Promoter Eddie Hearn admits that WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov could injured or lose to Serhii Bohachuk in their fight on December 21st and miss out on facing Vergil Ortiz Jr. in their scheduled match on February 22nd.
Hearn states that His Excellency Turki Alalshikh asked Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs) if he’d be interested in fighting WBC interim 154-lb champion Vergil Jr despite having already been scheduled to battle Bohachuk (24-2, 23 KOs) on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk 2 on December 21st. Turki asked Madrimov if he’d take the fight with Ortiz Jr. if he won, and he said, “Yes.”
Madrimov’s Ambition
“You could get cut, you could damage your hand, or you could lose,” said Eddie Hearn to K.O. Artist Sports about the possibility of Israil Madrimov not making it out of his December 21st fight against Serhii Bohachuk to face WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. on February 22nd.
“It wasn’t like Madrimov didn’t push that fight with His Excellency. ‘Yeah, announce me.’ His Excellency said, ‘If you win, would you do that fight?’ ‘Yes.’ It’s a couple of weeks to that fight [Madrimov vs. Bohachuk]. So, we’ll see on the 21st, but Madrimov wants all the smoke at 154. If he goes Crawford, Bohachuk, and Ortiz, that’s a pretty impressive run. The guy deserves a lot of credit,” said Hearn.
The biggest concern for Madrimov is getting through the Bohachuk fight without suffering a cut or bad enough bruising that it’ll take many weeks to recover. With only 63 days in between the December 21st and February 22nd date, Madrimov can’t afford to recover for four to six weeks from the injuries he sustained in the Bohachuk fight.
The best strategy for Israil would be to use movement, and his boxing skills to stay out of harm way against Bohachuk. That’s what Vergil Jr. did in the 12-round majority decision win over him on August 10th.
Ortiz Jr. got the worst of it through the ninth round and was forced to box from the tenth round on to keep from getting knocked out. The judges gave Ortiz Jr. the win, but most fans on social media saw it going to Bohachuk based on his two knockdowns and dominance in the first nine rounds.
Madrimov didn’t campaign to fight WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. on February 22nd. But obviously, he wouldn’t say no to His Excellency when asked if he wanted him on the card. In the amateurs, Madrimov was accustomed to fighting frequently in his 350+ fight career and facing guys with better skills than Ortiz Jr. Obviously, the rounds weren’t as long, but it was not easy being as active as Madrimov was.