With two fighters well into their 30s and each seemingly slumping toward the sunsets of their careers meeting in Friday’s main event in Temecula, California, Jose Zepeda-Ivan Redkach had the potential to be a retirement fight for whichever participant came up short.
And let’s hope so.
In the end – which perhaps came earlier than most expected – Zepeda was the fresher fighter, breaking down Redkach in no time flat, sending him to the canvas on three occasions and wrapping up a knockout victory inside two rounds at the Pechanga Resort & Casino.
For the 35-year-old Zepeda (38-5, 29 KOs), from La Puente, California, the win seemed to ensure he’ll fight another day – most likely again at welterweight, where he has had his most recent success and claims he feels reinvigorated.
“I definitely felt stronger, that’s for sure,” Zepeda told DAZN in the ring after the fight. “At 147, I think I have full energy – and I showed it today.”
He didn’t waste a moment demonstrating it, either. With Redkach keeping his hands high when he wasn’t lunging with loping left-handed strokes, Zepeda went to the body early and aggressively. Sure enough, less than halfway through the first round, Zepeda hit paydirt with a picturesque left hook to the liver. Redkach went down in agony – yet somehow managed to roll to his knees and rise to his feet by referee Rudy Barragan’s count of nine.
Zepeda immediately attacked with a jab and a flurry to the body before snapping off several uppercuts as Redkach retreated to a corner and tried desperately to shield the shifting areas where he was most vulnerable. Zepeda got off and landed at least a dozen punches before Redkach was ready to even attempt offering anything in return. Redkach managed to fend off Zepeda for the remainder of the round, but he was already gassed, on stiff legs and seemed at a loss for whether to protect his head or his tender flank.
“I mean, I trained really hard and I was confident in my conditioning,” Zepeda said. “So I threw a lot of punches compared to other fights. I worked a lot on my conditioning, and I think that’s what made the difference.”
In the second, Zepeda was methodical but no less ruthless, changing levels and picking apart Redkach with jabs, hooks and uppercuts. Zepeda didn’t hesitate when he spotted his target, blistering his opponent’s sides and again sending Redkach to the mat, this time to a knee after a sustained assault. Redkach was up immediately, standing casually with a gloved hand on his hip, but gulping for air as he waited out Barragan’s count.
When the fight resumed, Redkach tried to answer a Zepeda jab with one of his own, but he was already bailing out of the punch before following through. Zepeda seemed to sense the moment, swarming Redkach with punches aimed around his guard and driving him back against the ropes. When one of those offerings made it through clean – a booming left hook, on a return visit to the liver – Redkach was cooked. Grimace. Knee. Canvas. Barragan stepped in at 2:02 of the second to make the ending official.
Redkach (24-8-1, 19 KOs), a Ukrainian fighting out of Los Angeles, is 38 and now 1-4 in his past five fights – including three defeats by stoppage and a fourth in which he visibly bit Danny Garcia (and supposedly shouted “Mike Tyson!” for good measure). Now, it would seem, is as good a time as any to take his gloves and go home.
Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, has contributed to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Chicago Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be followed on X and LinkedIn, and emailed at [email protected].
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