In the main event of a ProBox “Wednesday Night Fights” card in Plant City, Florida, Batyrzhan Jukembayev battered and stopped Ivan Redkach for a fifth-round stoppage victory.
At the pivotal moment, referee Christopher Young halted the fight at 2:11 in the fifth.
Operating in the 140-pound division, Jukembayev (23-1, 17 KOs) had the brighter start, flashing a far busier offense in Round 1. Combinations landed multiple times, punctuated by right hooks. The only outward signs of defiance from Redkach (24-7-1, 19 KOs) were a few jabs and a sarcastic tap to his own belly after Jukembayev landed a couple body shots.
The second round delivered more of the same. Jukembayev landed a vicious body shot that echoed through the building upon impact. Redkach, 38 years old and having been stopped three times in the past, had little to offer in response.
Redkach continued to taunt Jukembayev in the third, but he looked for all the world like a fighter who could no longer pull the trigger. Jukembayev fired a hurtful body attack late in the round, leaving Redkach shelled up in a corner. Redkach’s corner told their fighter that they would stop the fight if he didn’t want it, then that he had one more round to show differently.
The fourth was similarly one-sided. Redkach argued for one more round, but he couldn’t muster enough offense in the first two minutes of that session to prevent referee Young from saving Redkach from himself.
Though not a spring chicken himself at 33, and having suffered a loss to wrecking ball Subriel Matias, Jukembayev was the more energetic fighter throughout. His tight, straight punches to the head and hooks to the body found the mark consistently.
After the fight, broadcaster and analyst Paulie Malignaggi expressed a desire for Redkach to end his boxing career.
Jukembayev, with teammate Terence Crawford in attendance at the ProBox Event Center in Plant City, remained poised against his faded opponent. A loaded 140-pound division awaits.
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