Cletus Seldin destroys Adam Mate

By Jeff Aranow

Boxingnews24.com

Light welterweight Cletus ‘The Hebrew Hammer’ Seldin (23-1, 19 KOs) destroyed Hungarian journeyman Adam Mate (28-14, 21 KOs) by a first round knockout last Saturday night in a scheduled 10 round fight at the Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville, CT. Sporting purple hair, Seldin, 28, knocked Mate down twice with big right hands before the bout was waived off.

Following the second knockdown, the referee stopped the fight. The official time the contest was halted was at 0:44 of round one.

The hard hitting 5’7″ Seldin immediately went after Mate the opening bell, rushing across the ring and tagging him with hard right hands to the head. Mate first went to the left, and then to the right, and was dropped by Seldin after getting hit by a chopping right hand to the head. Mate was clearly very hurt, as it took him a while to get up off his hands and knees. When the action resumed, Mate darted to his left, and was trapped in the corner by Seldin, who unloaded on him with several hard shots to the head and body.

Moments later, Seldin connected with another chopping right hand that knocked Mate flat. This time the referee had no choice but to step in and call off the fight, due to Mate being too badly hurt to continue. The finishing punch from Seldin was a right hand that appeared to hook around to the back of Mate’s head. However, it wouldn’t have mattered if the referee had waived off the knockdown and given Mate time to recover from the shot to the back of his head. He was going to get knocked out anyway. He was not in the same league as Seldin, and he lacked the defensive skills, mobility and punching power to keep him off of him.

The victory for Seldin was his second consecutive victory since his embarrassingly one-sided 10 round unanimous decision loss to Yves Ulysse Jr. (17-1, 9 KOs) in December 2017. Seldin was totally outclassed by the much faster and arguably more talented Ulysse Jr. in that fight. Since losing that contest, Seldin has looked great in beating journeymen Nelson Lara (17-11-4, 9 KOs) and Mate by first round knockouts. Seldin can beat this level of opposition every time, but what’s unclear is if he can handle a level above those fighters. Ulysse Jr. is a good fighter, but he’s not one of the major players at 140 or even close to that. The way that Seldin was beaten by Ulysse Jr. seems to suggest that he wouldn’t do well if he was put in with the major talents at light welterweight like Regis Prograis, Ivan Baranchyk, Jose Ramirez, Maurice Hooker, Kiryl Relikh and Josh Taylor.

“I am happy to be back. I have now had 2 fights since coming back from the Tommy John surgery I had last year and i feel like it’s back to normal,” Seldin said. “I can’t wait to get back in the ring again…I am ready for the top guys in my division.”

Seldin would do well if he could avenge his loss to the 30-year-old Ulysse, but that might be asking for a little too much. The speed difference between the two fighters was significant. A rematch between them would likely play out in the same way as the first match. Seldin is a good fighter, but he might not be able to get to be able to handle the next level guys. Ulysse is a mid-level fighter, and he had Seldin looking like he had two left feet in that contest. The type of fighter that Seldin would have a chance of beating are guys like Relikh and Baranchyk, if he could handle their punching power. Those type of slugger would stand in front of Seldin and make it a war. That’s a style that Seldin thrives with.