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Thursday, February 26, 2015

Seldin-Garcia Preview

Junior welterweight Cletus Seldin is scheduled to face Johnny Garcia tomorrow night at the Paramount Theater in Seldin's hometown of Huntington, New York. The fight will be the main event on ESPN 2's Friday Night Fights.

Seldin (15-0, 12 KOs) is an aggressive fighter who looks to floor his opponent with overhand rights. He has spent his career honing his ability to set up the devastating punch. His defense is gradually improving, but he's most reckless- and thus vulnerable- early in fights.

Garcia (19-2-1), who is the toughest opponent of Seldin's career, will need to take control of the fight from the outset to have success tomorrow night. Seldin won't allow him time for a feel out round. Against Angelo Santana, Garcia started off trading effectively with the hard-punching southpaw in their 2012 fight, but once Santana hurt him, Garcia's punches lost all technique. Garcia was stopped in the fifth round.

Garcia made a name for himself when he upset undefeated hot prospect Yordenis Ugas in 2012. Ugas was 11-0 at the time. Garcia had also defeated another young undefeated fighter, William Jackson, in 2011. But he hasn't had the same success since the Santana loss. Garcia is 0-1-1 in his last two fights. Garcia lost to John Williams last June. Williams was coming off of a loss to Ugas; Williams had also lost to a 7-31-2 fighter.

In his last fight, Garcia came away with a majority draw against an unheralded Nicaraguan, Moises Solis, in Garcia's hometown of Holland, Michigan. One judge had Garcia losing. All three judges were from Michigan and often oversee fights in Holland. Seldin is coming off of the best win of his career, a ninth round stoppage over veteran Bayan Jargal.

Seldin weighed in at 139.4 pounds, which is very close to the lightest of his career. Garcia weighed in at 139.3, which is the lightest he's been since the Santana fight. The bout is scheduled for ten rounds.

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