BROOKLYN– Former two division world champion Danny “Swift” Garcia (36-2, 21KO) cruised past fellow welterweight Ivan “The Killer Redkach (23-5-1, 18KO), earning a twelve round unanimous decision (118-110, 117-111×2) in the main event of a PBC-Showtime card from the Barclays Center.
Philadelphia’s Garcia, who was fighting for the first time since April 2019, started slow, opting to fight a reserved and calculated fight. But by the fourth, Garcia completed his data download and began pressuring the southpaw Redkach, letting his hands go.
Garcia, 31, continued to walk down the Redkach in the fifth and buzzed him with a huge right cross — the best punch of the fight up to that point — just as the round drew to a close.
By the time the sixth rolled around, Redkach, whose power didn’t phase Garcia, was out of answers. So Garcia carried on, peppering Redkach with sizzling right crosses and left hooks that came from all angles.
As the bell signaled to start round eight, Garcia, smelling blood in the water walked across the ring to meet Redkach near Redkach’s corner, from which he barely moved after getting off his stool. Garcia continued to best Redkach when the Ukranian decided to sink his teeth into Garcia’s shoulder during a clinch. This went unnoticed by referee Benjy Esteves, but Garcia knew it, and relayed the message.
By the end of the same round, Redkach returned to his corner with dark red blood trickling down his bright red face to go along with his bright yellow and green hair.
Redkach deserves credit, though, for never giving up throughout the fight. Even when it was clear to those on the other side of the ropes that all hope was lost, Redkach never stopped believing in himself. Of course, Garcia made him pay for that belief, but it guided Redkach to the final bell.
Tonight marked the eight time Garcia has fought at the Barclays Center, the Philadelphian’s home away from home. Garcia’s second fight with Hall of Famer Erik Morales headlined the Barclays Center’s inaugural boxing event in 2014.
Redkach is now 0-2 at the Barclays Center. He was outpointed by current IBF Super Featherweight champion Tevin Farmer in 2016.
A few months ago, it looked as if Garcia was in line for a big fight and hefty paycheck as he was slated to face unified welterweight champion Errol Spence, Jr. in 2020. However, after Spence was injured in a single car crash, those tentative plans fell through and Garcia was forced to elsewhere. Now, with the win against Redkach, Garcia is again hoping to land a big fight and bigger payday, either against a healthy Spence or future Hall of Famer Manny Pacquiao.
After the fight, Garcia spoke about what could be next for him, “Either or (Spence or Pacquiao) either of those fights I would like to have. My style looks great with both fighters.”
When rating his performance tonight, the Philadelphia-native said, “I’m not gonna lie, I felt good, but I didn’t feel my best. I did lose a lot of weight for this fight, so maybe that played a factor. From a long layoff, and just losing so much weight. I lost about 25 pounds in eight weeks.”
And on the eight round shoulder bite, Garcia told Showtime’s Jim Gray, “He bit me. He said ‘Mike Tyson’ when he bit me. I said ‘Ref, he bit me.’ I thought I needed stitches or something. That’s my first time ever getting bit in a fight. Things happen though. I’ve been in a street fight before, so I did it all.”
Redkach also spoke afterwards, stating, “This was a very good experience for me. He never had me hurt and I was able to learn a lot. I’m thankful to be in this position that my team put me in and I’m going to keep growing from here.
“I’m going to get back in the gym and get stronger and better. I’m thankful for the experience against Danny Garcia. I’m going to be back and be much better.”
Hurd Drops Santana Late En Route To Wide UD
In his first fight since losing his junior middleweight titles to Julian Williams last May, “Swift” Jarrett Hurd (24-1, 16KO) got back into the win column, sending veteran Francisco “Chia” Santana (25-8-1, 12KO) to the canvas once en route to a ten round unanimous decision (99-90×2, 97-92).
