Ivan Redkach – Page 2 – Syndication Server

Good, bad, worse: Danny Garcia would give Pacquiao, Spence trouble

Danny Garcia demonstrated on Saturday that he remains the clever boxer-puncher of old and a threat to Manny Pacquiao or Errol Spence Jr.

GOOD

Danny Garcia didn’t get the knockout he wanted in front of what amounted to his hometown fans Saturday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. And his opponent bit him on the shoulder. Other than that, he had a pretty good night.

Garcia (36-2, 21 KOs) dominated tough, but overmatched Ivan Redkach en route to a one-sided decision. Just as important, he got in good work after a nine-month layoff. And just as important as that, he gained valuable experience against a capable left-handed fighter, which should help prepare him for what he hopes will come soon.

The goal is to get either Manny Pacquiao or Errol Spence Jr. — both southpaws — into the ring in what would be Garcia’s first big fight since he lost a close decision to Shawn Porter in September 2018.

Garcia said immediately after the fight that he doesn’t have a preference – he even mentioned a few others he’d like to fight – but Pacquiao is the obvious prize given the amount of money to be made.

I don’t think Garcia gave a great performance on Saturday but he demonstrated that he remains the clever, resilient boxer-puncher that he has always been. And I believe that fighter would give either Pacquiao or Spence a great deal of trouble if they were to meet, especially Pacquiao.

I was as impressed as anyone with the Filipino icon’s performance against Keith Thurman in July but it’s clear he can fight only in spurts at 40-plus, which was enough against a rusty Thurman. And I’ll never be shocked at anything Pacquiao accomplishes. I just don’t think this version of Pacquiao matches up well with a talented, experienced counterpuncher like Garcia.

Spence? I would pick him to beat Garcia because I think he’s a better all-around fighter but I believe Garcia would push him.

All in all, I’m glad Garcia is back and in position to fight for a title again.

Danny Garcia (right) said he had to lose 25 pounds in camp to make weight for his fight with Ivan Redkach. AP Photo / Frank Franklin II

BAD

I was surprised when Garcia said he had to lose 25 pounds in camp for his fight against Redkach.

I’m not saying I had a good handle on Garcia’s habits between fights. I didn’t. I just would’ve thought of him as a professional who wouldn’t put himself in a position to have to lose that kind of weight, even after a long layoff.

He said he felt good, not great on Saturday. And he acknowledged that the weight loss might’ve slowed him down to some degree. It probably did.

The good news is that he recognizes where he went wrong and said after the fight that he won’t fall into that trap again, although time will tell whether he has truly learned a lesson.

“I promised myself that I’m going to stay in the gym now and stay in shape,” he said.

I don’t believe it’s realistic to expect the majority of professional fighters to develop the discipline and habits of such legendary fitness fanatics as Evander Holyfield and Bernard Hopkins. They’re freaks.

I do think it’s reasonable to expect fighters to be athletes year round. They should arrive at training camp in good shape so they can focus on strategy and other crucial fight-related factors, not weight loss.

Any fighter who has been through it will tell you that ballooning in weight between fights can adversely affect his performances and shorten his career.

Maybe this should be a mantra: Training begins the day after your most recent fight.

Jarrett Hurd (left) had reason to be pleased after his victory over Francisco Santana. Amanda Westcott / Showtime

WORSE

Those who were critical of Jarrett Hurd’s performance went a little too far.

The guy is with a new trainer. He’s trying to change his style to become a better fighter and extend his career, which is no easy task. That’s why his fight against Francisco Santana on the Garcia-Redkach card should be seen as only a first step in that direction.

I thought Hurd looked pretty good in some respects. He used his length well by jabbing consistently and following with plenty of hard, accurate power shots. He landed a healthy 47% of his power punches, according to CompuBox.

Hurd isn’t as gifted as Stephen Fulton, who also fought on the Garcia-Redkach card. He isn’t unusually quick or athletic. He’s a big, strong guy who made his name by overwhelming his opponents with physical pressure.

Now, after his limitations were exposed in a stunning loss to Julian Williams in May, he is trying to get better. He split with trainer Ernest Rodriguez and hired Kay Koroma, who he believes can help him evolve as a boxer.

I love the fact that Kormoa said he wouldn’t work Hurd if he insisted upon exercising a rematch clause in his contract with Williams, his way of saying “we have a lot of work to do.”

That work has begun. Hurd had the opportunity to show his progress on Saturday. He had reason to be pleased. He obviously wasn’t frustrated, as post-fight interviewer Jim Gray suggested.

“There was definitely no frustration in there,” Hurd said. “We didn’t want to go toe to toe and we didn’t want to make this a risky fight.”

