ATLANTIC CITY — It was 22 1/2 hours until the start of the biggest event of Dmitriy Salita’s career as a boxing promoter, the homestretch when he needed to make sure all of the kinks were ironed out: contracts, tickets, paychecks. But he turned his cellphone off, watching the time carefully. In a 15th-floor hotel room with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the brightly lit Ferris wheel on Atlantic City’s boardwalk, he bowed his head and flipped through a thick, pocket-size book, whispering to himself and pacing back and forth in prayer. He then sat in a chair with a plate of food and settled in for the next 24 hours when he essentially would be walled off from any involvement in a production that could vault — or set back — his budding promotional career. Salita, a 37-year-old former welterweight, is the rare Orthodox Jew in big-time boxing who observes the Sabbath.

Source: New York Times April 15, 2019 11:02 UTC