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Saturday, October 29, 2011

Salita Signs to Fight El Massoudi, Hatton Objects

According to an article by Ian Aldous for Boxing News 24, Dmitriy Salita (33-1-1, 17 KOs) has signed a contract to fight Ismael El Massoudi (36-3, 14 KOs), who holds an interim world title strap.

However, Matthew Hatton has attempted to usurp Salita by negotiating directly with El Massoudi. Salita has formally objected to the actions of Hatton and Hatton Promotions.

El Massoudi, who is from Morocco, defeated Souleymane M'baye this past July for the interim belt when M'baye's knee gave out with under a minute left in the contest. Salita's last fight was an eight round decision over Ronnie Warrior in April.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Salita Receives Praise from Ashley Theophane

Ashley Theophane, a British-based boxer, is the current British junior welterweight champion and keeps a blog that includes updates on his progress in training camp and acute political observations.

Theophane often travels to the U.S. for training. He has also made a habit of praising his friend and sparring partner, Dmitriy Salita. This latest training session has been no exception.

Theophane is now preparing for a fight in December against Nigel Wright. Mentioning his recent sparring with Salita in preparation for that contest, Theophane writes, "Dmitriy is unfortunately best known for his terrible showing against Amir Khan in Britain, but he is so much better than what he showed that night."

In the U.S., Theophane (30-4-1, 8 KOs), who has also sparred with Yuri Foreman, is best known for an impressive- though disputed- decision victory over Delvin Rodriguez on July 30, 2010, a bout shown on ESPN 2's Friday Night Fights. To bring things full circle, Rodriguez fought Pawel Wolak to a draw in a Fight of the Year candidate on Friday Night Fights this past summer; Wolak bested Foreman last March.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Cletus Seldin vs. Jose Segura Torres

October 22, 2011
WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden
New York, New York



Seldin: purple trunks with white trim
Torres: red trunks with black trim

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Seldin Wins By TKO

Cletus Seldin advanced to 4-0 by scoring the second knockout of his career last night at MSG's WaMu Theater in New York, New York. Seldin officially knocked down his opponent, Jose Segura Torres, twice.

In the first, Seldin seemed to knock Torres down within a minute of the beginning of the fight, but it was ruled a push. Torres's nose became bloodied in that same round. Seldin's aggression controlled the contest from the outset and in the second round Torres was put down twice.

The final blow was a vicious left hook thrown by Seldin that put Torres flat on the canvas. Referee Eddie Claudio called a halt to the bout at the 2:52 mark of the second round. Torres fell to 1-3-1 (according to BoxRec) with the loss.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Seldin to Fight in MSG Tomorrow

Welterweight prospect Cletus Seldin is set to fight in the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York tomorrow night. Seldin, who turned 25 last month, has won all three of his professional fights. He scored a KO in his debut this past July. His last bout was a month ago, a slim unanimous decision over Clarence Booth.

Seldin's opponent is scheduled to be Jose Segura Torres. Torres, 31, is 1-2-1. The Florida native last fought in April, a four round majority draw.

Seldin weighed in at 146.5 pounds with Torres tipped the scales at 146.25 lbs. The scheduled four rounder is on the undercard of the HBO-televised Nonito Donaire-Omar Narvaez bout.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

A Look Back: Harry Harris

In an effort to link the past with the present, The Jewish Boxing Blog will present monthly a short biography of notable former Jewish boxers.

Harry "The Human Hairpin" Harris became the first Jewish world champion under the Marquis of Queensbury rules when the slender pugilist took the bantamweight crown on March 18, 1901.

Harry Harris was born in Chicago, Illinois on November 18, 1880. His twin brother Sammy popped out on the same day. The brothers were given their first pair of boxing gloves as a Chanukah present. Harry was artistic and attended drawing school. A boxing gym stood next to the drawing school and Harry decided to give it a try. There he met welterweight legend Charles Kid McCoy, who taught the skinny lad his famous corkscrew punch.