Tonight marked Hurd’s first fight with head trainer Kay Koroma. Hurd, 29, parted ways with longtime trainer Ernesto Rodgriguez shortly after his loss to Williams. Coming into the Santana fight Hurd promised viewers they would see a more defensive-minded fighter, and mentioned he wouldn’t mind winning wide on the scorecards once, as opposed to seemingly always finding himself in back-and-forth, “Fight of the Year” type slugfests.
True to his word, through the first four rounds, the Maryland native Hurd wasn’t willing to engage in a firefight with California’s Santana, who dutifully marched forward trying to get inside Hurd’s reach to get off his punches. Rather, Hurd was content with snapping jabs Santana’s direction, while also peppering in some straight rights and uppercuts to keep Santana guessing.
But in the fifth, Hurd reverted back to old form, stood his ground, and challenged the 33 year-old Santana. Having already tasted Chia’s power, a visibly bigger Hurd willingly exchanged with the much smaller Santana, landing flush straight rights, before unleashing two jaw-shattering right uppercuts.
In the sixth Hurd began by continuing to dig in and exchange with Santana, but immediately went back to fighting the “defensive” style he spoke about pre-fight, inviting a chorus of boos from the Brooklyn crowd.
Perhaps feeling a need to redeem himself, Hurd switched it up once more in the tenth and final round and fought that classic “Hurd”-style, leaning and imposing his bigger frame on Santana, while firing off sneaky uppercuts and huge hooks. And sure enough, just as the clapper sounded to signal ten seconds remaining in the fight, Hurd connected with a vicious right uppercut that dropped Santana to his knees. The hard-nosed veteran, who has only been stopped once in his 34 fight career, beat referee Arthur Mercante Jr.’s ten count just as the final bell chimed.
After his loss to Williams in May, Hurd declined to exercise his immediate rematch clause, thus pursuing a different avenue to get back to the top of the junior middleweight division. Williams went on to lose the titles he won from Hurd to Jeison Rosario in Atlantic City earlier this month.
Santana has now lost four of his last five contests.
On his defensive style, Hurd said afterward, “We came out here and did what we wanted to do. The crowd didn’t love it, but you gotta understand, I got the unanimous decision and I did what I wanted to do.”
He continued, “There was definitely no frustration. We didn’t want to go toe to toe and we didn’t want to make this a risky fight.
“We want the belts. We want the best. I’m not exactly sure what’s going to be the next move, but we want the belts.”
On the late knockdown, Santana said, “In the last round I wanted to come forward and close it hard, but I got a little bit careless for a second. In boxing you have to stay focused for every second of every round. He caught me with a good shot.
“I just wanted to keep coming forward and give it my all. I know I was frustrating him at times, but it was a tall task and I don’t make any excuses.”
Fulton Works His Way Past Khegai, Scores UD
In a battle between two previously unbeaten junior featherweights, highly touted Philadelphia prospect Stephen “Cool Boy Steph” Fulton (18-0, 8KO) scored a twelve round unanimous decision (117-111×2, 116-112) over Ukraine’s Arnold “Arni” Khegai (16-1-1, 10KO), resulting in Khegai’s first pro loss.
In the early goings, the 25 year-old Fulton kept his jab in Khegai’s face, keeping the smaller fighter at a safe distance. When Khegai was able to work his way past Fulton’s jab, the Philly native showed little desire to trade with the Ukranian and happily clinched time and again.
But the pressure kept coming from the Los Angeles transplant, Khegai, who methodically marched forward in round three as he did the previous two rounds. Except in this round, the 27 year-old began to close the gap a bit easier, scoring with hooks to Fulton’s body, while also finding a home for his right hand.
As the third round wound to a close, Fulton again initiated a clinch. But instead of obliging, a fed up Khegai body slammed Fulton to the canvas, earning a stern warning from referee Steve Willis.
In the fourth, Khegai kept the heat on and towards the end of the round, Fulton made a mistake that might have tilted a close round Khegai’s way. As the bell neared, with his back against a neutral corner, Fulton invited Khegai to fire away. Khegai did just that, and landed three big rights before Fulton’s failed attempt at spinning out of the corner with hopes to pin and punish Khegai.
