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Home » A year on from Covid and sleeping on the floor, Cletus Seldin wins big

A year on from Covid and sleeping on the floor, Cletus Seldin wins big

After 558 days, boxing returned to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn via “Trillerverz III” last night as CLETUS “THE HEBREW HAMMER” SELDIN (now 26-1, 22KO’s) successfully defended his NABA super lightweight title over WILLIAM “BABY FACE” SILVA (now 28-4 16KO’s) by a vicious 7th round KO. The knockout punch may well be the KO of the year.

The opening rounds saw a patient Seldin, stalking down Silva, who wisely did his best not to find himself in front of the man dubbed the “Hebrew Hammer.” Seldin, working behind a ‘changing levels’ jab, began to close the distance quickly and landed his first big punch in the 4th round. Silva took it well, but the more Seldin closed the distance the more dangerous he became.

Late in the 5th and 6th round, Seldin would buzz Silva who was on unsteady legs, but the crafty veteran would survive the round. 27 seconds into the 7th, Seldin delivered two picture perfect right hands on the button causing Silva to crumble on the canvas. With no chance of of beating the count, Silva remained on the canvas for a scary two minutes, before he thankfully was able to get up and sit on his stool. The knockout was Seldin’s second NABA title defense since winning the title against 5x former World Champ Zab Judah.

“This was the hardest training in my life” said Seldin. “Just a year ago I was sleeping on the floor, dealing with covid and three fight cancellations. I am 100% giving myself an A+ on this, for all the hard work and mental determination I had to get here.”

In the ten-round super lightweight battle, Brooklyn’s PETROS ANANYAN, (now 16-2-2, 7 KOs), won a majority decision over DANNY “EL GALLO” GONZALEZ, (now 20-3-1, 7 KOs), of Woodhaven, NY in an gritty, back and forth bloody war that thrilled fans. Scores were 95-95 and 96-94 twice for Ananyan.

Gonzalez got off to a slow start as Ananyan took advantage. In the middle rounds, Gonzalez found his footing and began to step on the gas. In the 4th-round Gonzalez was cut badly over the left eye. While managing the first cut, just a round later Gonzalez was cut once more on the right eye and blood began pouring down is face, on the ref and in the ring.

Fighting off the blood and gruesome nature of the fight, going into the final two rounds, the fight was hanging in the balance. Ananyan was able to clinch the final round over Gonzalez, who valiantly stayed on his feet in the final minute of the fight after taking a barrage of punches. The performance saw Gonzalez’ stock rise in spite of the narrow loss.

CEO of Star Boxing, JOE DEGUARDIA had this to say, “What an entertaining night of fights in Brooklyn. Cletus Seldin has now positioned himself for some major opportunities at 140 lbs. with a sensational knockout over a crafty veteran in William Silva. Danny Gonzalez left his all in the ring, and all of us at Star Boxing are proud of his effort. Congratulations to Triller, Barclays Center and everyone involved on a great event!”

TrillerVerz III was promoted by Triller Fight Club, DiBella Entertainment and Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing.