Thirteen days later, Vergil Ortiz Jr. will challenge WBC interim junior middleweight champion Serhiy Bohachuk at the Michelob Ultra Arena at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on August 10. The two fighters will headline the card, which begins at 5pm ET and will be broadcast live on DAZN.
Bohaczuk's remarkable rise
It's hard to predict who will win the Ortiz-Bohachuk fight, as both fighters have been on a roll lately. The 29-year-old Bohachuk has the better wins, having defeated Brian Mendoza at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on March 30 to win the WBC interim junior middleweight title.
In contrast, Virgil has several wins over journeyman Frederick Lawson and Thomas Duhomme, who are nowhere near top-level fighters.
Ortiz Jr. (21-0, 21 KOs) is confident he will defeat Bohaczuk (24-1, 23 KOs) and then face the winner of the bout between WBC 154-pound champion Sebastian Fandora and Errol Spence for a world title shot.
“I wanted to fight him because I wanted to fight the best. That's my goal. I want to be the best,” Serhiy Bohachuk told Golden Boy Boxing about why he wanted to fight Vergil Ortiz Jr. on August 10.
If Bohachuk's goal is to become a sudden favorite, a fight with Vergil Ortiz would be the answer. A win over Ortiz Jr. would generate a lot of attention from fans, especially if it was by knockout or domination.
“I've sparred with him before, and sparring is sparring. You learn. It's a different way of fighting. I know the guy. He's strong, he's smart, he's a hard puncher,” Bohachuk said of Ortiz Jr. “He's in good condition. He's a good fighter, but I'm better.”
Bohachuk didn't say when he sparred with Virgil. It doesn't mean much if the sparring took place years ago, but it appears that it did. Ortiz Jr. is now 26 years old and has only fought twice in the past two years due to health issues. He has changed a lot and aged without fighting high-level opponents.
Bohaczuk's game plan
“I want to give the fans a good fight. I'm not interested in easy boxers,” Bohachuk said. “It's not interesting for me, it's not interesting for the people. My goal is to give my friends and the people a good fight. I think it will be the best fight of the year because I know Virgil. He's strong and I'm strong. This is not a fight. It's a war in the ring.”
Bohachuk is lucky to be in this fight because a lot of fighters will want to avoid him after what he did to Brian Mendoza. It would be great if he could beat Ortiz and get Bohachuk in some more entertaining fights, but that's unlikely.
“I've known his style before, but he's changed. He's become more skilled,” Bohachuk said of Virgil Jr. “Now he understands that he needs to be 100% prepared for this fight. I'm strong too. I was in good shape last time I sparred with him, but now I have to be better because he knows me. He's changed. I think he'll be a lot faster in this fight. He won't throw more power punches. He'll be a lot smarter,” Bohachuk said.
I don't think Virgil Jr. has changed. He's just not trying so hard to make weight now that he's not fighting at 147, and he's just gotten bigger since he started fighting at 154. He should have moved up to 154 a long time ago because he was too big for welterweight.
I understand why Virgil Jr. stayed at welterweight for so long was because that's where the money was. He wanted to fight Terence Crawford, Errol Spence and Shawn Porter. Unfortunately, health issues prevented him from staying healthy long enough to take those fights.
