[1] Salita was born in Odesa, and grew up in Petrivka in the Odessa Oblast in what was then the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union (today Ukraine).
"It was Mike Tyson, and I remember dancing around my room that night imitating the moves", he recalled.
[2] Salita's family moved to the United States when he was nine years old, citing antisemitism in Ukraine, and settled in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
[12] In August 2013 as part of fundraising activities for the network of Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish schools Oholey Jinuj,[clarification needed] during a gala dinner in Buenos Aires speaking with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Salita affirmed that at the end of his boxing career, he would like to migrate to Israel with his family.
[18] He signed a contract with Las Vegas-based promoter Bob Arum, whose Top Rank stable of fighters has included George Foreman, Larry Holmes, and Manny Pacquiao.
[15] On August 25, 2005, Salita captured the North American Boxing Association light welterweight championship by stopping Shawn Gallegos via ninth round TKO.
[19] Salita remained in contention for a junior welterweight title bout, extending his unbeaten streak to 28, with a unanimous 10-round decision over Grover Wiley at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York in March 2007.
[22] In May 2009, he scored a dominant 10-round shutout victory over Raul "El Toro" Munoz (20–12–1, 15 KOs)[23] in Las Vegas for his 30th win.
[26] Salita made a comeback on September 1, 2010, fighting as a junior middleweight, winning an eight-round unanimous decision over Franklin Gonzalez at the Oceana Hall in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.
[33] Among the boxers Salita promotes are Claressa Shields, Christina Hammer, Jarrell Miller, Otto Wallin, and Nikolai Potapov.