Harry turned pro at the age of 15. Standing nearly 5'8", he weighed 96 pounds and fought in the bantamweight division which had a limit of 116. Harry lacked muscle, but was shifty and able to utilize his unusually pronounced height for his weight. Harris was 7-0 on December 14, 1897 when his brother Sammy, who had also become a professional boxer, came up sick. Harry took his twin's place and fought John Whitecraft and knocked him out in three. When asked if Whitecraft wanted to fight Harry's brother, he replied, "One meeting with the Harris family is enough for me."

Harris, also nicknamed the Stringbean Kid, notched a key victory over the tough Charles Roden by way of ninth round TKO, after Roden suffered a broken jaw, on November 22, 1898 in New York. In 1899, Harris suffered the first of his two career losses, a six-round decision loss to Steve Flanagan. During the summer, Harris beat a Chicago Jewish star in Sig Hart twice. That same year he drew with the undefeated former bantamweight champion Jimmy Barry in a six round bout. Even Barry admitted he had lost the fight at retired afterward.

In 1900, Terrible Terry McGovern vacated his world batamweight crown and Harry held a claim. But so did the British champ Harry Ware. Harris prepared to travel to London in order to battle Ware, but Ware backed out. Instead, Harris fought Pedlar Palmer on March 18, 1901 in London for the bantamweight championship of the world.

Sammy, Harry's twin, died the day before the fight. But the Human Hairpin was not told until just prior to the start of the contest. No one would have blamed him if he had forfeited his chance at the title. But he courageously decided to fight on.

Harry beat the light-punching boxer from Britain in the latter's hometown by decision in 15 rounds to capture the crown and thus becoming the first Jewish boxing champion of the twentieth century. His reign didn't last long as the lanky lad had grown into his height and could no longer make it under the bantamweight limit afterwards.

Harris rose from a knockdown against eventually bantamweight champion Danny Doughery in 1902 to pull off a six-round newspaper decision before retiring. Harris made a brief comeback in 1905 and fought for the final time in 1907.

Harry Harris died on June 5, 1959. He became a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2002.

Bibliography
Blady, Ken. The Jewish Boxers Hall of Fame. 1988.
Riess, Stephen A. Sports and the American Jew. 1998.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Frenkel Suffering from Burnout

Numerous sources are reporting that cruiserweight Alexander Frenkel is suffering from burnout, in addition to an injured hand, which goes towards explaining why Frenkel has been absent from the ring for over a year.

Chris Meyer, who works with Frenkel, told the media, "We noticed even at training he wasn't really into it." Frenkel won the European title in September of 2010 in impressive fashion. Most thought he would challenge for a world title this year. "Everyone deals with [pressure] differently. Some drive fast cars; others go after beautiful women. Alexander is rather more the type to worry a lot about it."

Frenkel (23-0, 18 KOs) intends to take at least the rest of the year off. If Frenkel is able to rediscover his love of boxing, he could fight as soon as early 2012.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Frenkel Injured, Vacates Belt

According to (you guessed it) Per Ake Persson of BoxingScene.com, Alexander Frenkel is injured and will not be able to fight Enad Licina on October 22. As a result, Frenkel (23-0, 18 KOs) will be forced to vacate his European cruiserweight title. Licina is scheduled to battle Alexander Alexeev for the vacant belt.

Since knocking out Enzo Maccarinelli in September of 2010, Frenkel hasn't fought in the ring. He's been scheduled to do so several times since, but nothing has materialized. The German-based Ukrainian was set to fight in February, but suffered an injury. He was going to face Silvio Branco in June, and then July, but Branco eventually backed out. Now the Licina fight has dissolved as Frenkel enters his thirteenth month of inactivity.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Melson Adds Another Win

In a match in which both fighters came in just over the junior middleweight limit, Boyd Melson controlled his opponent Russ Niggemyer on route to an easy unanimous decision in their six round bout tonight at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

A southpaw, Melson used his lead hand in cruising to the win on the scorecards. The judges had the fight 60-53, 60-54, 59-55. Melson raised his mark to 6-0 with three KOs. Niggemyer, a 30 year old from Ohio, fell to 2-4 with two KOs.

Melson, who has donated each of his six pro boxing purses to spinal cord injury research, received some publicity on The Ring's website this past week.