On the night of August 10-11, Bogachuk lost to Ortiz by majority decision
Former world champion and now analyst Paul Malignaggi called on the Chairman of the General Authority of Entertainment of Saudi Arabia Turks of Al ash-Sheikh arrange a rematch of the fight between the Ukrainian Sergei Bogachuk (24-2, 23 KOs) vs. WBC interim light middleweight champion Virgil Ortiz (22-0, 21 KO).
“One thing I don’t like about Turki Al Al-Sheikh is that he talks like he’s doing warm-up fights. He keeps talking about which fight he’s going to do after which fight. There are no warm-up fights. You can’t predict the winners. We saw that when he tried to make Joshua-Wilder. Turki underestimated Zhilei like he didn’t exist, and then Zhang knocked Wilder out and that fight fell through.”
“Right now, Turki is doing the same thing with Crawford and Vergil Ortiz. Since Terence didn’t get the Canelo fight, Al Al-Sheikh is saying he’s going to give him the Ortiz fight. Dude, Ortiz and Bogachuk just fought neck and neck. About half the world thinks Bogachuk won. Don’t you think about doing a rematch instead? Why are we trying to push the Crawford-Ortiz fight? And Turki was saying that before the Vergil-Bogachuk fight.”
Let us recall that the fight took place on the night of August 11 in Las Vegas. The fight was equal and as close as possible. During the confrontation, the Ukrainian knocked his opponent down twice, although Virgil himself does not think so.
However, the judges’ decision was in favor of the local boxer: one referee counted it as a draw in his notes (113:113), while the other two gave a minimal advantage to Ortiz (114:112, 114:112).
One way or another, this result means the following: Ortiz took the WBC interim champion title from Bogachuk and remained undefeated in the professional ring.
Robert Garcia, Ortiz’s trainer, believes that the Ukrainian “definitely deserves a rematch.” The likelihood of a repeat fight is not zero, especially if the American’s side fails to agree on a fight with former absolute champion in two weight categories Terence Crawford.
Source: Sportarena
I am Ashley Ortiz and I am a professional journalist working for Athletistic. My specialty is in sports journalism, particularly boxing. I have written articles for some of the most renowned publications on the subject, and my work has been featured across both print and digital media platforms.
