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Two of Philly’s best fighters both posted convincing victories in their respective high-profile, nationally televised twelve-round fights on Showtime Saturday night. Former two-time world champion and current welterweight contender Danny Garcia put in twelve strong rounds against southpaw Ivan Redkach Saturday night in Brooklyn, NY. Garcia, fighting for the first time in nine months, dominated most of the action against Redkach and with the win kept himself in the hunt for a major bout later in 2020. The going theory was that Redkach was selected for his left-handedness, a characteristic that would help give Garcia some practice before facing either Errol Spence Jr. or Many Pacquiao, both southpaws. Redkach was over-matched in the fight, but did provide Garcia some sturdy resistance for the full thirty-six minutes of the bout. Making his eighth main event appearance at the Barclays Center, Garcia, 36-2, 21 KOs, cruised to an easy unanimous decision victory by scores of 118-110 and 117-111 twice. Redkach fell to 23-5-1, 18 KOs.
Garcia was never in danger during the fight. He peppered Redkach with his jab and consistently mixed in stiff right hands as he moved the Ukrainian around the ring. Garcia’s power punching and control of the pace kept Redkach at bay and unable to make much happen in his favor. However, Ivan remained a durable opponent throughout.
This date, January 25, was to have been Garcia’s opportunity to face IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence. However, the car accident suffered by Spence last October forced a postponement of that pairing. As Spence recovers from the crash, it appears that he will eventually select either Garcia or Pacquiao as his next challenger. If Spence chooses Manny, Danny claims he will move up to the junior middleweight division. Garcia’s win over Redkach earned him the WBC Silver title belt and made him the top contender for Spence’s WBC belt.
Fulton won by a wide margin, but had to work hard to stifle his aggressive and rugged opponent. Khegai landed some hard punches in the fight and pressed the action most of the way. However, Fulton’s impressive boxing skills ruled the night. After the boxers traded a couple of the early rounds, Fulton pulled away on the scorecards, winning most of the fight’s remainder except for a brief late surge by Khegai. The official judges’ awarded the decision to Fulton by comfortable tallies of 116-12 and 17-111 twice.
Along with welterweight Jaron Ennis, Fulton is poised as Philly’s next big hope for a world title. Both boxers are clearly the city’s two most skilled young fighters and both find themselves on the brink of the big time. Thanks to his win on Saturday, Fulton should now receive a shot at WBO champ, Mexican Emanuel Navarrete, 30-1, 26 KOs, currently four defenses into his title reign. It is a sizable assignment, but Fulton clearly has the goods to become champion.
Danny Garcia, has never fallen too far from the top of the 147 pound division. Both of his losses – to Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter – were narrow defeats by just a point or two. Although the bulk of his career is behind him, Danny still has many big fights on the horizon, if he can keep winning. By facing either Pacquiao or Spence, Garcia should earn his biggest payday to date. Further, the welterweight class is arguably the most talent-rich division in all of boxing. With rematches against Thurman and Porter looming and possible matches with Mikey Garcia, Terence Crawford, and other on the horizon, Garcia finds himself in position to string one big fight after another.
The victories by Garcia and Fulton on Saturday night snapped a disturbing current string of bad luck for Philly boxers. On the two previous weekends both Jesse Hart (January 11) and Julian Williams (January 18) were dished major upsets in their main event bouts.
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