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Monday, October 4, 2021

Seldin to Fight Silva on October 16

According to multiple sources, Cletus Seldin is scheduled to fight William Silva at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, USA on October 16. This bout replaces the long-delayed Teofimo Lopez-George Kambosos clash that has been plagued by countless date changes. Seldon-Silva is a competitive matchup on paper.

Cletus Seldin, a 35 year old New Yorker, sports an impressive 25-1 record with 21 KOs. When the 16th rolls around, it will be nearly 20 months since the "Hebrew Hammer" last entered the ring. Seldin had a fight scheduled last month, but it was canceled the previous day when his opponent Victor Vazquez failed the physical.

William Silva (28-3, 16 KOs) is a 34 year old from Sao Paolo, Brazil. Silva lacks a signature win, but his three losses all came against world class competition. In 2016, Felix Verdejo won a wide unanimous decision over Silva utilizing his superior hand speed. Verdejo, a 2012 Olympians with a bright future, has since lost twice as the A-side and now stands accused of murdering his pregnant mistress.

Things are going better for Silva's next conqueror. The aforementioned Teofimo Lopez is an undefeated top ten pound-for-pound fighter and the Transnational Boxing Rankings champion at lightweight. In 2018, Lopez battered the tough Silva for six rounds flooring him three times. In 2019, Arnold Barboza put Silva down for the count with a right to the body in the fifth. The Transnational Boxing Rankings lists Barboza as the number five challenger at junior welterweight.

Silva's best win might be against Fernando Ferreira da Silva whose claim to fame is he fell to a young Jeff Horn. William has beaten other guys with good records, but they were on the road to the becoming journeymen. The "Baby Face" Brazilian is 22-0 in his home country and 6-3 in the U.S. and its territories.

Silva prefers to box. He's a good counterpuncher and a quality punch-picker. But as most fighters who counter and pick their punches well, the Brazilian doesn't throw too many combinations. Seldon's lone loss was to Yves Ulysse, a skilled boxer., but Silva doesn't move nearly as well as the Canadian Ulysse, and the Brazilian's hand speed is slow for world level. Silva is tough, but he can be hit and he will go down as the fights against Lopez and Barboza showed. Cletus is a puncher. His best attribute as a fighter is his concussive overhand right.

At 6'1", Silva is tall for the 140 pound weight class, but he'll the smaller man in this fight. Silva has fought most of his career as a lightweight while the 5'8" Seldon started as a welterweight. Seldon and Silva share two common opponents.  In 2015, Silva KOed Bayan Jargal in the third round and Adam Mate in the fifth; Seldon fought Jargal twice in 2014. An accidental butt caused a no contest and then Seldon won the rematch by TKO in the ninth. Seldon stopped Mate 48 seconds into their fight in 2019.

This junior welterweight contest is slated for ten rounds.

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