Cletus Seldin, aka The Hebrew Hammer, is just starting to make a name for himself in boxing, but he has already joined an exclusive group that includes Hall of Fame heavyweight Mike Tyson and future Hall of Famer Roy Jones Jr., two of the best ever to put on gloves.
Seldin, of Long Island, will appear on HBO in back-to-back months when he takes on Yves Ulysse Jr. of Canada in a 10-round junior welterweight bout Saturday night at Place Bell in Laval, Quebec. The fight is the opening bout of a triple-header headlined by a main event featuring WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (25-0, 12 KOs) of England defending his title against former champion David Lemieux (38-3, 33 KOs) of Montreal. The other bout features Antonie “Action” Douglas (22-1-1, 16 KOs) of Virginia against Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan (26-2, 18 KOs) of Ireland for the WBO Intercontinental middleweight belt.
Seldin (21-0, 17 KOs) made his HBO debut Nov. 11 at Nassau Coliseum, where he scored a third-round knockout over Robert Ortiz of Mexico. The win was impressive enough for HBO to offer him Saturday’s fight. Only Tyson (in 1986) and Jones (in 1996) have fought in back-to-back months on HBO.
“The world that watched that [Ortiz] fight was able to see me and what I can do,” Seldin told The Post. “I’ve been doing this the last six years at the Paramount on Long Island and finally the world was able to see it for the first time.”
Seldin, 31, is following along the same path as Chris Algieri and Joe Smith Jr., two fighters who were groomed under Star Boxing at the Paramount Theater and made the most of their opportunities when finally featured on HBO. Algieri won the WBO junior welterweight title, while Smith scored a career-defining knockout of future Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins.
Seldin didn’t start boxing until his was 22 after competing in football and wrestling while in high school and later taking up jiujitsu. He calls himself a late bloomer, who has benefited from his multi-sport background.
Cletus SeldinGetty Images“I always wanted to be a professional athlete. I just didn’t know what it was going to be,” he said. “I always loved football. That was my biggest passion, and I still have that wrestling mentality. Wrestlers have to really grind it out to make the weight. I just brought that into boxing. I also was able to have the strength that no other person in boxing has because I played football and wrestling and did weights. As a result, I’m much stronger than anyone else in the sport. It really shows right now in my style.”
His style is a crowd pleaser: constantly coming forward, applying pressure and going for the knockout.
“You don’t see guys fighting the way he fights very often,” Star Boxing promoter Joe DeGuardia said. “He’s got the old-time crouch and cross-arm defense. His blitzkrieg style is a style fans love.”
The Hebrew Hammer is proud of his Jewish heritage. He wears the Star of David on the front of his trunks and “Remember the Masada” on the back, reminiscent of the legacy of the 1920s and 1930s when Jewish boxers dominated the New York scene. Saturday’s fight will be broadcast in Israel.
“It’s a huge thing to me,” he said. “Growing up, there weren’t too many Jewish athletes you could look up to, so for me to finally become a professional athlete in the sport of boxing where you can wear any kind of logo you want, I am able to represent what I want to represent and that is my Jewish background.”
Ulysse (14-1, 9 KOs) had an extensive amateur career and is looking to raise his profile. So is Seldin, who is named after former Yankees third baseman Clete Boyer.
“I have to make a statement,” he said. “Anytime you’re on national television you have to do that.”


