What is Triller?

Triller is a video-sharing app akin to Tik Tok that has recently tried its hand at boxing promotion. When it first burst onto the boxing scene, it appeared a welcomed addition to fans and fighters alike. But, as Saturday's event featuring Cletus Seldin and Super Cat shows, its foray into the fight game is at a crossroads.

After promoting an exhibition match between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones last November, the company made headlines when it won a purse bid to promote a sanctioned fight between Teofimo Lopez and his mandatory challenger George Kambosos. They threw money at the fighters, a good thing for boxing. The fight was scheduled for June 19 and the estimable Jim Lampley was brought back from retirement to call the blow-by-blow action. Triller looked like the real deal.

Lopez contracted covid-19 the week of the fight and the promotion was postponed until August. And then to October 4. And then to October 16. And then Triller lost Lopez-Kambosos and its million dollar deposit. In the meantime, Triller promoted Oscar De La Hoya's comeback fight against Vitor Belfort. But, he also contracted covid-19 in the run-up and was replaced by the Real Deal, Evander Holyfield.

Holyfield, 58 years old, should not have been allowed to fight on September 11, 2021. Belfort, a 43 year old MMA fighter, dominated the retired champ in a match that lasted under three minutes. The presence of former President Donald Trump, who hosted the event with his son, was just another peculiarity of the circus.

Last Saturday's show was a bizarre mix of elements. The headliner on the boxing side was Cletus Seldin, who brought along his "Hamma Heads." Seldin describes himself as a throwback fighter. He is a link to an era when ethnic rivalries fueled the sport. He appeals to Long Islanders, Jews, and Long Island Jews.

The announcers, with the exception of respect-worthy boxer Gabe Rosado, were like a 58 year old Evander Holyfield entering a boxing ring with gloves wrapped around his hands, a total disaster. Ray Flores is a decent blow-by-blow announcer on Fox. He sometimes tightropes along the upper regions of his vocabulary and he can be a bit wordy, but he seems to know and enjoy boxing. His performance on Triller was just embarrassing.

His cursing was unprofessional and forced. At various times, he claimed he needed to "smoke a J" to calm down or grab a drink because it was all too exciting. And he practically begged the audience to believe we were watching four consecutive Hagler-Hearns reincarnations. An important point for new promotional companies: When your announcers have to constantly convince the audience how good your product is, maybe it's not that good. Let your product do the promoting.

Flores also made the unpardonable sin of chronicling the great history of Jewish boxers by recalling, "Dmitriy Salita, Yuri Foreman, and Max Baer." Much love to Dmitriy and Yuri, but if you asked them, they'd certainly start the conversation with Benny Leonard and Barney Ross. Baer's relationship to Judaism is, well, complicated.

Flores's partner, "Crimefaces," performed the age old routine of the huckster: say nothing forcefully enough that it sounds like something. In a thick Brooklyn accent, Crimefaces didn't add to the discussion in the least. The unofficial judge, Sean Wheelock, screams about how many judging trainings he's attended and then misses badly with his assessments. In a hard to believe score, he had Seldin winning the first four rounds and losing the fifth on Saturday night. The JBB disagreed with his scoring on four of those five rounds.

The announcing was theoretically designed to appeal to younger male viewers, the coveted 18-29 demographic. Awkward cursing, a Brooklyn accent, and a loud but incompetent unofficial judge is probably not the best strategy.

After boxing came a concert featuring 58 year old reggae star Super Cat and 52 year old hip hop emcee Wyclef Jean, because there's no better way to attract Long Island Jews or 18-29 year old males than Super Cat and Wyclef. The following evening's part of the two-night Triller bonanza featured a rap battle between legendary emcees Big Daddy Kane and KRS-ONE, who began their hip hop careers in the 1980s. And while Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone, good marketing sense, apparently, doesn't.

It all begs the question: What is Triller? And to whom does it appeal? The editor of The JBB is a Jew, a boxing aficionado, and a fan of those hip hop pioneers, but I finished watching Saturday night disgusted by the embarrassing announcers (again, except for Rosado, who was a bright light in the abyss). As a boxing promoter, it's safe to say, Triller has yet to figure it out.

"It looks so easy," Bob Arum, who has promoted fights for over fifty years, recently told Elie Seckbach. "You put up the money, you pay the fighters, it's a ring. It's not rocket science. And yet, unless you know what you're doing and you're very careful, you're going to blow your brains out."

Perhaps someone should take away Triller's gun before it's too late.

Seldin Scores Stoppage in Seventh after Slow Start

Cletus "Hebrew Hammer" Seldin knocked out William "Baby Face" Silva in the seventh round of their fight tonight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, USA. Seldin struggled to catch Silva in the first three rounds before he turned the fight in his favor in the fourth.

After a slow feel-out first round, the taller Silva used his five-inch reach advantage to great effect. Silva spent much of the opening round running for two reasons. He wanted to avoid eating an early overhand right while he was still a bit cold, and he wanted to see how Cletus would react to his movement. Seldin chased in the first, failing to cut off the ring.

