Serhii Bohachuk and Vergil Ortiz Jr. were not the first option for the other.
Yet, their fight is somehow the best-case scenario for both.
Golden Boy Promotions and 360 Promotions confirmed the mouthwatering matchup between top junior middleweights. Bohachuk risks his interim WBC 154-pound title atop an August 10 DAZN show from Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas.
“Serhii has gone through so much,” 360 Promotions founder Tom Loeffler told The Ring. “Enduring the invasion of his country while waiting for his visa to come back to the United States. He received special permission as a professional athlete to continue his boxing career.”
Bohachuck (24-1, 23 knockouts) has won six in a row since a March 2021 stoppage defeat to Brandon Adams (24-3, 16 KOs). Chief among them was his March 30 points win over Brian Mendoza to claim the secondary WBC 154-pound title.
The fight was a compromise made by Bohachuk, No. 4 at 154 by The Ring, who was originally due to face Sebastian Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs). A lineup change saw Fundora instead face and defeat Tim Tsyzu (24-1, 17 KOs) to win the WBO and vacant WBC full titles.
Bohachuk, a 29-year-old Ukrainian based in Los Angeles, settled for the interim title fight versus Mendoza. The agreement came with the assurance that he’d face the winner but the WBC has yet to order the fight. Fundora, The Ring’s No. 1-rated junior middleweight, is reportedly due to next challenge former unified welterweight titlist Errol Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) in the fall.
Fittingly, Bohachuk landed this opportunity when Tszyu was unable to procced with his planned clash versus Ortiz (21-0, 21 KOs). Tszyu-Ortiz was due to grace the Aug. 3 Riyadh Season show at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. However, Tsyzu was forced to withdraw due to a cut from the Fundora fight that hadn’t fully healed in time to receive medical clearance.
That led to Bohachuk putting his secondary title at stake versus Ortiz on a Golden Boy-promoted show one week later.
“We’re looking forward to a big win for Vergil Ortiz,” said Oscar De La Hoya, head of Golden Boy Promotions. “It’s a tough fight, a tough opponent. But it will be his first official world title fight.”
Ortiz was in line for a secondary welterweight title shot last summer. However, he withdrew days before his rescheduled July 8 challenge of WBA ‘Regular’ titlist Eimantas Stanionis.
The fallout saw Ortiz go all of 2023 without a fight and inactive all the way back to August 2022. The 26-year-old from Grand Prairie, Texas has made up for lost time with a pair of first-round knockouts earlier this year.
Now comes the part where his side hopes the high risk leads to a greater reward.
“I’m looking for Vergil Ortiz to become the next superstar in boxing,” insisted De La Hoya, a Hall of Fame former six-division titlist. “He’s 21-0 with 21 knockouts. You don’t get to that place without having the talent and abilities to be the very best.”
Bohachuk is right at that doorstep.
“Serhii won the WBC Interim World Title and now looks forward to defending it while fighting for Ukraine in the ring,” stated Loeffler. “Vergil Ortiz is a very dangerous opponent, but nothing will stop Serhii from being victorious.”