Native New Yorkers Dmitriy Salita and Luis Collazo thrilled a packed house that included former world champions Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi and Iran “The Blade” Barkley at the Oceana Hall in Coney Island, Brooklyn in separate bouts on Wednesday night, each scoring decisive victories over their opponents.

Dmitriy Salita (33-1-1, 17 KOs), fighting for the third time in 8 months, worked behind a disciplined, busy jab to outbox Oklahoma City’s Ronnie Warrior Jr. (13-5-1, 4 KOs) over 8 rounds. Salita (149lbs) controlled the pace throughout the fight, landing multi-punch combinations and turning southpaw Warrior (148lbs) all night. Salita suffered a cut over his right eye in round 8 from a headbutt.

In the co-feature, former WBA welterweight champion Luis Collazo (31-4, 16 KOs) made a successful return to the ring, knocking out journeyman Franklin Gonazalez (13-9, 10 KOs) after only 3 rounds. Collazo (152lbs), fighting at junior middleweight after a two year absence, could not miss, dropping Franklin (151lbs) with a straight left hand at the end of round 2 and twice in round 3 from sharp left uppercuts. Referee Benji Esteves stopped the fight after a well placed left uppercut to the body dropped Gonzalez at 2:14 of round 3.

Puerto Rican junior middleweight Mike “El Cangri” Ruiz improved to 12-4 (6 KOs), dropping Gregory Hackett (2-8) in the sixth and final round to pound out a unanimous decision by scores of 60-53, 59-54, and 58-55.

Rafael Vasquez (6-0, 4 KOs) continued his unbeaten streak, knocking out Juan Luis Melendez (2-6-1) at 1:48 of round 3. Vasquez took over the close bout in round 3, hurting Melendez with a body punch and landing a flurry of power shots that forced Melendez’ corner to stop the bout at 1:48 of the round.

In the opening bout of the night, Hamid Abdul-Mateen (2-1) won a shutout unanimous decision over Bakari (0-2) by scores of 40-36 (3x).


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