Silva's movement in the next round had a different purpose. Having evaluated Seldin's attack in the first, Silva lured him in during the second. Seldin came straight in, which allowed Silva to pick off the Hammer as he charged forward. Silva then smoothly turned out of harm's way and reeled in Cletus once again. That second stanza must have given the "Hamma Heads," Seldin's rowdy followers, nightmarish flashbacks to his fight with Yves Ulysse in 2017. In that contest, Ulysse outboxed Cletus, scoring three knockdowns while Seldin chased in vain, becoming increasingly frustrated.

The third round wasn't much better for Cletus. Silva's feet slowed just a bit, but Seldin was still out of range. The Brazilian punctuated his boxing clinic with a hard right hand at the end of the third.

The situation looked dire for the New Yorker heading into the fourth. Silva started the round by lifting up Seldin, showing his dominance. It turned out to be his last gasp. Cletus, in his customary purple trunks with silver trim, decided to absorb a few punches for the opportunity to get inside and maul Silva. It worked and by the end of the three minutes, Seldin had smashed Silva with two hard straight rights. He had finally found his range.

Most of the fifth was sandwiched between two Seldin Specials- the overhand right. Silva still connected as Cletus came towards him, but those shots were like a cool breeze; Seldin surely felt them, but they didn't change his plans.

In the sixth, Cletus Seldin showed an ability to adjust on the fly that few felt he possessed. His objective for much of the round was just to touch Silva. Stick a jab in his face. Let him know he could be reached with the right. Seldin had switched southpaw a couple of times already, but in the sixth the switch seemed to throw Silva off his game. After the ten second warning, Cletus unleashed a right that wobbled Silva. It was a masterful display that set up what was to come.

The bell rang to open what would be the fateful round. Seldin jabbed, and then landed his signature punch. The overhand right crunched Silva's face. William's eyes rolled backwards. But he hadn't yet fallen, so Cletus launched another rocket. This one ended the night. Silva laid on the canvas with no hope of beating the count. Twenty four seconds into the seventh, the 35 year old Seldin achieved perhaps the biggest win of his career.

"I wanted to wreck everything, but I had to be patient," Cletus acknowledged after the fight, his first in nearly twenty months. His 26th win and 22nd KO against one defeat were for his late Uncle Frankie who passed not long before the fight. Silva tumbles to 28-4 with 16 KOs.

Cletus Seldin Makes Weight

Junior welterweight Cletus Seldin made weight ahead of his clash tomorrow against William Silva at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, USA. Seldin came in at 139.4 pounds. Silva weighed in at 139. Those weights are par for the course for both men compared to their recent fights.

Seldin, nicknamed the “Hebrew Hammer,” was an athlete in high school but didn’t start boxing until he was 22 years old. While makes the rounds with the media in the build up to this fight, Seldin often told a hilarious story about walking into a boxing gym for the first time.

It was a tough gym, and Cletus noticed a bucket of used mouthpieces. He thought to himself, “What is going on here?” Then he saw guys reaching in and just grabbing a random mouthpiece, sliding it in, and biting down. “It was wild!” Cletus recalled.

Silva, a 34 year old native of Brazil, holds a significant height advantage over the 35 year old New Yorker. But Seldin is much stronger. Here is The JBB’s preview of the scheduled ten round affair. The fight will be shown on Fite TV and promoted by Triller.

Alaverdian Earns Stoppage Victory

Flyweight David Alaverdian earned a stoppage victory tonight over Jesús "Gallito" Bojorquez at Auditorio Benito Juárez in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico. Alaverdian landed a body shot that floored Bojorquez in the second round.

David showcased his footwork and ability to create angles. In the second, Bojorquez missed a wild swinging right, and Alaverdian landed a right uppercut counter from the orthodox stance. A few seconds later, Alaverdian pushed Bojorquez to the ropes, switched to southpaw, and landed a left to the body that generated an audible groan from the crowd as Gallito plummeted to the canvas. Bojorquez rose before the count of ten, but the referee waved off the bout. Alaverdian is now 5-0 with 4 KOs. Bojorquez falls to 0-2-1 and has been stopped twice.

Most prospects are fighting either professional novices or journeymen in their fifth and sixth professional fights. At 28 years old and with his advanced skill level, Alaverdian wants to move up the ranks at a faster pace. All five of his fights have been in Mexico, but he hopes to fight in the U.S.

It’s complicated, though.

"People don't want to fight me because of my amateur experience," David told The Jewish Boxing Blog. Not only are potential opponents intimidated by the Israeli's amateur success, but his Instagram account, filled with impressive clips of him working with Floyd Mayweather Sr. and schooling amateur foes, might frighten them further.

Other 112-115 pounders, worried about the risk Alaverdian presents, price themselves out. “They want money that no one will give them,” David explains.

Covid-related restrictions on travel to the U.S. have limited the pool of prospective opponents. According to BoxRec, there are only a combined total of 50 American boxers in the flyweight and super flyweight divisions. In Mexico, the number is five times higher, so it’s much easier to find an opponent at the lighter weights there.

Though Alaverdian craves tougher opponents, he may need to be patient. Even Manny Pacquiao, a 15-1 flyweight in 1996, fought a fighter with a record of 1-2-1. Pacquiao won by way of second round stoppage.