Junior middleweight Serhii Bohachuk had 10 days to prepare for his new opponent ahead of winning a 12-round unanimous decision over Brian Mendoza to claim the WBC junior middleweight interim title at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 30.
The judges scored the fight 118-110, 117-111, and 117-111 all in Bohachuk’s favor.
Bohachuk (24-1, 23 KOs) was originally facing the eventual star of the evening, Sebastian Fundora.
But after Keith Thurman was injured less than two weeks before the fight, Fundora stepped into the main event to fight Tim Tszyu and Fundora beat the Australian by a split decision.
Bohachuk ended up fighting Mendoza (22-4, 16 KOs) – who had been sparring – Tim Tszyu in preparation and although Mendoza had knocked out Fundora last year, he had also lost a hard-fought contest to Tszyu.
None of that mattered to Bohachuk, who earned the biggest win of his career in Vegas.
“[Switching from Fundora to Mendoza] might have been harder because Fundora is different, Fundora is special,” reflected Bohachuk. “You need to be ready for Fundora.”
So despite being moved off the pay-per-view and into the second fight on the free prelims, Bohachuk remained in good spirits.
“Mendoza is a good boxer, but I have sparring [with people similar to] Mendoza every time,” continued Bohachuk. “He is shorter, he is right-handed – it is not a big deal. Fundora is a strong boxer, he has a [good] punch, he is very strong.
“I told a lot of people that Fundora would win [against Tim Tszyu]. I think a fight with Fundora is possible, but not now, a little bit later.”
Lucas Ketelle is a proud member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and author of ‘Inside The Ropes of Boxing’ (available on Amazon). Contact him on X @LukieBoxing
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