Preview of Cletus Seldin vs. Jose Angulo

Cletus Seldin is scheduled to fight Jose Angulo on March 15 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York, USA. The card is being promoted by Tom Loeffler's 360 Promotions.

Seldin is a 37 year old puncher whose record is 27-1 with 23 knockouts. His best win might be an eleventh round knockout victory over Zab Judah to capture the NABA junior welterweight title back in 2019. Seldin then fought only twice over the next four years. This will be the Hebrew Hammer's second fight in five months, a welcomed increase in activity. In October, he knocked out Patrick Okine in a slugfest.

A 27 year old with a record of 16-7 (9 KOs), Jose Angulo is the junior welterweight champion of Ecuador. He is 16-0 in his home country and 0-7 in the United States, including the territory of Puerto Rico. In Ecuador, he has only faced three winning opponents and those three combined for a mediocre 18-12-3 record. In the United States, his opponents were a combined 75-4-1 when Angulo faced them (not including Seldin). Angulo fought twice on ShoBox, home to top prospects through the years. Some of his other losses were to former world champion Alberto Machado and two well-regarded prospects Ernesto Merchado and Cain Sandoval.

Because of his uneven record, it's hard to rate Angulo. Perhaps his most enlightening fight came on ShoBox against Alejandro Guerrero, who was 11-0 when they fought in 2020. Angulo was competitive and lost by majority decision. Guerrero has since lost four straight.

Angulo has the tools to beat Cletus Seldin. Jose is athletic with quick feet. He has the ability to box and move, a style which could negate Seldin's power. The problem for Angulo is he never boxes and moves for more than a few brief moments at a time. Instead, he tends to stand in punching range with his left low and throw hard two and three punch combinations. Angulo falls into lulls too often and just covers up. He almost never tries to counter his opponent's attack, and his jab doesn't serve much purpose.

Jose Angulo is from the coastal town of Guayaquil and has fought many times in Ecuador's mountainous capital city of Quito, so he's likely endured the ten-hour bus ride down the ten thousand-foot Andean mountain range. That means he oozes courage. The Ecuadorian has a decent chin, but his punch resistance has been known to fade significantly throughout fights, resulting in four stoppage losses. He withstood many clean shots from Guerrero, but Alberto Machado beat him down by the eighth.

If Angulo can stick and move all fight, he's got a chance to nick a decision, but his low left, lack of counter punching, and willingness to cover up when receiving incoming fire all formulate a recipe for a Cletus Seldin knockout victory.

This bout is scheduled for eight rounds, but if Angulo doesn't box, look for it to end in the fourth or fifth.