Cletus Seldin, Roberto Ortiz to meet in junior welterweight bout Nov. 11
Seldin and Ortiz, who will square off in a scheduled 10-round bout, will open what is now an HBO tripleheader (10 p.m. ET/PT) at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale on New York's Long Island.
The card is headlined by former middleweight titlist Daniel Jacobs taking on Luis Arias in the first fight of Jacobs' new deal with the network and Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, with heavyweights Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller and Mariusz Wach meeting in the co-feature.Nicknamed the Hebrew Hammer, Seldin (20-0, 16 KOs), 31, of Brooklyn, New York, is taking a big step up in opposition after thriving on Star Boxing promoter Joe DeGuardia's club show series at the Paramount in Huntington, New York. Seldin hopes the fight is the beginning of big things for him.
"I'm absolutely ecstatic to fight for the first time on HBO and represent Star Boxing at the Coliseum," Seldin said "I see this as the second start to my career. This is a great opportunity, and now that I have it, there's no turning back. I'm here to stay -- bigger fights, bigger venues and on HBO. I just fought recently [Sept. 28], but as soon as they called about this fight, I jumped at it. I'll be more than ready for Roberto Ortiz on Nov. 11."
In June, Seldin had a fight canceled after testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone in a random test conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association as part of the WBC's Clean Boxing Program, which requires all fighters ranked in the sanctioning body's top 15 of each division to enroll in the random testing program.
Ortiz (35-1-2, 26 KOs), 31, of Mexico, suffered his only loss in September 2014 when he got knocked out in the second round by Lucas Matthysse. Since then, Ortiz is 4-0-1, though he fought to a draw with Diego Cruz in July.
Ortiz was scheduled to appear on HBO against junior welterweight contender Antonio Orozco on Sept. 23 at The Forum in Inglewood, California, on the Jorge Linares-Luke Campbell co-feature, but Orozco was 7 pounds overweight and the fight was canceled the day before. He is pleased to be getting back in the ring so soon after the cancellation.
"We are going to take advantage of every opportunity," Ortiz said. "I am confident I will be able to prove that I am someone to mess with in this sport. We know we are going up against an undefeated fighter who is powerful. Our mental game will have to be at 100 percent, and we will have to have the perfect strategy to be able to take him down and leave with the victory. I am hopeful that our styles will give a great fight and give a performance that everyone can appreciate come fight night."
Author: Dan Rafael, ESPN
Source: http://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/21014915/cletus-seldin-roberto-ortiz-set-junior-welterweight-bout-nov-11
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