It was a warm seventy degrees Sunday on the Brighton Beach boardwalk, where white tents extended from the façade of Tatiana’s restaurant. Inside, Igor Maltsev of Transport Workers Union Local 100, in a tuxedo and red bowtie, prepared for a Russian-American Heritage Day celebration.  A restaurant employee explained to Bill Caplan, of Golden Boy Promotions, and Javan “Sugar” Hill, of Detroit’s Kronk Gym, that they were in the wrong place.

The press conference for their client, the Ukraine-born, Flatbush-raised boxer Dmitriy Salita, was being held at Tatiana’s Grill Café, approximately twenty yards down the boardwalk.

There, families dined on herring and borscht under a sea-blue awning. In front, a man kneeled before a round table with a roll of Scotch tape and a box of posters promoting this Saturday’s fight between Danny Garcia and Erik Morales, who would headline the first night of boxing at the Barclays Center. Another table supported a Sony mini-disc player, a microphone, a mixer and a speaker playing what sounded like Israeli pop music. Mr. Caplan danced with a sixty-ish man whose blue t-shirt read “Sweet Science” in mock-Hebraic font. On the back was the name “Salita” in all-caps, with a six-pointed star over the i. Read More