Shirley's Cletus Seldin hammers foe but it's declared a no-contest
Junior welterweight Cletus "The Hebrew Hammer" Seldin boxes junior welterweight Bayan "The Mongolian Mongoose" Jargal at The Paramount in Huntington on Friday, July 18, 2014. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The chants rang down before Cletus Seldin even exited the locker room. "Hammer! Hammer! Hammer!"
Even as Chris Algieri was honored before the fight, the chants did not quit. In fact, they got even louder.
The assembled chanters went to the Paramount in Huntington on Friday night to see Seldin (13-0-1, 10 KOs), a welterweight from Shirley nicknamed the "Hebrew Hammer," fight Bayan Jargal of Arlington, Virginia. They saw him dominate Jargal at times, but they didn't see him win.
They didn't see him lose, either. The fight was stopped and ruled a no-contest after three rounds by a ringside physician after it was determined that Jargal (17-5-4, 11 KOs) suffered eye damage on an accidental head butt.
"The good thing is that everybody in the world can see the fight and see what my style was," Seldin said. "As soon as the doctors said no, [Jargal] jumped right out, took his gloves off, and that was the end of it. What am I going to do? Hopefully, I get a fight, like, next week, because I'm in shape and I've got nothing wrong with me . . . It didn't work out the way I wanted it, as far as a win. But I'm not that disappointed. I just don't have that 14-0 with 11 KOs."
Seldin believes the eye damage originated in either the first or second round.
"I had him right against the ropes," Seldin said. "I hit him with a left hook and followed up with my forearm across. Right when I hit him, he backed away. I came on ready to finish the show, but he had good defense and good head movement."
True to his brawler reputation, Seldin came out swinging in the first round, laying haymakers as Jargal cowered against the ropes.
"I had him quit," Seldin said. "He quit the fight."