Vergil Ortiz beats Serhii Bohachuk to become WBC Interim 154lbs Boxing World Champion

Vergil Ortiz Jr put on a fight of the year performance against his Ukrainian opponent Serhii Bohachuk as he survived two knockdowns to win a majority decision 114-112, 114-112, and 113-113.  Ortiz who was rated #5 by ESPN at Junior Middleweight entering the fight showed great resillance as he went to the decision for the first time in his career.

With more than 1,500 punches thrown between the two sluggers the fight had fans on their feet from the opening bell as Bohachuk dropped Ortiz  in round 1, which was originally ruled a slip, however with the use of instant replay was ruled a knockdown at the end of round 5 which scored round 1 as a 10-8 round.  In round 8 Bohachuk scored another knockdown.

It was a close fight where Bohachuk felt poor judging was at play, however Ortiz commanded the more damaging punches and controlled the fight for the majority of the action, winning the final 3 rounds on the score cards is ultimately what secured him the WBC belt.

Cris Cyborg has trained with Vergil Ortiz Sr. who worked as a corner for Cyborg’s first fight against Arlene Blencowe. She has had the opportunity for situational sparring with Vergil.  With the WBC Interim Belt fans are anticipating a fight with newly crowned 154lbss champion Terence Crawford.