On Wednesday, December 19, DiBella Entertainment (DBE) will present the latest installment of its popular Broadway Boxing series, with a special-edition Hurricane Sandy benefit card taking place at Roseland Ballroom in New York City.
In the co-featured bout of the evening, DBE’s red-hot lightweight prospect Ivan Redkach (12-0, 11KO’s) will look to make it a perfect 4-0 with four knockouts in 2012 when he squares off against New York’s Edward Valdez (11-8-2, 8KO’s) in an eight-round contest.
A native of Ukraine, Redkach, who now lives and trains in Los Angeles, had a stellar amateur career, which saw him compile a 260-40 record and culminated in him representing his native country at the 2008 Olympics.
Redkach turned pro on November 3, 2009, scoring a vicious first round TKO over Keith Kelly. By June 2011, Redkach had improved his record to a perfect 6-0, 5KO’s, and had earned himself an exclusive promotional contract with DBE. Redkach would make his DBE debut on June 4, 2011, on the undercard of Carl Froch’s super middleweight title defense against Glen Johnson at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ, scoring a sixth-round TKO over Alberto Amaro.
Since the bout against Amaro, Redkach has completely annihilated every opponent he has stepped into the ring against, including three consecutive first-round stoppages in 2012. In fact, the only opponent Redkach doesn’t own a TKO or KO victory over in his 12 career bouts was disqualified for excessive holding. While Lou DiBella is ecstatic about his young charge, predicting a world championship for Redkach sometime in the near future, he is by no means the only one who has been blown away by the 26-year-old southpaw’s power and relentless style.
After witnessing one of his bouts earlier this year, 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 most recent one-round destruction of Tebor Brosch at Roseland Ballroom on October 24, the highly regarded Mike Woods, who covers for TheSweetScience.com and ESPN.com, proclaimed, “This kid scared me. He put bad thoughts into my head.”
At this point in his career, the sky truly is the limit for Redkach. DiBella has big plans for his lightweight prospect in 2013, including some much deserved national television exposure, but first he must take care of business on the December 19 against Valdez. Just a friendly reminder for any fight involving Redkach: Get there early, and don’t blink.
The special edition of Broadway Boxing will air live on FIGHT NOW TV-America’s only 24-hour combat sports and entertainment channel-starting at 9 p.m. ET. Proceeds from the show, which will include a silent auction of sports memorabilia, will be donated to the American Red Cross. The main event features Queens, NY, contender Will “Power” Rosinsky (16-2, 9KO’s) taking on Otis Griffin (24-10-2, 10KO’s) in a 10-round light heavyweight matchup.
