Serhii Bohachuk’s promoter, Tom Loeffler, isn’t happy with him losing his WBC interim junior middleweight title by a controversial 12-round majority decision against Vergil Ortiz Jr. on Saturday night at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
Loeffler feels that the scoring by the judges was off and that Bohachuk (24-2, 23 KOs) should have won the fight, especially given the two knockdowns he scored in rounds one and eight. One thing that Loeffler didn’t like was how the judges scored every close round in Vergil Jr’s favor.
Knockdowns Not Enough
With those two knockdowns, Loeffler felt confident that Bohachuk would get the decision. He was the champion and knocked Vergil (22-0, 21 KOs) down twice. The judges scored it 113-113, 114-112, and 114-112, with the last two giving it to Ortiz.
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh had the fight a 12-round draw, and he’d like to see a rematch.
“In a close fight, you say what’s going to make a difference is a knockdown. In this case, there were two knockdowns. We still didn’t get the decision,” said Manny Robles, the trainer for Serhii Bohachuk, talking about his controversial loss at the post-fight press conference on Saturday night after his fight with Vergil Ortiz Jr.
“One judge had it a draw, and the other two had it for Vergil.”
It’s a rarity for a champion to drop his opponent twice and become the loser in the fight. Bohachuk was pushing the fight, putting pressure on Vergil, and hitting him with the harder blows.
Questionable Judging in the 12th Round
“If you look at the 12th, all three judges gave Vergil the last three rounds,” said Tom Loeffler, the promoter for Bohachuk. “In the 12th round, his tape was coming undone. His nose was busted, his eye was busted, and he was breathing heavily.”
Vergil Jr. looked beaten up, tired, and in need of the tape time-out to be given on the 12th. The time out gave Vergil a rest because he was getting pummeled by Bohachuk before that, and the time out helped. Vergil still appeared to lose the round but was a little fresher after his time-out to have his glove re-taped.
“Serhii was coming forward and had momentum. They stopped the fight because his tape mysteriously came undone in this 12th round, and he still didn’t get that round. So, you can’t. You can’t give every close round to Vergil,” said Loeffler.
“Serhii was pressing the action; he was coming forward and landing more punches than Vergil. I know it was close, but I thought, ‘There’s no way they can overcome two knockdowns, and somehow, they figured out a way to do that.”
Bohachuk landed the much better shots in the fight, and got the better of Vergi but not the three Nevada judges that worked the fight.
“I think if we press for a rematch, if everyone is in agreement, I think the WBC will support their champion [Bohachuk] if there’s controversy with the scoring. So, I think they could mandate a rematch,” said Loeffler.
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