Ishmael Davis hasn’t had too long to prepare for junior middleweight contender Serhii Bohachuk, stepping in as a late replacement opponent just a couple of weeks before their fight, which will take place this Saturday on the undercard of Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury II.
But Davis feels he knows enough about Bohachuk to succeed in Riyadh.
“I watched the Vergil Ortiz when it went down [in August, when Bohachuk lost a narrow decision] and I’ve been watching a few of his fights. I know what he’s good at and I know what he’s not good at,” Davis said in an interview with Boxing News. “He’s not got the best IQ. He’s just a pressure fighter, just a straight, come forward, bang in your face, try to get you out of there sort of guy. My IQ beats him, and I get the win.”
This will be the second straight fight in which Davis has filled the role of substitute opponent. In September, Davis replaced an ill Liam Smith and fought Josh Kelly to a very close majority decision defeat.
And Davis (13-1, 6 KOs) draws a distinction between Kelly, whom he called negative, and Bohachuk, who prefers to come forward.
“I know that I’m a better boxer than him. If I use my brain, I can get through this fight. If I [am] stupid and I’m there for him to punch and sit there like most of his other ones that give him too much respect, like the [Brian] Mendoza fight [in March]. That was terrible for Mendoza. […] He just kept going back, just running from this corner to that corner to this corner, giving him too much respect. I’ve sparred people that when they give me that much respect, it gives you extra energy, you can just keep throwing and keep going. I’m not giving him no respect, so he’s going to have to think about what he’s doing instead of just being able to do what he wants.”
Bohachuk (24-2, 23 KOs) is himself no stranger to facing replacement opponents. Mendoza wasn’t his originally scheduled foe in March; Bohachuk was supposed to face Sebastian Fundora for the vacant WBC title on the undercard of Tim Tszyu vs. Keith Thurman. When Thurman got hurt, Fundora was called up to the main event, and the WBC belt was suddenly on the line for that bout instead.
Bohachuk still excelled, winning a wide decision over Mendoza. But there have been many examples over the years when a fighter has his eye on the future and doesn’t pay enough attention to what’s in front of him, or takes his opponent too lightly and ends up in a tougher fight than expected, or on the end of a shocking defeat.
The future isn’t always a distraction, though. It can also serve as motivation.
For Bohachuk, a win over Davis on Saturday will help set up the bigger fights he wants in 2025. As for Davis, scoring his biggest victory yet – easily surpassing his March decision over Troy Williamson – could mean that he gets another chance at another upset, a chance where he at last has a full training camp’s worth of preparation.
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