Vergil Ortiz Jr. (21-0, 21 KOs) says he believes he and WBC interim junior middleweight champion Serhii Bohachuk (24-1, 23 KOs) are going to come out quickly, throwing bombs without a feeling-out round on August 10th in their headliner at the Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Their event will be shown live on DAZN at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT.
(Credit: Golden Boy / Cris Esqueda)
Ortiz Jr. Confident After Move to 154
This will be the 26-year-old Ortiz Jr’s first quality opponent since he moved up to 154 earlier this year. He’s had two tune-up-level fighters against Thomas Dulorme and Fredrick Lawson in 2024, and now he’s ready to face the real thing in Bohachuk.
Vergil Jr. feels confident that he’ll be victorious based on his past sparring with Bohachuk, 29, but that may not be true. His opposition has been too pedestrian since moving up to 154 to gauge his actions against Bohachuk. There’s a huge difference between fighting Dulorme and Lawson and taking on a talent like Bohachuk.
Ortiz Jr. has his eyes on wanting to fight Terence Crawford if he defeats Bohachuk, but that doesn’t seem too likely.
Crawford wants a fight against Canelo Alvarez at super middleweight if he wants his next fight against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on August 3rd, and he’s probably not going to want to fight Vergil. That’s a backward step.
Explosive Start Predicted
“I feel a lot stronger and mentally as well. I feel more confident. So moving up to 154 made a big difference,” said Vergil Ortiz Jr. to Fight Hub TV, about his move up to junior middleweight from welterweight ahead of his fight against WBC interim 154-lb champion Serhii Bohachuk on August 10th.
Given that Vergil Jr. has knocked out both of his opponents in the first round since moving up to 154 earlier this year, it’s likely that he is punching harder. However, the shots that Ortiz knocked out Lawson and Dulorme with didn’t look all that hard, and you have to wonder if those two older fighters need to call it a day.
We’ll see on August 10th if Vergil Jr’s power is greater at 154 when he gets in with Bohachuk because this is a true world-class fighter. He’s coming off a win over Brian Mendoza, who might have more power than Ortiz Jr.
“For this fight, I’m very motivated. This is the most motivated I’ve ever been. It’s an interim world title,” said Vergil Jr. “It’s a belt, and they look like the rest of them. So, I’m very motivated about that. We have a tough opponent we’re going against. That’s another motivating factor.”
If Vergil can get his hands on the WBC interim title, he can use that to eventually get a title shot against the winner of the Sebastian Fundora vs. Errol Spence Jr. fight. That’s the fights that Vergil Jr is looking for. He wants either Fundora or Spence, preferably the latter, because he envisions battling at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
“I’m fighting for the third time. I have fought more than twice since 2019,” said Ortiz Jr. “Things are finally turning around. I want to be active. I’ve been asking to be active. Sometimes, opponents fall out. Sometimes it’s out of our control.”
Vergil Jr. doesn’t mention his health problems, but they’ve been why he’s not been active. It has nothing to do with his opponents falling out and everything to do with his fragile health. He falls apart quickly in camp, and when he’s not training, he gets ill too often, which you can blame for not wearing a mask.
“I’m very familiar with him. We shared a lot of rounds,” said Ortiz Jr. about Bohachuk. “I wouldn’t say I get any advantage because he was also learning from the sparring as well. I think we’re very familiar with each other, and I don’t feel like there’s going to be a feeling out round.”
Hopefully, Ortiz Jr. isn’t banking on his success against Bohachuk as a factor in their fight because it may not turn out that way. You don’t know whether Bohachuk was going all out in sparring or working on things the way intelligent fighters are trained to do. Only the insecure ones go all out, looking to knock out their sparring partners, which is silly and a waste of time.
Madrimov Sparring Controversy
“I feel like I got the best out of those sparring,” said Vergil Jr about his past sparring with Israil Madrimov. “If you’re going to talk about the sparring, at least tell the truth,” said Ortiz, reacting to Madrimov supposedly saying he was playing with him during the sparring. “If you don’t want to say the whole truth, then say, ‘It was good sparring.’ Just say that.”
Vergil feels he got some kind of fake victory in sparring with WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov, which shows his immaturity.
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