Photo by Stephanie Trapp/Showtime
For Ivan Redkach (18-0, 14 KOs), things looked pretty bad from Round 1 of a scheduled 12-rounder that headlined Showtime Extreme’s undercard coverage of Wilder-Molina at Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.
The 29-year-old native of Ukraine was pushed back early and was even warned for holding onto Dejan Zlaticanin (20-0, 13 KOs), in order to prevent the shorter man’s unceasing offense.
Indeed, as the rounds progressed, Redkach could find nothing to earn the 31-year-old’s respect as he threw jabs, left hands and uppercuts.
His trainer, Robert Garcia, asked for body punches from Redkach, but he instead threw wide punches from the outside to keep the Montenegro native off of him.
It was a wide uppercut in Round 4, in fact, that left him wide open for one of Zlaticanin’s powerful shots, leading to a flurry that ended the fight and handed Redkach his first loss.
A title shot against WBC champion Jorge Linares may be in Zlaticanin’s future, while Redkach suffered the first loss of his career.
Check out the stoppage right here:
