Vergil Ortiz Jr walked away with the win on August 10, when he faced Serhii Bohachuk at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas. The contest saw the native of Grand Prairie, Texas challenging the interim WBC 154-pound champion of Ukraine.
The pair went head-to-head for 12 rounds, which marked the first time Ortiz Jr heard the final bell. In the first round Bohachuk threw a right hand and Ortiz went down for a moment, but it was ruled a slip. In the eighth round, Bohachuk scored a knockdown dropping Ortiz with a left hook, but the latter was protesting during the eight count showing he was all good. In the end, one judge scored the fight 113-113, while two other judges had 114-112 in favor of the representative of the country-host.
With the victory by majority decision, Vergil Ortiz Jr improved to 22-0, 21 KOs and remained undefeated. The 26-year-old super welterweight became a new WBC interim champion.
“This has been what we have been fighting for since I was five years old,” Vergil Ortiz Jr said. “Straight from school, go to the gym, do my homework and get straight to work. When I went pro, it was all day business – 24/7 boxing and it has finally paid off.”
“The first knockdown, I didn’t feel like it was a true knockdown, I felt like I hit his shoe, but the second one really was one.”
“I feel like I did enough to win this fight. I proved everyone wrong. Everyone was saying that I’m washed, that I can’t fight at 154, or that I can’t go the distance. All of that fueled me. I am the best in the world now.”
Serhii Bohachuk didn’t succeed in her first title defense and lost the belt. The LA-based 29-year-old former champion dropped to 24-2, 23 KOs, and got his six-fight winning streak snapped.
“People saw this fight today, and the real boxing fans who watched this fight know what happened tonight,” Serhii Bohachuk said. “I am feeling great. I knocked him down twice. I want to support my country, Ukraine, I want to say thank you to all the fans for all the support.”
In the co-main event, Charles Conwell (20-0, 15 KOs) of Detroit, Michigan stopped Khiary Gray (18-7, 13 KOs) of Worcester, Massachusetts at super welterweight. The official time was 2:32 into the second round.
Among other Bohachuk vs Ortiz results, Kenneth Sims Jr (21-2-1, 8 KOs) of Chicago eliminated Jonathan Romero (35-5, 19 KOs) of Colombia in five rounds at super lightweight. As well, Joel Iriarte (4-0, 4 KOs) of Bakersfield, California TKO’d Joel Iriarte (3-2, 1 KOs) of Springfield, Massachusetts in the first round of their bout at welterweight
In addition, Coachella-based IBF flyweight titleholder Gabriela Fundora (14-0, 6 KOs) of Palm Beach, Florida made her second successful championship defense by unanimous decision against Daniela Asenjo (16-4-3, 2 KOs) of Chile. After 10 rounds, all three judges scored the fight 100-90.