Junior welterweight contender Michel Rivera signs with Salita Promotions
As one door closed, another opened for Michel Rivera.
Promoter Dmitriy Salita signed Rivera to a promotional deal, Salita confirmed to The Ring over the weekend.
“Michel is one of the best fighters in the world, in a division that is one of the most exciting in all of boxing,” Salita told The Ring. “Michel has expressed interest and determination in challenging the best and that will be our goal. (The) division’s best in (WBC world junior welterweight titleholder Devin) Haney, (Ryan) Garcia, (IBF world junior welterweight titleholder Subriel) Matias are aligned with DAZN, so those fights are ones we are looking to make.”
Salita recently signed a deal to have his fight cards streamed live on DAZN. After the series debut of the ‘Big Time Boxing USA’ on February 20, the next card will take place on March 28 at the Wayne State FieldHouse in Detroit, Michigan. Rivera will likely return to action on one of those cards this Spring.
Rivera (25-1, 14 knockouts), who is originally from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and now resides in Miami, Florida, last fought on November 25, defeating former world junior welterweight titleholder Sergey Lipinets by unanimous decision.
In his previous fight in December 2022, Rivera lost by unanimous decision to Frank Martin in a clash of unbeaten lightweights. The loss to Martin would be his last fight at 135 pounds.
The 26-year-old fought a majority of his career under the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) banner. Most of Rivera’s fights air on Showtime programming, accumulating victories against contenders Ladarius Miller, Jon Fernandez, Jose Matias Romero, and Joseph Adorno.
Salita believes Rivera is now fighting at his best at 140 pounds and the best is yet to come.
“He struggled to make lightweight,” said Salita. “In his first fight at junior welterweight, he had a career-best win against Sergey Lipinets, who is a former world champion and was, until recently, a force in the division.”
Prior to signing a deal with Salita, Rivera was promoted by Sampson Lewkowicz.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at santio89@yahoo.com
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