There may not be a bigger local heavyweight fight South Jersey has seen in a generation. On Saturday, June 13, the Tropicana Atlantic City puts two of the region’s own in the same ring when Bruce Seldon Jr. faces Josh Popper in a heavyweight main event with equal billing and real stakes. The winner does not just take home a victory on the boardwalk. He moves to the next level.
For Atlantic City fight fans, the Seldon name carries weight. Bruce Seldon Sr. held the WBA heavyweight title and was one of the signature fighters of the city’s golden era of boxing.
Now his son, Bruce Seldon Jr., fittingly nicknamed “2.0,” brings the family name back to the same boardwalk where it was made, and he brings an unbeaten record with him at 8-0 with 6 knockouts. That is not a promotional angle. That is South Jersey boxing history walking back through the door.
Standing across from him is a hometown story of a different kind. Josh Popper grew up in Egg Harbor Township and graduated from Holy Spirit High School before chasing the sport beyond the Shore. He returns undefeated at 7-0 with 6 knockouts for his third Atlantic City card, and he comes back as the owner of Breadwinners in New York City and a figure who has drawn national attention, including a romance with Madonna that put him on gossip pages well outside the sports section. On June 13 the headlines come back to where he started, and he intends to make them his own.
Two local fighters. One ring. A main event that splits living rooms across Atlantic and Cape May counties. Fights like this do not get manufactured. They happen when the talent comes from the same backyard, and that is exactly what the Shore has on its hands here.
The bout anchors the eighth boxing card the Tropicana has hosted since May 2024, a run that has made the property the clear leader in Atlantic City boxing once again. After a seven-year absence of live fights along the boardwalk, Margate’s Larry Goldberg and Boxing Insider Promotions brought it back one show at a time, earning Goldberg a reputation for reviving boxing in Atlantic City and standing as one of the last promoters in the country still running regular club shows. Two local heavyweights willing to step up against each other at this point in their careers is a rare thing in the sport, and it makes for both a great fight and a great story. “Atlantic City built this sport, and we never should have let it leave,” Goldberg said. “Two local heavyweights in a main event, with the winner going to the next level, is exactly what this run has been about.”
Local fans will also have their eyes on Julio “Jewelz” Sanchez III of Pleasantville, now 4-1 and stepping into the toughest test of his young career when he meets Shawn Rall on this card. A Pleasantville fighter on a Tropicana main card is the kind of story that fills a section of the building with hometown noise, and Sanchez has the chance to announce himself in front of the crowd that knows him best.
The Shore flavor runs deeper still with Damian Tinnerello of Berlin, an undefeated prospect at 5-0 with 4 knockouts and an active member of the United States Air Force. A perfect record and a uniform make Tinnerello an easy fighter to root for, and the Tropicana crowd will get another look at one of the area’s most promising young pros as he keeps building toward bigger nights.
Tickets for the June 13 card are on sale now at Ticketmaster.com. With two undefeated hometown heavyweights in the main event and a local undercard stacked from top to bottom, this is one boardwalk night South Jersey fight fans will not want to watch from home.
