Cletus Seldin to return on Jan. 26

Badlefthook.com

“The Hebrew Hammer” Cletus Seldin, a popular New York battler, will return to the ring on Jan. 26 in Uncasville, Conn., headlining a Star Boxing card against Hungary’s Adam Mate.

Seldin (22-1, 18 KO) is really a club brawler with a lot of ambition, but he’s a fun fighter to watch against the right level of opposition. He wound up getting a couple of HBO fights in late 2017, first storming his way through Roberto Garcia in November before returning a month later against Yves Ulysse Jr.

The win over Garcia positioned Seldin for a possible breakout, but his limitations were badly exposed in the fight with Ulysse, who put him down three times and pretty much shut him out over 10 rounds, winning a wide decision. Seldin took 11 months off after that due to an elbow injury, and returned on Nov. 16 with a first round KO win over Nelson Lara in Oklahoma City.

But boxing will never not have a need for fun regional draws, and Seldin is absolutely one of those, with the heart and guts to try again if a bigger opportunity does present itself later. The outcome probably wouldn’t change, but at least we know he’d try.

Mate (28-13, 21 KO) is coming off of a second round knockout loss to the comebacking Robert Guerrero on Dec. 1, and has been stopped 10 times in his career overall, nine of those coming in the opening two rounds of a fight.