Long hailed as one of the most exciting up-and-coming boxers in the sport, Vergil Ortiz takes a big step up in competition when he takes on Serhii Bohachuk on Saturday. Bohachuk’s WBC interim junior middleweight title will be on the line when the pair meets in Las Vegas.
Ortiz has finished all 21 men who have stepped into the ring with him as a professional, including back-to-back first-round knockouts of Fredrick Lawson and Thomas Dulorme in his first two trips to junior middleweight. In Bohachuk, Ortiz meets an opponent who similarly looks to finish every fight, with his most recent fight, a win over Brian Mendoza to win the interim belt, the only time Bohachuk has seen the final bell.
Bohachuk is an offense-first fighter who often doesn’t care to be defensively responsible. That has suited him well in his career to date and could well make for fireworks from the opening bell.
“It’s exciting because we’ve sparred before,” Ortiz said at the pre-fight press conference. “When two fighters don’t know each other they got to feel each other out. Well, I don’t think there’s going to be a feeling out round. We’re going to pick up right where we left off and it’s going to be an exciting fight.”
The WBC interim belt puts the winner in position to face WBC and WBO champ Sebastian Fundora down the road. Fundora is coming off a career-best win over Tim Tszyu.
In addition to Fundora, there are plenty of other big fights potentially waiting for the winner of Ortiz vs. Bohachuk, with the division thrown into a bit of uncertainty with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez pushing back on Turki Alalshikh’s efforts to force a fight between Alvarez and WBA junior middleweight champ Terence Crawford.
If Crawford chooses to stay at 154 pounds after a tougher-than-expected fight with Israil Madrimov, someone like Fundora or Ortiz would be about as good as it gets for him for “big fights.”
A fight with Tszyu could also be on the table. Ortiz was originally scheduled to face Tszyu this month, but Tszyu needed more time to recover from his title-losing performance against Fundora. Tszyu is still a big name and could bring plenty to a showdown with Ortiz in the future.
Ortiz vs. Bohachuk fight card, odds
- Vergil Ortiz -330 vs. Serhii Bohachuk (ic) +250, WBC interim junior middleweight title
- Gabriela Fundora (c) -1600 vs. Daniela Asenjo +750, IBF flyweight title
- Cecilia Braekhus vs. Maricela Cornejo, vacant WBC interim junior middleweight title
- Charles Conwell -3500 vs. Khiary Gray +1100, junior middleweights
Prediction
This is the kind of fight that should get any fight fan’s blood pumping. Both men will be coming in looking to take the other’s head off and it’s more likely than not that this will produce an action fight. It’s also a dangerous fight for Ortiz, which is what you want to see at this stage of his career as he readies to break through to the world championship level.
For all the danger Bohachuk presents, his defensive liabilities will likely be the difference here. Ortiz can crack and he’s technically sound. When Bohachuk is throwing the full weight of his offense at Ortiz, the openings will be there for Ortiz to change things with a single punch. That likely happens early, but Bohachuk will likely be able to gut it out in a way until the middle rounds. Pick: Vergil Ortiz via TKO5
