Just three weeks into the new year, favored fighters from Philadelphia already have lost twice in televised main events in 2020.

Light heavyweight contender Joe Smith Jr. dropped and out-pointed Jesse Hart in a main event ESPN aired January 11 from Atlantic City, New Jersey. And Jeison Rosario, a huge underdog compared to Smith, stopped Julian Williams in the fifth round Saturday night of a 154-pound title fight FOX aired from Philadelphia.

Danny Garcia, who watched Williams’ loss from a ringside seat at Temple University’s Liacouras Center, is doing everything possible to avoid becoming the third Philadelphia fighter to suffer an upset defeat in January. Garcia (35-2, 21 KOs), a former welterweight and junior welterweight champion, is consistently listed as a 25-1 favorite over Ivan Redkach (23-4-1, 18 KOs) in a 12-round welterweight fight Showtime will broadcast Saturday night from Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

“He’s been looking good his last couple fights,” Garcia told BoxingScene.com regarding Redkach. “He’s a southpaw, so I definitely wanted to fight a southpaw, you know, to get ready for the bigger fights [against Errol Spence Jr. or Manny Pacquiao]. But I can’t overlook him. I know he’s hungry and I’ve gotta go in there and just handle my business.”

Ukraine’s Redkach was an underdog against Devon Alexander as well, yet he knocked out the southpaw from St. Louis in the sixth round June 1 in San Jacinto, California. Redkach floored Alexander (27-6-1, 14 KOs) three times in the sixth round of what was Redkach’s debut within the 147-pound division.

“I didn’t watch the whole Alexander fight,” Garcia said. “I just seen the highlights. I just seen the knockout. It was an impressive knockout. I saw the [John] Molina fight. He was winning that fight, but then he got caught.”

Molina, who retired recently, knocked out Redkach in the fourth round of a fan-friendly fight in which Redkach dropped Molina in the second round. Redkach was knocked down during the third and fourth rounds of their December 2017 fight in Lancaster, California.

His knockout loss to Molina was the second defeat inside the distance during Redkach’s 10-year pro career. Former WBC lightweight champ Dejan Zlaticanin (then 20-0) stopped him in the fourth round of a June 2015 bout in Birmingham, Alabama.

Redkach’s defeats to Zlaticanin and Molina came in fights contested at lightweight and junior welterweight, respectively. Garcia views Redkach as a refreshed fighter now that he competes at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds.

“Sometimes when you’ve been making weight your whole life and then you move up, you actually become stronger,” Garcia said. “And I think that’s what happened to him – he got stronger because he’s been squeezing himself down [to lightweight and junior welterweight]. Maybe he really is supposed to be a welterweight, so I can’t really look at him like the smaller man. I’m looking at him like he’s a strong guy. That’s what we’re getting ready for.”

Garcia-Redkach will headline a Showtime tripleheader scheduled to begin Saturday at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

Showtime’s opener will feature Philadelphia’s Stephen Fulton (17-0, 8 KOs), who’ll square off against Ukraine’s Arnold Khegai (16-0-1, 10 KOs) in a 12-round fight for the IBO super bantamweight championship. In the televised bout before Garcia-Redkach, former IBF/IBO/WBA 154-pound champion Jarrett Hurd (23-1, 16 KOs), of Accokeek, Maryland, will face Francisco Santana (25-7-1, 12 KOs), of Santa Barbara, California, in a 10-rounder.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.