NEW YORK (AP) - Undefeated Dmitriy Salita stopped Shawn Gallegos at 2:37 of the ninth round of a scheduled 10-round fight at the Hammerstein Ballroom on Thursday night to win the NABA junior welterweight title.

Salita, of Brooklyn, N.Y., weighed 139 1/4 pounds and boosted his record to 23-0 with 14 knockouts. He totally outpunched and outpointed Gallegos, 137 1/4 of Las Vegas, who was knocked down earlier in the ninth round. The loss was his second in 17 fights.

In a scheduled 10-round junior middleweight fight, Sechew Powell improved his record to 17-0 when he stopped Santiago Samaniego at 36 seconds of third round.

Powell, 156 of New York, used a left-right combination to send Samaniego to the canvas for the third time in as many rounds and register his 11th knockout. Samaniego, 159 1/4 of Miami, fell to 36-10-1.

In an eight-round junior welterweight fight, Pawlie Malignaggi, making his first start in a year after breaking seven bones in his right hand, remained unbeaten with a unanimous decision over Jeremy Yelton.

Malignaggi, 140 of Brooklyn, improved to 20-0, while Yelton, 139 1/2 of Charleston, S.C., dropped to 17-2.