Serhii Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) looked strong in dispatching Ismael Davis (13-2, 6 KOs) in a sixth-round TKO for the WBC junior middleweight title last Saturday night in Riyadh.
Bohachuk’s power display
The fight was stopped after the sixth round by referee Hector Afu after Davis’ corner opted to stop the fight. With the hard shots Bohatchuk had hit him in the fifth and sixth rounds, Davis would not have made it past the seventh undefeated. The official stoppage time was 3:00 of the sixth round.
Over four rounds, the bout was competitive at times, with Ismail having brief moments, but mostly getting pounded royally by Bohatchuk. In the fifth and sixth, it was one-sided with Ukraine’s Bohatchuk hitting Davis at mid-range and close range.
Bohachuk vs. Davis Punch Stats
– Ishmael Davis: 65 of 223 punches for 29.1%
– Serhii Bohachuk: 135 of 414 for 32.6%
Most of Bohachuk’s shots landed in the fight were hard punches, which explains why he quickly wore Davis down to stop in the sixth round. Bohachuk connected with 108 punches and 27 jabs out of 414 punches thrown in the fight. He had excellent accuracy on his power punches, landing 41.1% of them. That’s a high number for a fighter with Bohachuk’s power.
Davis outmatched
Surprisingly, Davis thought he could fight Serhi on the inside. What a mistake. Bohhachuk’s short punches resembled the shots thrown by lightweight champion Artur Beterbiev. They don’t look like they’re powerful, but they do damage. It was interesting that Davis didn’t try to adjust by walking away, but it probably wouldn’t have mattered.
Davis promoter Eddie Hearn looked sad in the crowd after watching him go down from a left hook from Bohachuk in the second round. Ismail, 29, had fought well in the first round, landing a right hand that momentarily backed up former WBC 154-pound interim champion Bohachuk.
Davis pinned Bohachuk with a nice right hand in the fourth round, but it wasn’t enough to put him down. Serhii continued to press him, hitting him hard and not letting him take a long breath between attacks.
Davis’ movement wasn’t nearly enough to stop Bohatchuk from cutting off the ring and continuing to pound him with GGG-style power shots. The punches weren’t thrown at high speed, but man, they were wearing Ishmael.
Bohachuk is now the WBC mandatory for 154lb champion Sebastian “The Towering Inferno” Fundora. He’s not going to win the title anytime soon, unfortunately. Fundora will defend against Errol Spence next and may choose to fight someone else after that in a money fight, such as Terence Crawford.
An interesting fight I would like to see is Bohachuk vs Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. However, given Boots’ decision to stay at welterweight to try and unify the division, he would likely turn down a risky fight against Bohachuk regardless of how much money Turki Alalshikh offered him. It would be fun to see how Ennis would trade power against Bohatchuk.
With Jaron’s porous defense, Bohachuk would have a field day against him, landing at will and passing easier than he did against Davis. Boots is promoted by Hearn. He would probably resist the idea of Ennis fighting Bohatchuk, knowing that it wouldn’t end well for him.
