Soboba Casino: Redkach KOs Alexander and Another Heavyweight Shocker

SAN JACINTO, Calif.-You never know what to expect when southpaws face each other but you can bet it won’t be boring.

Ivan Redkach used a left-handed uppercut to floor former world champion Devon Alexander and win by knockout in a welterweight showdown on Saturday.

Lefties. You got to love them.

Redkach (23-4-1, 18 KOs) walked in with a team consisting of two Hall of Fame fighters and one current world champion and defeated Alexander’s (27-6-1, 14 KOs) team that was led by another Hall of Fame fighter at Soboba Casino. He emerged with the winner and all celebrated at the desert casino located 20 miles southeast of Riverside.

It was a battle of veterans looking to redeem their status in the talented welterweight division. Alexander had a team led by Roy Jones Jr. and Redkach’s group consisted of Sugar Shane Mosley, Leo Santa Cruz and the great Roberto “Hands of Stone” Duran. Now that’s impressive backup.

Both looked tentative as is always the case when lefties fight lefties. It’s very uncommon for southpaws to face each other. It took both fighters a few rounds to make the necessary adjustments.

It was clear that Alexander seemed to be a few ticks slower than in his heyday and that Redkach might still be harboring nervous ticks from being blown out against John Molina in December 2017. Redkach was winning that fight but Molina pulled it out.

Both corners spent time shouting instructions that seemed to be accurate. The only problem was if their charges could pull the trigger.

At the end of the fifth round Redkach was admonished by Mosley who instructed him how to deliver a right hook left uppercut combination. It remained to be seen if he could mimic the master.

“I practiced that punch every day,” said Redkach. “Every single day we worked on that left hand and it did what I needed it to do.”

In the sixth round Redkach used that same Mosley instructed combination and down went Alexander like a bag of old boxing gloves. Somehow the St. Louis prizefighter made it to his feet, but he looked shaky. The referee allowed him to continue and down Alexander went again from a left uppercut-right hook combo. Alexander got up again. Another left uppercut-right hook sent Alexander down again but this time referee Tom Taylor waved the fight over at 1:10 of the sixth round.

“We felt that going the distance with the champion doesn’t go in your favor,” said Mosley. “I told him, ‘you need to go out there need to go out there and knock him out.’ That is what we practiced and that is what he did.”

Middleweights

Middleweight contenders battled in a 10-round clash with Willie Monroe (24-3, 6 KOs) pulling out the victory by unanimous decision after a fast start against Southern California’s Hugo Centeno Jr. (27-3, 14 KOs).

Monroe, a slick southpaw from New York, jumped out to a fast start against the taller Centeno with his quick jabs and combination punching. By the time Centeno got into gear he was already a few rounds behind.

Centeno seemed unworried by the slow start and never seemed to put the clutch in. He may have relied on knocking down Monroe. That never happened. After 10 rounds the judges had it 98-92, 97-93, 96-94 for Monroe.

Heavyweight Surprise

Another heavyweight shocker saw Northern California’s Rodney Hernandez (13-7-2, 4 KO) face the much taller Nigerian Onoriode Ehwarieme (17-1, 16 KOs) and knock him out in the first round. Ehwarieme ran into a stiff left jab by Hernandez and was then blasted out by two left hooks that crashed the undefeated fighter to the floor. Though the Nigerian fighter got up, he was visibly shaken and the fight was stopped by referee Rudy Barragan at 2:59 of the first round.

“I’m very calm but I like to throw fists,” said the smiling Hernandez of San Jose, California.

Jose Balderas (7-0, 2 KOs) won the battle of undefeated bantamweights with a knockout win over Wisconsin’s Julio Garcia (3-1, 2 KOs). After Garcia won the first round with combination punching, Balderas took over the fight with long jabs and strong combination punching. Balderas floored Garcia with an overhand right in the third round. When the fight resumed Balderas floored Garcia with a left hook to the body to end the round.

Garcia looked for a solution in the fourth round but a right and left to the body by Balderas sent the Wisconsin fighter to the ground once again. He got up and was sent to the floor again with a right to the belly. The fight was stopped at 2:18 of the fourth round.

“The game plan was to use my distance,” said Balderas. “I learned to be more confident.”

A featherweight battle saw Philippines southpaw Jhack Tepora (23-0, 17 KOs) out-punched Chicago’s Jose Luis Gallegos (16-7,12 KOs) over 10 rounds to win by unanimous decision. All three judges scored it the same 99-91 for Tepora.

Justin Cardona (3-0, 2 KOs) won by early knockout over JC Sanders (0-3). The end came at 1:56 of the first round in their super lightweight fight. Cardona fights out of Salinas, Calif. Sanders is from Louisiana.

Photo credit: Sean Michael Ham

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