By Jake Donovan
BIRMINGHAM
—Dejan Zlaticanin punched his way into title contention after stopping Ivan Redkach in the 4th round of their lightweight eliminator Saturday evening at Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.
The battle of unbeaten lightweights—which aired live on SHO Extreme—was designed to set up a mandatory challenger for reigning titlist Jorge Linares.
Zlaticanin came up big, forcing an aggressive pace to offset his challenger's size advantage. Redkach could never establish a rhythm, as he was outboxed early and eventually overwhelmed.
An injury stoppage nearly came about in round three, when Redkach—already drilled by a low blow earlier in the round—had his vision momentarily compromised from an accidental clash of heads. Time was called to allow the ringside physician to examine the transplanted Ukrainian, who now fights out of Robert Garcia's Boxing Academy in Oxnard, California.
The action continued, and so too did Zlaticanin's attack. The southpaw from Montenegro dialed up the heat in round four. An overhand left put Redkach on the deck for the bout's lone knockdown. Redkach beat the count, but was already heading downhill. Zlaticanin jumped on his wounded prey, unloading along the ropes until the referee intervened to halt the contest.
The official time of the stoppage came at 1:24 of round four.
Redkach suffers his first as a pro, falling to 18-1 (14KOs).
Even with the alibi provided from accidental fouls, his team accepted the defeat in style. Trainer Robert Garcia immediately entered the ring, thanking the referee for his effort and congrulating Zlaticanin on a job well done.
For Zlaticanin, it's his third major win in as many years. The night also turned out to be a stateside debut to remember, as he improves to 21-0 (13KOs). Having previously scored decision wins over Petr Petrov and Ricky Burns, the knockout win over Redkach cements his status as a legitimate player in a lightweight division in desperate need of a hero.
Up next is a mandatory title shot versus Linares, who is fresh off of a 10th round knockout of Kevin Mitchell in their gory thriller last month in England.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox