While most of the boxing world will be focused on the mega fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez this Saturday in Las Vegas, DiBella Entertainment’s Danny “Bhoy” O’Connor (22-1, 7KO’s) and Ivan Redkach (14-0, 12KO’s) will also be seeing action in separate bouts.
O’Connor is scheduled to take on the always-tough Raul Tovar (11-7-1, 4KO’s) in an eight-round welterweight matchup in the feature bout of the 12th annual “Fight to Educate” charity card on Saturday night at the Verizon Wireless Center, in Manchester, NH. The night before, at the Twin River Casino in Lincoln, RI, Redkach will square off against Antonio Sanchez (5-1-2, 3KO’s) in a six-round junior welterweight matchup.
It will be the fifth time that O’Connor, the 2008 National Golden Gloves and 2008 United States amateur champion, has participated in this charity event, with O’Connor going a perfect 4-0 in his previous outings.
The lone blemish on O’Connor’s overall record came at the hands of WBC #14-rated junior welterweight contender Gabriel Bracero in April 2011, televised on SHOWTIME’s ShoBox: The New Generation. After the loss to Bracero, O’Connor began training under the tutelage of highly regarded trainer Ronnie Shields and brought in Ken Casey, the lead singer of the popular band Dropkick Murphys, as his manager.
O’Connor has since earned eight consecutive victories, with four coming inside the distance, and has grown into one of the most popular fighters throughout the entire New England region. O’Connor, who is coming off a victory just a few weeks ago on August 24, is hoping to crack into the welterweight world ratings in 2014, but he must first take care of Tovar.
Tovar began his career a perfect 5-0, and holds victories over two previously undefeated fighters during his six-plus-year professional career. Last year, Tovar lost a close eight-round unanimous decision to undefeated prospect Chris Algieri.
The WBC #14-rated Redkach, went a perfect 4-0, 3KO’s, in 2012, with all three stoppages coming in the very first round. After witnessing one of his bouts in 2012, esteemed reporter Doug Fischer, of Ringtv.com, stated, “Ivan Redkach is a stud; best lightweight prospect with less than 20 bouts. I think he can beat most prospects with 20+ bouts.”
After his one-round destruction of Tebor Brosch at Roseland Ballroom on October 24, the highly regarded Mike Woods, who covers boxing for TheSweetScience.com and ESPN.com, proclaimed, “This kid scared me. He put bad thoughts into my head.” After being featured on Dan Rafael’s 2012 “Prospects to Watch” list, Redkach began 2013 right where he left off the previous year, scoring a devastating first-round stoppage over Sergio Rivera in February.
After the bout against Rivera, Redkach was forced to sit on the sidelines while he sorted out some issues with his team. With everything now settled, including hiring a new manager in Larry Army, Redkach is looking to make the transition from top prospect to legitimate world title contender in 2014.
