Vergil Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) overcame two knockdowns to edge WBC interim Junior middleweight champion Serhii Bohachuk (24-2, 23 KOs) in an exciting razor-close twelve-round majority decision on Saturday night at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
It was all out slugging by both of these heavy-handed fighters. Bohachuk knocked Vergil, 26, down in rounds one and eight. They looked like slips in both instances, but Bohachuk landed punches to cause the knockdowns. So, they were ruled as legit.
The scores were 113-113, 114-112 and 114-112. The fight was close enough for it to go Bohachuk’s way. It easily could have been scored a draw, given that Ortiz had been dropped twice in the fight.
Vergil crowded Bohachuk in the later rounds, trying to take away his power and pushing him up against the ropes to land clubbing rabbit punches.
There probably won’t be a rematch because Vergil Ortiz and his promoters at Golden Boy are going to campaign for a fight against Terence Crawford.
In the second half of the fight, Vergil Jr. was doing a little bit more, connecting with his jab, throwing more punches than Bohachuk. However, the rounds were difficult to score because Bohachuk, the naturally stronger fighter, was landing the harder shots throughout the fight.
In the 10th and 11th, it appeared that Vergil stunned Bohachuk with a shot, but couldn’t finish him. He he recovered quickly landed some huge headshots that backed Vergil off. If Bohachuk was hurt, it didn’t affect his power because he nailed Vergil with some right hands that sent him retreating.
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh will be the one who determines whether Crawford fights Vergil Jr. Crawford can fight for full titles against WBC/WBO 154-lb champion Sebastian Fundora rather than for the interim WBC belt that Vergil Jr. won tonight. So, given that, it’s likely that he’ll go in that direction rather than waste time fighting for the partial belt. Again, it’ll be up to Turki what Crawford will do.
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