportunity to fight in their hometown, at Little Caesars Arena, at the Fox Theatre, at these beautiful, iconic venues,” said Salita. “This fight is going to be broadcast live on DAZN in the United States and worldwide so boxing fans from all over the world will get a chance to see Detroit’s beauty.”
Salita has promoted several professional fight cards in Detroit and Flint since 2023. Wayne State Fieldhouse, Little Caesars Arena, Dort Financial Center and Fox Theatre have become professional boxing venues because of Salita’s mission to revive Detroit boxing.
Detroit’s rich boxing history is a reason why Salita focuses his promotion in Michigan while also working to keep the city’s fighting spirit alive.
“This fight card is good enough, it could have been in Las Vegas, it could have been in New York, it could have been in Los Angeles but we made a choice to bring it to Detroit because we want to reinvigorate the love for boxing in the city,” said Salita. “I really believe that we had a head start with the July 26 show, and we’ll pick up where we left off.”
As Salita does his part to highlight boxing in Detroit, other boxing entities are realizing the importance of the city’s rich boxing history.
Kronk Gym, which produced several world champions through the 1980s and 90s is making its return to Detroit with a brand-new training facility.
---> Legendary Kronk Gym set to return to Detroit under new ownership
Under Emanuel Steward’s visionary leadership, Kronk became a global brand that produced several Olympic medalists and world champions. Kronk earned the reputation as the “mecca of boxing” due to its history of producing numerous world champions.
Salita has an interest in finding the next local boxing star who can reach world championship level heights. After Shields’ victory against Daniels, she announced that it was her final fight under Salita Promotions and that she would be a free agent. While Salita and Shields still maintain a positive relationship, Salita is looking for the next star of his promotion.
“Boxing fans are going to help us discover who the next star is,” said Salita. “And that’s going to happen. A significant part is going to happen on September 19.”
“It‘s really an incredible fight card with with a variety of fighters on different stages of their career,” said Salita. “They know that if they perform and they do well, there’s a possibility of fighting at Little Caesars Arena, which is less than a mile down the block. So these two venues can really coexist and one can kind of piggyback off the other and create a lot of momentum.”
The Fox Theatre stage will be augmented to accommodate all spectators of the boxing match. The ring will be positioned closer to the edge of the stage and the pit will be raised.
An undercard featuring a mix of rising prospects, local favorites, and action-packed matchups will be announced in the coming weeks.
The only professional boxing event on record at Fox Theatre was on June 10, 2000–HBO Boxing: Acelino Freitas vs. Lemuel Nelson.