The Bogachuk-Ortiz fight is a contender for the title of “Fight of the Year”. The fighters did not throw less than 120 punches per round, and a rematch does not seem unlikely

“This is the fight of the year, baby,” phrasethrown by legendary former boxer, Hall of Famer and now promoter Oscar De La Hoya after the fight his ward Virgil Ortiz with Ukrainian Sergey Bogachuk for the latter’s title of interim WBC world champion in the light middleweight division, risks becoming prophetic.

In Las Vegas at the Michelob Ultra Arena Ortiz and Bogachuk put on such a spectacular showthat if there hadn’t been a heavyweight unification bout between Usyk and Fury this year, the fight between the American and the Ukrainian would have most likely become the show of the year. And the result – Bogachuk’s defeat by split decision – will definitely not affect Bogachuk’s future. And A rematch between the Ukrainian and Ortiz does not seem unlikely. We found five reasons why it might happen.

Firstly, the Bogachuk-Ortiz fight was really cool. The fighters did not throw less than 120 punches per round, and in some three-minute rounds the total number of punches thrown exceeded 140! It turns out that Bogachuk and Ortiz threw at least 0.7 punches per second per round, and in the first round – as many as 0.84 punches per second! By the way, the boxers delivered 490 punches to the target between them, an average of 41 punches per round.

Secondly, Bogachuk not only forced Ortiz to go the full distance for the first time in his professional career, but also knocked the American down twice.

Thirdly, the result of the fight was very controversial. Yes, Ortiz was more accurate and looked brighter in the final three rounds, in which he surpassed the Ukrainian in the number of punches thrown (before that, Ortiz managed to do something like this only in the second three minutes, when he “tried to take back” after his first knockdown in the fight in the first round of the fight), but he ended up on the canvas twice. Hence, the serious indignation at the final decision of both Sergey’s team and many representatives of the boxing community.

Fourthly, Ortiz’s team planned the fight with Bogachuk as an interim one before a possible fight with Terence Crawford. Yes, the Ortiz-Crawford fight has become closer, but whether the already mentioned De La Hoya will risk pitting his fighter against one of the best boxers in the world after what he saw in the fight with Bogachuk is a big question. In any case, slightly postponing the meeting with Crawford seems to be a logical decision.

Fifthly, and perhaps most importantly, the most influential and certainly well-funded professional boxing figure in the world, the Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia, Turki Al Al-Sheikh, also expressed his willingness to support a rematch. “It was a great fight. I think it was a draw. We want to put Ortiz against Crawford, but if he gets a rematch with this guy in the future, that would be awesome. We are thinking about Crawford versus Ortiz, but we can support that kind of rematch,” Al Al-Sheikh said immediately after the fight.

So we are watching the situation develop. Events may take the most unexpected turn.