Dmitriy Salita wants Caroline Veyre and Danielle Perkins to earn the opportunity to challenge the main event fighters at the top of Most Valuable Promotions’ upcoming card.
On Friday at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York City, unified women’s junior lightweight champion Alycia Baumgardner will face Bo Mi Re Shin in the main event, and women’s unified super middleweight champ Shadasia Green will defend against Lani Daniels in the co-feature.
Salita promotes both Veyre, a women’s junior lightweight belt holder, and Perkins, a women’s light heavyweight titlist. On the eve of MVP’s first card in the United States under its new ESPN deal, Salita is advocating for his fighters to take on the winners of Baumgardner-Shin and Green-Daniels.
“Those are the best fights to make in the division,” Salita said. “Those are the fights that boxing fans will truly care about.”
A major selling point is that Perkins, 6-1 (3 KOs), holds an amateur win over Green in 2017. In February, the 43-year-old Perkins knocked out Che Kenneally to become the WBA light heavyweight titleholder. Perkins’ only loss came one fight earlier, against Claressa Shields last year.
Rather than Perkins, however, Green, 16-1 (11 KOs), has publicly targeted another fighter promoted by Salita – two-time Olympic gold medalist and multi-division titleholder Shields.
“Some of that talk is inconsistent,” Salita said. “We invited [Green] to the fight in which Claressa fought Franchon Crews-Dezurn, she said yes, and then the day of the fight, she canceled. After that, we have had unproductive conversations about that fight.”
Veyre, 11-1, won the WBC junior lightweight title in February after Baumgardner vacated the belt in September. The 37-year-old Veyre defeated Delfine Persoon in a foul-riddled fight, claiming the vacant belt. Baumgardner is a popular figure in boxing, from her in-ring performances to her achievements to her following on social media. Every Baumgardner fight at this point features intrigue based on her star power.
“For women’s boxing to keep elevating and have the interest of boxing fans, the best have to fight the best,” Salita said. “Caroline is a legitimate world champion who proved it against a very experienced opponent in Delfine Persoon.”
Whether it is Veyre potentially fighting Baumgardner in an undisputed title fight, if Baumgardner is successful, or Perkins facing Green, if she were to win, Salita hopes to push for the fights with titleholders against top-rated fighters.
“We want to make the biggest and best fights in women’s boxing,” Salita said, “and we’re actively pushing to make them happen.”
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
