by James Slater: Now aged 41, and having only fought a mere six times since Mike Tyson KO’d him in one round back in 1996, Bruce Seldon gets back in the ring this Saturday night. Facing the 32-year-old Livin Castillo, currently 14-4(9), Seldon will be having his first bout since back in March of last year..
Seldon, a former WBA heavyweight champion who goes by the nickname of “The Atlantic City Express,” has a decent record of 37-6(33). The problem is the 41-year-old has not won a meaningful fight for many years now. In recent efforts Seldon has been halted by Tye Fields in two rounds back in 2005, and in nine rounds by Gerald Nobles the year before. The former champ has won his last two fights, both by quick KO, but these wins came against fighters with a combined record of 38-34-2. Now Seldon attempts to get a win over a fighter who at least has an okay record in the much younger Castillo.
Still most famous due to his quite dreadful capitulation to “Iron Mike” in September of 1996, it seems most fans have yet to forgive Seldon for going over in a fashion that led many to believe he’d taken the path of least resistance, having not even been hit cleanly. That’s a matter of opinion, but the fact remains there will not be too many fans willing to put much stock in this latest Seldon return.
A good fighter in his day, with a fine left jab and decent speed and power, Seldon won the vacant WBA belt with a 7th round stoppage over the game, but past his best Tony Tucker – the former IBF champ. One successful defence followed for Seldon, a 10th round stoppage of the game Joe Hipp. Then came “The Atlantic City Express’s” fight with Tyson.
Seldon disappeared for almost eight years after the loss to Tyson, only to make a comeback in 2004. Beating Otis Tisdale and Lenzie Morgan (both by quick KO), Seldon then ran into Nobles. Resurfacing seventeen months later, Seldon was stopped in two by the huge Fields. Now, after two meaningless wins, the 41-year-old makes his latest comeback, in A.C this Saturday, against Castillo.
The 32-year-old, a southpaw from Ecuador who now lives in the U.S, is a sometimes cruiserweight who has also been in with a couple of notable heavyweights. Losing at cruiserweight to Jean Marc-Mormeck in 2000(KO by 3) and Jorge Castro three years later (KO by 4), Castillo later fought two big name heavyweights. Meetings with Oleg Maskaev and Alexander Povetkin resulted in defeats also – in 3 and 4 rounds, respectively. Castillo did win his last fight, though, when he stopped the 5-3 Darryl Holley in three rounds in April of last year.
Unless he has absolutely nothing left to offer, Bruce Seldon should manage to beat Castillo – probably by stoppage. Whether or not such a win will prove anything is another question entirely, however.