Will Hurd become a great fighter? Probably not. Can he get better? I think so. Give him time.

Danny Garcia outpoints Ivan Redkach in forgettable bout

Welterweight contender Danny Garcia defeated Ivan Redkach by unanimous decision at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

“Win tonight, look good next time.”

The popular boxing maxim – thought to have originated with trainer Georgie Benton – came to mind on Saturday night when welterweight contender Danny Garcia dominated Ivan Redkach over 12 largely ho-hum rounds at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Garcia (36-2, 21 KOs) won by scores of 118-110, 117-111, 117-111 in what was a relatively painless win for the Philadelphia native. Garcia bruised Redkach (23-5-1, 18 KOs) all night with his accurate power punches, leaving no doubt as to the end result. Still, it was a workmanlike performance at best from a world-class welterweight who has been gunning for a big fight for the past year against the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Errol Spence Jr. It remains to be seen if he’ll get that opportunity in 2020.

This was Garcia’s first fight since his seventh-round stoppage of Adrian Granados nine months ago.

“I thought the referee was going to stop it,” Garcia said after the fight. “I felt like I was punishing him, but he’s a tough guy. He hung in there. I wanted to get the KO. I didn’t get it. But I felt like I boxed smart till the end. And I got the rounds in.

“I felt that’s what I needed after a nine-month layoff. Even though I really wanted the knockout bad, I’ll accept this.”

Garcia admitted that the layoff – and the accompanying heft around the waist that he had to lose in camp – might’ve affected his performance.

“I’m not gonna lie, I felt good but I didn’t fight my best,” Garcia said. “I did lose a lot of weight for this fight. I lost about 25 pounds.”

On the other hand, a bit of extra flesh might have come in handy for Garcia in Round 8, when Redkach, a Ukrainian expat who lives in Los Angeles, bit Garcia’s right shoulder seemingly out of frustration during a clinch.

“He bit me. He said, ‘Mike Tyson’ when he bit me,” Garcia said, chuckling. “That’s the first time ever getting bit in a fight. Things happen, though.”

The southpaw Redkach, who was coming off a career-best knockout of Devon Alexander last year, simply had no answer for the hard-hitting counterpuncher in Garcia.

After a slow start, Garcia began to pick up the pace in Round 4, unloading a series of power punches that landed cleanly on Redkach, including a right hand straight down the pipe. At the end of Round 5, Garcia landed a hard right that briefly wobbled Redkach, whose face began dribbling blood.

It appeared Garcia would get a stoppage late. In Round 9, he continued to land punishing combinations. But Redkach not only survived, he had a few moments himself. In the last three rounds, he repeatedly landed a straight left to the body. It was a valiant response, but much too late.

The fight was not much of a crowd pleaser; boos hailed in from all corners of the arena midway through the bout. With a round remaining, large portions of the crowd began heading for the exits.

Afterward, Garcia said he wants to face either Pacquiao or Spence next.

“Either or. Either of those [fights] I would like to have. I think my style fits very well with both fighters,” Garcia said, adding that he would also be interested in a rematch with Keith Thurman, who outpointed him in 2017, or a might with Mikey Garcia.

Jarrett Hurd decisions Francisco Santana in dull comeback

Jarrett Hurd returned to his winning ways, but hardly impressed left anyone at the Barclays Center feeling impressed

In his first appearance in the ring since he lost his junior middleweight titles to Julian Williams last spring, Jarrett Hurd looked listless, fatigued, and frankly, just out of it.

After sleepwalking for nearly the entire fight, Hurd woke up in the final seconds of a 10-rounder, scoring a knockdown of a game Francisco Santana before settling for a unanimous decision win on the Danny Garcia-Ivan Redkach card at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Two judges scored it 99-90, while the other had it 97-92, all for Hurd.

The size difference between the two fighters was plainly evident, Santana being a career welterweight who moved up to a catch weight of 156 pounds to face the hulking Hurd. Still, it was the smaller Santana who pursued Hurd around the ring throughout the fight.

While his punches did not have the greatest effect, Santana generally outworked Hurd, especially in the second half of the fight. When he wanted to, Hurd would land the far cleaner punches, snapping away Santana’s head with left hooks and right uppercuts.

Working with new trainer Kay Koroma, Hurd did not appear to show any new wrinkles in his game. For most of the night, he fought on autopilot and allowed Santana to set the pace. The crowd, displeased by Hurd’s reticence, began booing in Round 7.

“Hey, listen, the crowd didn’t like it,” Hurd said postfight as the spectators booed relentlessly, “but I did what I have to do.

“We didn’t want to go to toe-to-toe. We just wanted to win the rounds.”

