John Molina Jr. and Ivan Redkach's three-minute explosion in the third round of last week's PBC on FS1 card definitely lived up to the pre-fight hype many fans expected.
Best of PBC 2017: Round of the Year
We're back for Round 2 of the annual PBC Awards today as we take a look at the Round of the Year. Make sure to check back each day this week as we present a new honor for the best action from 2017.
As soon as the Dec. 15, 2017 bout between John Molina Jr. and Ivan Redkach was announced, fans immediately knew this matchup would produce fireworks! The pair of 140-pound brawlers didn’t disappoint either, each dropping one another to the canvas in the first two rounds.
But the back-and-forth slugfest really hit its crescendo in Round 3. After picking himself up off the mat in Round 2, Molina Jr., who resides in Covina, California, immediately changed the tide of the fight in his favor when he landed a perfectly placed right hand that dropped Redkach. While Redkach appeared to be in trouble of getting finished on the ropes, the Ukrainian southpaw now based in LA wore his heart on his sleeve as landed enough power shots that showed Molina he was anything but done—and caused the fans inside the Pioneer Event Center in Lancaster, California to roar with approval.
While Redkach would go on to lose in the next round, the 180 seconds of Round 3 proved worthy enough to earn the PBC’s Round of the Year honors over other top candidates that featured Carl Frampton vs Leo Santa Cruz 2 (January 28), Dominic Breazeale vs Izu Ugonoh (February 25), Travis Kauffman vs Amir Mansour (March 17), Justin DeLoach vs Nathaniel Gallimore (July 30) and David Benavidez vs Ronald Gavril (September 8).
For all of the year-end honors, visit our Best of PBC 2017 page.
