conceding the round, boxing and clinching his way out of trouble. After all, it’s become such a common tactic that fight fans and broadcasters alike have been known to condemn a boxer for failing to take the safety-first approach. But Ortiz didn’t do that. He chose to trade with Bohachuk, pouring on the pressure and hurting him late, even though the round was ultimately scored 10-8 against him by all three of the official judges. He chanced his hand and it made for an exciting contest. The pace of the fight ultimately took its toll. In the final round, Ortiz and Bohachuk got tangled up in an accidental clinch. Referee Dock was quick to separate them. With a minute left in the bout, the two fighters tied up again, this time in earnest. Dock barely gave them a second for a breather, breaking them again. With 20 seconds left on the clock and both boxers clearly fatigued, Ortiz wrapped Bohachuk up and pushed him back to the ropes. Again, Dock was quick to intervene. This bout was a firefight
opponent. Left-right, bang, grab ahold of him. Force the referee to break and just keep doing that. “Holding is actually a foul. A lot of people don’t realize that. Other fouls, like hitting on the back of the head, punching to the groin, is a foul. Holding is also a foul, a deliberate foul. It’s not policed enough by referees. It needs to be. Realistically, it takes away from the action. It can make a good fight bad and an average fight horrible.” Vocale has a point. Think back to your favorite fights from any era. Go back and count the clinches. The smart money says they will be few and far between. In the Ortiz-Bohachuk fight, the action oscillated between long-range and
from start to finish. CompuBox reported that the combatants threw a combined total of 1,579 punches. Bohachuk threw 85 more punches, but Ortiz outlanded him by 40 blows. There are a couple of reasons the contest will live on long in the memories of fight fans. One, the willingness of the boxers to actually fight; and two, the strict adherence to the rules of Harvey Dock. “It’s difficult as a referee,” said Corey Erdman, who provided an excellent call of the action on DAZN alongside former middleweight contender Gabriel Rosado. “Say you have this unwritten rule where you give them three seconds to work their way out of a clinch and if
Serhii Bohachuk (left) and Vergil Ortiz Jr. were too busy fighting to make use of clinches during their barnburner.
close quarters, with the more compelling exchanges taking place on the inside. As early as the back half of the opening round, the two combatants stood in a phone booth and traded, displaying the sort of quality infighting skills that are a scarce commodity these days. The eighth round of the bout was telling. Early in the stanza, Bohachuk clipped Ortiz with a left hook that toppled him forward, his gloves touching the canvas. Although he wasn’t hurt, Ortiz could’ve been forgiven for
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