Junior featherweights Stephen Fulton and Arnold Khegai turned in 12 closely contested tactical rounds, but it was Fulton who would have his hand raised at the end.

Two judges scored it 117-111, while the other had it 116-112, all for the Philadelphia-based Fulton.

It was a bull vs. matador kind of fight, with Fulton fighting intelligently off the back foot, working the jab, and whipping counter right hands to the come-forward Khegai, a Ukrainian of Korean descent. (Fulton has also held repeatedly throughout the fight, though the referee never issued a formal warning).

After a nip-and-tuck couple of rounds, Fulton (18-0, 8 KOs) began to take control in the second half of the fight, connecting on hard left and rights to the body. Khegai (16-1-1, 10 KOs) would have some success late, however, especially in Round 11, in which he reeled off consecutive clean blows.

Keeshawn Williams (7-0-1, 2 KOs) outpointed Gaku Takahashi (16-11-1, 8 KOs) over eight rounds in a welterweight bout. Takahashi’s jittery movement gave Williams some things to think about, but Williams landed the harder punches throughout the fight.

Lorenzo Simpson (6-0, 4 KOs) outpointed Antonio Hernandez (2-11-1) in a six-round middleweight bout. Hernandez troubled Simpson for the majority of the fight.

Neophyte heavyweight Steven Torres (2-0, 2 KOs) stopped Dakota Witkopf (1-2, 1 KO) with a straight right in the second round of a four-rounder.

Danny Garcia, focused and hungry, determined to have big 2020

Danny Garcia is fighting Ivan Redkach Saturday with an eye on a much bigger fight — Errol Spence Jr.? Manny Pacquiao? — later this year.

Danny Garcia’s meeting with Ivan Redkach on Saturday in Brooklyn is both a fight and a training session.

Redkach, a 10-year professional, is no pushover. The Los Angeles-based Ukrainian is coming off one of the most important victories of his career, a sixth-round knockout of Devon Alexander in June. This a real fight.

And Redkach is a southpaw, which is where the training session comes in. Garcia thought it was important to face a capable left-hander to prepare him for what might lie ahead.

The fight will be televised on Showtime.

“My mind was set on a southpaw, so after we couldn’t have the Errol Spence Jr. fight, I wanted the next tough southpaw,” said Garcia, whose tentative fight with Spence was shelved after Spence was injured in a car crash. “We’re not looking past Redkach at all, but we wanted the southpaw work for that fight or a [Manny] Pacquiao fight. We’ll be all ready when those fights come up.”

Garcia (35-2, 21 KOs) swears he isn’t overlooking Redkach (23-4-1, 18 KOs), who he recognizes is “hungry.” He can’t get to Spence or Pacquiao without beating Redkach.

And, obviously, that’s the goal. Garcia will be 32 on March 20, an age when many fighters begin to develop a sense of urgency. They want to accomplish – and earn – as much as possible before an inevitable decline.

Danny Garcia must get past Ivan Redkach (pictured) if he hopes to face Errol Spence Jr. or Manny Pacquiao. Amanda Westcott / Showtime

That might be why Garcia seems rejuvenated. In his most-recent fight, in June, the former two-division titleholder looked liked a fighter trying to prove something in a seventh-round knockout of rugged Adrian Granados, who had never been stopped.

That was his first fight since he lost a close, but unanimous decision to Shawn Porter for a vacant 147-pound title in September 2018.

“I’ve been boxing for 21 years,” Garcia said. “All of the big fights and all of the pressure, sometimes you get tired of it. Sometimes it takes something happening to wake you back up. I’ve fallen in love with the sport of boxing again. Sometimes you forget what made you love the sport in the first place. Fighting is what makes me happy, though.

“My last camp before the Adrian Granados fight, I felt really good. I was happy again in this training camp. At this point in my career, I’ve been through it all already. I have to count my blessings and give my fans a great fight.”

This will be only Garcia’s fourth fight since he lost a split decision to Keith Thurman in March 2017, an average of one fight per year. That’s not the schedule of a hungry fighter.

Once upon a time, he had the opposite reputation. He fought tough opposition often.

Between 2011 and 2016, Garcia fought in succession Nate Campbell, Kendall Holt, Erik Morales (for a vacant 140-pound title), Amir Khan, Morales again, Zab Judah, Lucas Matthysse, Mauricio Herrera, Rod Salka, Lamont Peterson, Paulie Malignaggi and Robert Guerrero (for a vacant 147-pound title).

His record in those fights? 12-0. And only four of the victories came by knockout, meaning he had to find means beyond his power to beat one elite fighter after another. Thus, he became known simply as a winner.

