Josh “The Hammer” Popper: From Holy Spirit to a Heavyweight Headline at the Tropicana
**ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.** — On Saturday, June 13, undefeated heavyweight Josh “The Hammer” Popper (7-0, 6 KOs) headlines a Boxing Insider Promotions card at the Tropicana Atlantic City Showroom against fellow unbeaten South Jersey heavyweight Bruce “2.0” Seldon Jr. It is the kind of all-local, all-undefeated main event the sport rarely produces, and for Popper it is a homecoming years in the making.
Popper is a South Jersey product through and through. He grew up minutes from the boardwalk and starred in football and basketball at Holy Spirit High School in Absecon, where he played defensive end on the Spartans team that won the 2011 New Jersey state championship alongside future NFL players. The pride runs deep. “I bleed blue and gold,” Popper told Josh Hennig on 973 ESPN’s “Hanging with Hennig.” “I’m a Spartan until I die.” He recently returned to speak to students at his old high school, closing a loop on a journey that started there.
From Holy Spirit, Popper went on to Rowan University, where he became an All American and All-Conference defensive lineman and earned rookie minicamp invitations from the Arizona Cardinals and the Indianapolis Colts. When pro football did not work out, he moved to New York City, took up boxing in his late twenties, and opened his own gym, Bredwinners, in Manhattan. He was a standout amateur fast, winning the 2023 New York Ring Masters Championship and the 2023 New York Boxing Tournament before turning pro in late 2024.
The nickname tells the deeper story. “The Hammer” is a tribute to his late father, Michael, a home builder whose hammer Popper now wears tattooed on his back. He has been open that boxing began, in part, as a way to cope with his father’s death, and that he carries his dad and his younger sisters into the ring with him every time out.
Popper turned pro in October 2024 in Nashville and has stopped nearly everyone since, building to a 7-0 record with 6 knockouts. Two of those wins have come right at the Tropicana, including a first-round stoppage of Dillon Pumphrey in March. In April he went the full six rounds for the first time, outpointing veteran Rydell Booker in a fight that proved his conditioning and ring savvy as much as his power. He has not stopped since. “I haven’t taken any time off,” Popper said on 973 ESPN. “I feel like I’ve just been rolling right through.”
Behind him is a team built for the long climb. Popper is managed by Marty Hopwood of TMA Management, the New York-based outfit that also guides the careers of fighters like Terell Bostic and Jacob Solis, and he is trained by former pro Jose Luis Guzman, who also works with star Amanda Serrano. Popper is a coach himself, working with amateurs and pros, including three-time world champion Miyo Yoshida, and he credits that teaching eye for sharpening his own ring IQ.
For all the boxing, Popper first reached a national audience outside the ring during a high-profile relationship with pop icon Madonna, who was a ringside fixture at his amateur fights. He has never run from the attention, but he has made clear he intends to be known for what he does between the ropes.
The Seldon matchup carries a personal edge that only a hyper-local main event can. As Popper revealed on 973 ESPN, the two actually faced each other in high school football, Holy Spirit against Absegami, and Popper does not mind reminding people how that one went. Now they meet again as grown men, both undefeated, both with knockout power, and both unwilling to leave it to the judges.
Popper’s message to anyone watching him for the first time on June 13 was simple. “They’re going to have a new favorite boxer,” he said. “You don’t want to blink.”
“Josh Popper is exactly what this series is about,” said promoter Larry Goldberg of Boxing Insider Promotions. “A local kid who chased a dream, took the hard road, and is now headlining a heavyweight main event in his own backyard against another undefeated local. Two unbeaten South Jersey heavyweights willing to fight each other, that does not happen at this level. June 13 is going to be a special night for Atlantic City boxing.”
**EVENT INFORMATION**
What: Boxing Insider Promotions presents Seldon Jr. vs. Popper?
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When: Saturday, June 13, 2026?
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Where: Tropicana Hotel and Casino, Atlantic City, N.J.?
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Tickets: On sale now at Ticketmaster.com