Tim Tszyu says last night’s fight between WBC interim junior middleweight champion Serhii Bohachuk and Vergil Ortiz Jr. could have been a draw or a victory for Bohachuk (24-2, 23 KOs) due to the two knockdowns he scored in the contest.
A Close Call: No Clear Winner
The former WBO 154-lb champion Tszyu states that he had Vergil Jr. winning 7-5, but with him being knocked down in rounds one and eight, it should have been a 12-round draw or a victory for Bohachuk.
It was a close enough fight to where there shouldn’t have been a winner because it looked like a draw. It’s difficult to make a case for either fighter winning the contest. The judges scored it 113-113, 114-112 and 114-112.
Even if you lean in Vergil’s favor, the two knockdowns he suffered and the heavy punches he took from the stronger puncher Bohachuk make it hard to give him the win.
“I think 7-5 Ortiz, but with the two knockdowns, it could be either even or Bohachuk in front. It’s boxing. You never know,” said Tim Tszyu to the Fight Hub TV YouTube forum, reacting to the Serhii Bohachuk vs. Vergil Ortiz Jr. fight last night in Las Vegas.
“That was crowd-pleasing, for sure. It was a cracking fight. These two are warriors. They put on a proper show. This was his [Vergil] first proper fight at 154. It’s a different club at 154.”
The Power of Bohachuk’s Punches
In the first eight rounds of the fight, Vergil had problems taking right hands and left hooks from Bohachuk. The right hands that Bohachuk threw were crushing shots that drove Vergil’s head back on impact. You could see how powerful Bohachuk was on those punches, and Ortiz took many of them. Bohachuk’s right-hand power is on the level of Gennadiy Golovkin, and Vergil was hit with so many of those punches.
They did a lot of damage to him. In the 11th and 12th rounds, Vergil looked weary and hurt, getting knocked back when nailed by Bohachuk’s shots. The convenient loose tape that appeared in round 12 looked like a contrived thing to buy Vergil time to recover because he was taking a beating from Bohachuk.
In rounds 9-12, Vergil Jr. changed his game plan, using more jabs and movement to try to neutralize Bohachuk. It worked well, but Vergil Jr. still got hit with massive shots from Bohachuk because he was fighting at a distance where he was more powerful. Bohachuk’s shots weren’t as hard in close as they are when he’s on the outside.
If Golden Boy Promotions chooses to match Vergil Ortiz Jr. against Terence Crawford next, the outcome could depend on the aging of the Nebraska native. Crawford looks old now, and the version we saw of Vergil Jr. last night would be pure trouble for him. If Crawford sits out of the ring for a year before fighting Ortiz, he’ll have deteriorated even more.
Read the full article here
