Once again, ESPN Friday Night Fights was aired live from the Paramount Theatre in Huntington, New York.
New York fan favorite Cletus “Hebrew Hammer” Seldin took on Juan Garcia in a scheduled 10rounder in the junior welterweight division. Seldin was the guy with the fanfare and heavy promotion heading into this fight, but Garcia was build as the kind of opponent that would allow fireworks.
Seldin came out with a high-intensity level early on, and he did his part by coming forward while Garcia never backed down and tried matching the output of his opponent.
The fight got dirty as the rounds progressed, but in the 3rd and 4th rounds the tactics were downright disgusting as Seldin used elbows and rabbit punches, although Garcia came in with his head and held a little more than he should have. Still, it was Seldin that committed the more flagrant fouls.
Finally, with a little less than a minute in the 4th, Seldin connected with several uppercuts in a row. The three landed left uppercuts hurt Garcia, and he seemed to be on his last legs. However, Garcia was able to hold on and survive the round.
His will to continue was strong, but his ability to maintain a beating didn’t last much longer.
As the 5th round began it felt like a continued assault on Garcia, testing whatever he had left, which wasn’t much.
As Seldin released a barrage of punches, mixing the attack enough, Garcia was struggling to see straight. Although it could’ve been stopped a little earlier, the ref eventually called a halt to the action, giving Seldin his third in a row.
In the co-feature, Philadelphia’s Raymond Serrano tried making it three wins in a row against New Jersey resident Jeremey Bryan, who was fighting to not make it three losses in a row.
Bryan definitely set the pace early and tried separating himself on activity alone.
In the 3rd round, Bryan scored a knockdown with a right-hand that stunned Serrano. Serrano was hurt, but he was able to make it to his feet and proved right away that he was capable of continuing.
Two rounds later, Serrano proved his willingness to not just continue, but try for the hard-fought victory, and he scored a knockdown in the 5th.
While Serrano proved he could continue at an efficient level after being knocked down, Bryan was less stable after being sent to the canvas.
Serrano continued to dictate the pace and was more willing to engage, this is what ultimately separated Serrano from Bryan in the remaining rounds.
The judges scored the fight 94-94, 97-91 and 96-92 for Raymond Serrano.