That’s how he climbed onto some pound-for-pound lists and earned the major fights against Thurman and Porter. He’s ready to reclaim his place among the best in the sport, beginning against Redkach Saturday with an eye on a superfight before the end of the year.

“This is a very important fight for me and my future,” he said. “My future starts on Saturday night. I’ve already been in a lot of big fights in my career, so it’s nothing new to me. I know Redkach is hungry, but I know what it takes to win on this level and I’m hungry.”

Danny Garcia wants big fight but, he said, he’s focused on Ivan Redkach

Danny Garcia says he has to be at his best against Ivan Redkach so he doesn’t spoil a bigger fight that might lie ahead.

Danny Garcia was rumored to have been a candidate to face Manny Pacquiao in the Filipino icon’s next fight and likes the idea of challenging Terence Crawford. For now, Garcia will have to settle for a fight against Ivan Redkach on Jan. 25 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Showtime.

And he seems to be OK with his immediate fate. His job, he says, is to be prepared when a bigger opportunity arises.

“If the top welterweights want to fight me, I’ll be ready whenever,” Garcia (35-2, 21 KOs) said. “Redkach makes a lot of sense because he’s a southpaw and that would have me ready for Errol Spence Jr. or Manny Pacquiao. We picked Redkach because he’s dangerous and we knew he’d be tough. I’m definitely not overlooking him. I’m training hard for this fight. For me, this is a big fight.

“If I overlook him, it could ruin everything. I want to show everyone I’m still one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.

Danny Garcia (left) and Ivan Redkach are scheduled to fight on Jan. 25 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Amanda Westcott / Showtime

Garcia (35-2, 21 KOs) has narrowly lost his last two big fights, a split decision against Keith Thurman in 2017 that cost him his welterweight title and a close unanimous decision against Shawn Porter for the same vacant title in September of last year.

The Philadelphian is hungry to get another major belt wrapped around is waist, although he’s playing it cool.

“I always feel like I’m the best,” he said. “They need me, I don’t need them. I’m one of the best fighters in the world, and I’m going to be here for a while.”

Garcia is pleased to fight again at Barclays, which is near his stomping grounds and has become a second home.

“This is my eighth fight at Barclays Center and I’m excited to be back,” he said. “I’ve fought in a quarter of the events here at Barclays Center, so you could say this is my house. I’ve had some historic fights in here. I love walking in the tunnels and seeing my pictures next to Jay-Z, DMX and Rihanna.

“Come January 25, this is going to be another great night of boxing. I know Ivan is coming to fight. We’ve followed each other’s careers. I know he’s hungry and he wants to show the fans that he belongs on this level.”

Indeed, he does. Redkach (23-4-1, 18 KOs) has had mixed results since 2015, compiling a record of 5-4-1 in 10 fights during that period. However, the Los Angeles-based Ukrainian is coming off arguably his biggest victory – a sixth-round knockout of former two-division titleholder Devon Alexander in June.

The Alexander who Redkach defeated was in decline. Still, he caught the attention of boxing fans with the victory.

“The victory over Devon Alexander was important because he was a well-known opponent,” Redkach said. “Winning in the fashion that I did catapulted me to where I am right now.”

Danny Garcia has to settle for fight against Ivan Redkach on Jan. 25

Danny Garcia was expected to fight Errol Spence or possibly Manny Pacquiao but instead will face Ivan Redkach on Jan. 25.

Danny Garcia had been scheduled to face Errol Spence on Jan. 25 but that fight was scraped after Spence’s horrific car accident in October. He has also been rumored to be a candidate to face Manny Pacquiao.

Instead, the former two-division titleholder will face Ivan Redkach on Jan. 25 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Oh well, you gotta keep busy.

Garcia (35-2, 21 KOs) last fought in April, when he stopped Adrian Granados in seven rounds in April. That followed a frustrating year-and-a-half period in which he went 1-2, losing competitive decisions to Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter.

The Redkach fight is obviously meant to keep him in position for a big fight whenever – and against whomever – something comes together.

Garcia was interviewed during the Jermall Charlo-Dennis Hogan card on Showtime.

“First of all, thank God Spence is doing good,” he said. “I hear that he’s recovering well. I was really looking forward to fighting him but maybe he could be next after January 25. Pac-Man (Manny Pacquiao) or Spence, that’s who we want. 2020 is going to be a big year for me.”

Redkach (23-4-1, 18 KOs) is coming off arguably the highest-profile win of his career, a sixth-round knockout of an faded Devon Alexander in June.

The Los Angeles-based Ukrainian has lost his biggest fights and is 5-4-1 in his last 10 fights, although he has won three straight going into the Garcia fight.