For Serhii Bohachuk, 2024 has been a year of figuratively rolling with the punches.
Bohachuk (24-2, 23 KOs) was supposed to fight Sebastian Fundora for the vacant WBC junior middleweight world title in March on the undercard of Tim Tszyu vs. Keith Thurman. But when Thurman got hurt, Fundora stepped in — and suddenly the main event was for both Tszyu’s WBO title and the WBC title. Bohachuk instead defeated Brian Mendoza for the interim WBC belt.
Then Bohachuk met Vergil Ortiz in August. He scored two knockdowns but lost a very close majority decision. His performance caught the eye of boxing financier Turki Alalshikh of Riyadh Season, who was there in attendance at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
Alalshikh approached Bohachuk and his promoter, Tom Loeffler of 360 Promotions, as they were exiting the ring.
“He thought Serhii won the fight and said he wanted him to be on the show in December,” Loeffler told me in an interview for United Boxing, a podcast I co-host.
That show is the December 21 rematch between heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, which will take place at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. It also helped that Loeffler has a good relationship with Alexander Krassyuk, who promotes Usyk.
Bohachuk will face Israil Madrimov, who lost his WBA world title to Terence Crawford a week before Ortiz vs. Bohachuk. Riyadh Season financed Madrimov-Crawford, which was held in Los Angeles.
“Madrimov is another tough fight, but I think it’s a winnable fight for Serhii,” Loeffler said. “This is another big opportunity for Serhii. If he can beat Madrimov, that means he’s had a tremendous year fighting Brian Mendoza, Vergil Ortiz. Remember, Vergil Ortiz at the time was 20-0 with 20 knockouts, and people were anticipating, they were actually betting that he was going to knock out Bohachuk, and when Bohachuk dropped him twice, that really opened up people’s eyes to, ‘Wow, Bohachuk’s really a tremendous fighter.’”
And he’s in an exciting and chaotic weight class, as I delved into in my most recent Fighting Words column.
The current titleholders are Crawford (WBA), Fundora (WBC and WBO) and Bakhram Murtazaliev (IBF). Then there are contenders such as Charles Conwell, Erickson Lubin, Mendoza, Ortiz, Jesus Ramos, the expected arrival of Errol Spence, the rebuilding of Tszyu, and the potential ascents of prospects Yoenis Tellez and Xander Zayas. Plus there’s the possibility that Jermell Charlo, formerly the undisputed 154-pound champion, could return to the division.
“It’s such a deep division. And you know, the great thing about working with Serhii is he just wants to fight the best,” Loeffler said. “You go down the list of any of those top names.”
Loeffler mentioned several, including Crawford, Spence, Charlo and Fundora. He also had brought up Tszyu, though our conversation took place a few days before Tszyu’s loss to Murtazaliev.
Loeffler also brought up a rematch with Ortiz.
“That’s always going to be there because I think that was the fight of the year,” he said. “Non-stop action, two knockdowns, a really exciting fight for the fans.”
But first Bohachuk needs to get by Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs).
“Madrimov would be a difficult fight for anybody,” Loeffler said. “It was a very close fight, and I think Madrimov has that kind of unusual, kind of herky-jerky style, but also a great amateur background from Uzbekistan. It’s a great matchup. […] You could argue that both of them could have won or should have won their [last] fights, however you want to look at it, so it’s as close [to] a world championship fight as you can get. It’s a huge statement, a testament to both guys willing to get back in the ring and willing to prove that they’re the best in the world.”
A victory would cap a fine 2024 for Bohachuk, with two wins and one loss, setting him up well for next year.
“We look forward to a big 2025 for Serhii, and if he can beat Madrimov, that’s just one step closer to his goal of winning another world title,” Loeffler said. “Any of those names are guaranteed fireworks. I mean, Bohachuk’s never in a boring fight. If he’s fighting a boxer, he’ll track him down, he’ll cut off the ring, and he just throws non-stop punches. He doesn’t have the Triple G [Gennadiy Golovkin] one-punch knockout power, but he’s so heavy-handed, and he just wears opponents down, where he had 23 knockouts out of 24 wins, So whoever you match him up with, it’s going to be an entertaining fight.”
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 and @UnitedBoxingPod. He is the co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
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