NEW YORK – One could imagine the look on the faces of those in the room when Cletus Seldin, a relatively unknown fighter from Long Island, sat down for his HBO pre-fight interview and insisted to them that he was a bigger puncher than Lucas Matthysse.

Matthysse, a familiar name in the division, was the only fighter previously to defeat Roberto Ortiz, Seldin’s opponent this past Saturday for his fight at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. Matthysse knocked Ortiz out in two rounds on a body shot, though it appeared that Ortiz mistimed his attempt to rise at the count of nine.

Few knew how the popular ticket-seller would fare in his first step-up on premium cable, but it was as good an outing as the 31-year-old junior welterweight could have drawn up for himself as he dropped Ortiz twice in the first round and cut him badly in the second to force a stoppage in the third round.

“I just know that if I hit you with that overhand right usually they all fall. When I went to the HBO interview I told them I got more power than Lucas Matthysse and I was gonna prove it to them right off the bat because they kind of laughed at me and I wanted to go out there and prove that I got that punching power that nobody else does,” said Seldin (21-0, 17 knockouts).

Seldin, who had just fought six weeks prior, wants to jump right back in the ring in January or February, eager to make up for lost time due to injuries and fight cancellations, and to capitalize on his peak conditioning. He said he had gotten good work in sparring from Devon Alexander, and tried to arrange work with Adrien Broner before the fight to show he can handle an even greater ascent in competition.

“This should’ve been a title eliminator fight because his record was 35-1, best record in the division because [Terence] Crawford’s gone and I deserve a title shot,” said Seldin. “I can prove to everybody that I’m gonna be a world champion.

“I don’t need to have this big set-up and they want to make this big event and the next thing you know months go by. I want to fight as often as possible, I’m in shape and I can fight anybody in the division,” said Seldin.

Promoter Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing says he’s “pleased with the comments” from the HBO network and has been “inundated” with correspondence about potential fights for the heavy-hitter from Shirley, Long Island.

“Cletus already told me he wants to fight again right away,” said DeGuardia. “He’s like the old-timers, wants to fight all the time – like he says, ‘a wrecking ball.’”

Asked which fights would appeal to him, Seldin says he’d like a title shot next, but would also be interested in facing Broner, Matthysse, or even Adrian Granados, the tough brawler who went the distance in a loss to Shawn Porter on November 4.

“I know a lot of people want to see me fight Broner, people would love for me to fight Broner. That’d be great because I hit and I punch hard and he’s a fantastic world champion in the past. That would be a great, fantastic fight if he gets a few wins under his belt, maybe we can make that happen,” said Seldin.

But first, he’ll treat himself to a victory token. Seldin, an avid collector of Funko Pop “vinyls”, has the hook-up for a very rare Thor ceramic prototype which he intends to add to the hundreds of various figures he owns at home.

“There’s only one person who has one, the president of Marvel has one in his office; I’m gonna have the other one.”