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Saturday, November 17, 2018

Seldin KOs Opponent in Comeback Fight

Cletus Seldin stopped his opponent in 26 seconds of the first round last night. This was his first fight since suffering his first defeat last December. Seldin landed an overhand right before digging to the body with a left hook that sent Nelson Lara to the canvas clutching his right side as he writhed in pain.

Seldin's career was at its zenith after stopping Roberto Ortiz (35-1-2 at the time) in the third round of an HBO showcase fight on November 16, 2017. Just one month later Seldin received a boxing clinic from Yves Ulysse as the Hebrew Hammer was made to look silly in his second HBO appearance. Seldin's career momentum seemed to completely dissipate after the loss.

HBO's lead commentator Jim Lampley, immediately wrote off Seldin, declaring, "I don't believe we'll see Cletus Seldin on HBO again." The comment is now apparently prescient, but only because HBO is halting its live boxing coverage at the end of the year.

A deeper look into Seldin's loss reveals that Yves Ulysse is an underrated master-boxer. His lone loss came last year against Steve Claggett- a split decision- but there really is no way any reasonable judge could have scored the fight for Claggett. Ulysses landed many more flush punches against the tough Canadian. That loss seemed to unfairly transform him from a hot prospect into an opponent.

Ulysse walked down and eventually made Zachary Ochoa, an undefeated prospect at the time of their clash, run for survival in a fight last year. It didn't prevent the inevitable stoppage victory for Yves. Ulysse has now dominated three undefeated fighters with at least 16 victories after a near shutout win over Ernesto Espana this past June.

Seldin looked foolish last December complaining that Ulysse was running even as Seldin hit the canvas three times, but it's a defeat that won't look as bad as Ulysse continues to rise up the ranks and if Seldin can learn from his mistakes.

Seldin is now 22-1 with 18 KOs after finishing Nelson Lara in less than thirty seconds. Lara is now 17-11-4 with 9 KOs.

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