WBC interim junior middleweight champion Serhii Bohachuk (24-1, 23 KOs) and Vergil Ortiz Jr. (21-0, 21 KOs) both weighed in successfully at Friday’s weigh-in for their main event fight this Saturday night, August 10th, live on DAZN at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas. Both fighters weighed in at 153.8 lbs.
Credit: Golden Boy / Cris Esqueda)
The event starts at 5:00 pm PT/8 pm ET on DAZN.
Vergil Ortiz Jr. is facing his first live body since moving up to 154 earlier this year, and it’s going to be interesting to see how well he stands up against the hard-hitting Bohachuk. Ortiz Jr. has fought exactly two rounds since moving up in weight, as both of his fights lasted one round.
The question is, will Vergil be able to hold up if Bohachuk is still standing after six rounds? Golden Boy Promotions have been protecting Vergil Ortz Jr. like they did Jaime Munguia for a decade, and we saw how that worked out for him once he was stepped up against a good opponent.
“He’s taller and longer; he has that right hand and that pressure. It’s a different type of pressure than Ortiz. Ortiz is menacing with his pressure. Every punch, he’s trying to knock you out,” said Sergio Mora to DAZN Boxing, talking about WBC interim junior middleweight champion Serhii Bohachuk and Vergil Ortiz Jr.
“This guy [Bohachuk] is real calm with his pressure, like a Kelly Pavlik. He’s menacing but very patient. Everything is really consistent. The next thing you know, guys are going down. It’s going to be a tremendous fight.”
Bohachuk attacks his opponents in all-out assaults, and he’s hard to deal with because he won’t stop throwing. He’s coming off a 12-round unanimous decision over WBC interim 154-lb champion Brian Mendoza on March 30th, and he looked outstanding in that fight. He beat Mendoza more impressively than Tim Tszyu had done.
“I wonder how Vergil Ortiz is going to take that power at junior middleweight because he’s had two fights at 154,” said Mora. “They have gone a total of less than two rounds. Fredrick Lawson went nowhere. Thomas Dulorme was toast after one round. Bohachuk is going to last a lot longer.”
If Ortiz Jr. can’t handle the power at 154, he’s not going to last long against Bohachuk because he’s going to be nailing him with withering fire on Saturday night. Egidijus Kavaliauskas had Ortiz Jr. hurt early in their fight in 2021 but faded before he could finish the job. Bohachuk punches a lot harder than him and he could be a menace.
“I think it’s going to see what Vergil Ortiz is made of in this fight when he goes up against a real junior middleweight puncher like Bohachuk. I think he gets it done, but it’s a very competitive fight until the very end.
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