Friday Night Fights Quick Picks

Cletus Seldin vs. Johnny Garcia: Friday Night Fights has always been known as a program that focuses on two types of fighters; young prospects looking to climb the ladder, and fading veterans holding onto that ladder for dear life.  This week's edition will be headlined by one of those young prospects, Cletus "The Hebrew Hammer" Seldin (15-0, 12 KO).  Seldin is scheduled to go 10 rounds in the junior welterweight division against Johnny Garcia (19-2-1, 11 KO).  Seldin has a reputation as a fan friendly fighter due to his aggressiveness and power punching.  He is an orthodox fighter who pushes his jab out to get inside where he really goes to work.  The best punch Seldin has is probably his heavy overhand right although he also puts a good left hook to the body and usually likes to follow that up with an uppercut.  While Seldin hasn't yet faced any elite opponents he has looked good against the fighters he has been matched with and should look to make a statement on Friday night.  Garcia is also an orthodox fighter but he lacks the aggression that Seldin has.  Garcia likes to jab but it is a pawing one that doesn't do much damage.  Neither fighter has very fast hands but Garcia's look to be a tad slower which is noticeable when he lets go his straight right hand.  If Garcia wants to win this fight he will need to box beautifully because Seldin will be more aggressive and much more powerful.  This fight will be all Seldin and he will finish the job with a 6th round stoppage.


Raymond Serrano vs. Jeremy Bryan: The co-feature of Friday's card should be an interesting fight because both fighters have weak chins but neither one carries much power.  Raymond Serrano (20-2, 9 KO) who lost both his fights via knockout will be in the ring against Jeremy Bryan (17-5, 7 KO) who has been knocked out in three of his five losses.  The two fighters are set to go 10 rounds in the welterweight division.  Serrano was an undefeated fighter until he ran into two heavy hitters in Karim Mayfield and Emmanuel Taylor who both finished Serrano off before the 7th round.  As for Bryan he actually has some quality losses at the hands of hot prospects Amir Imam and Sadam Ali.  Serrano is an orthodox fighter with a good stiff jab that he likes to follow up with a straight right hand.  It's a shame Serrano doesn't have any power because he actually lands a nice left hook and also puts in a lot of good body work.  The problem for Serrano comes on defense, he doesn't always protect himself when he throws punches and if he gets clipped on the chin he gets hurt.  Bryan is also an orthodox fighter with an awkward style that sees him keep both of his hands very high at all times.  While Bryan has a nice quick jab he doesn't have much of anything else although when he times his counter left hook it can do a bit of damage.  Bryan does need to look out for the body punching of Serrano since he keeps his hands so high and will need to stay on the outside to avoid taking any punishment downstairs.  The difference in this fight could be confidence.  Serrano is coming off back-to-back wins while Bryan has lost his last two bouts and three of his last five.  Although Serrano should be more confident it is Bryan who has faced the much better fighters and that experience will pay off with him getting a close split decision victory.