Fulton halted Khegai’s momentum with a solid fifth round and started off the sixth by working diligently to Khegai’s body. But the Ukranian just kept coming and eventually backed Fulton into a corner where he unloaded chopping rights that proved to be the round’s memorable blows.
Fulton rallied with a big seventh that saw him hold his ground and become more aggressive. The Philly fighter ceased retreating, and instead, dug in and let his hands fly, forcing Khegai to retreat for the first time in the contest. Fulton kept his foot on the gas in the eighth, and continued to come forward and land on a tiring Khegai.
By the tenth, it looked like Fulton had completely flipped the script, as the Philly fighter was now the one walking Khegai into a corner before unloading.
But the stubborn Ukranian wouldn’t go quietly, and in the eleventh, Khegai dug deep and once again pressed the action, bullying Fulton into a corner before landing big rights.
At the end of twelve, all three judges scored the contest in favor of Fulton: 117-111×2, 116-112. 15Rounds.com scored the bout 116-112, Fulton.
Keeshawn Williams Outslugs Gaku Takahashi En Route To UD
In an eight round all-action welterweight affair, Keeshawn “The Next Big Thing” Williams (7-0-1, 2KO) bested Gaku Takahashi (16-11-1, 8KO), defeating him via unanimous decision (80-72, 79-73, 78-74).
The fight certainly didn’t lack offense, as both fighters traded and landed their fare share of leather round after round. However, it became clear early on that the 22 year-old Williams punches were heavier and thrown more precisely than Takashi’s, whose fists flew wide and were delivered with less pop.
As the fight bore on, Williams punches took their toll on the 32 year-old Takashi, whose face brightened, while a cut opened over his left eye.
But Takashi never stopped engaging, never backed up, and survived the full eight rounds.
When the final bell sounded, though, Takahashi stood dazed and winded. He was cognizant enough to exchange a slap of the gloves with Williams, but was too foggy to know which corner to return to. Fortunately, Takahashi cleared a brief medical assessment administered by NYSAC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Nitin Sethi, and was able to gather his bearings.
It was the third fight at the Barclays Center for the District Heights, MD product, Williams. He previously TKO’d Mario Navarro last August and drew with Dennis Okoth in 2018.
Takahashi, who fought just once in 2019, has now dropped four straight and hasn’t won since scoring a KO in Mexico in 2017.
Lorenzo Simpson UDs Antonio Louis Hernandez
In the first of three fights to be streamed on Showtime’s Youtube page, 19 year-old Lorenzo “Truck” Simpson (7-0, 4KO) grinded out and earned a six round unanimous decision (59-55×3) over fellow middleweight Antonio Louis Hernandez (2-11-1).
It wasn’t as easy a night at the office for Simpson as the wide scorecards might suggest, but the Baltimore-born southpaw continually did enough round after round to edge his counterpart.
Credit Hernandez, who’s more skilled than his record suggests, for not allowing Simpson to fight the fight he wanted to, making it more difficult than anticipated.
XXL Torres Lands Big, Scores KO2 Over Witkopf
In the first of seven fights from the Barclays Center, heavyweight prospect Steven “XXL” Torres (2-0, 2KO) brought the thunder, scoring a second round one-punch KO over Dakota Witkopf (1-2, 1KO).
Less than halfway through the round two, a visibly winded Witkopf walked into a perfectly thrown Torres straight right that collapsed him to the mat where doctors soon crowded his sprawled body. Upon hitting the canvas the referee waved off the contest, officially halting it at the 1:28 mark of round two.
Prior to the knockout, Witkopf, who has a Mixed Martial Arts background, held his own and may have won the first round. The 24 year-old Williamsville, NY native peppered Torres early in the fight left hands that landed without obstruction.
Tonight was the second time the 6’7” Torres fought at the Barclays Center and his second early KO in as many as pro bouts. The 21 year-old from Reading, PA scored a first round stoppage in his debut last month.
