Opinions and Observations: Bohachuk-Ortiz

Junior middleweights Serhii Bohachuk and Vergil Ortiz Jr. engaged in a memorable battle on Saturday with Ortiz surviving two knockdowns to squeak by with a majority decision victory. The match was well-contested and featured cracking power shots throughout the 12 rounds. 

But the fight left me a little cold. I thought that both weren't at their best. And this wasn't because one was being neutralized by the other. I don't believe that either was at his sharpest. 

Let's go to the victor first. I think that Ortiz had Bohachuk seriously hurt at least four times in the fight, with the beginning of the 11th round as perhaps the most memorable occasion. Yet whenever Ortiz had Bohachuk hurt and diminished, he was unable to put the right shots together to end the fight, or even drop him to the canvas. Ortiz was so poor in these instances that he allowed Bohachuk opportunities to recover time and again.  

I believe that Bohachuk was there for the taking, yet Ortiz continued to make the same mistakes. He smothered himself, he loaded up on big shots that missed the mark, his footwork became clumsy which made it easy for Bohachuk to tie up, and he couldn't create better angles to land. Yes, Bohachuk deserves credit for knowing how to clinch and ducking under some shots; these were veteran moves, but a first-rate closer, as Ortiz was purported to be (he entered the fight with a 100% knockout ratio!), should be able to do better against a wounded fighter. 

Something snapped within Ortiz whenever he saw Bohachuk hurt. He abandoned his considerable boxing skills and replaced it with an overeager zeal. He saw red, but he lacked the composure and temperament to get the job done.  

Ortiz (right) on the front foot
Photo courtesy of Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy

And let's also examine the two knockdowns in the fight. The initial knockdown in the first round was kind of a nothing shot toward the back of the head where Ortiz dropped to the canvas for an instant and then picked himself up like nothing had happened. Referee Harvey Dock didn't call a knockdown and at no point did Bohachuk even protest the decision.  

Eventually, Dock's decision was overturned by "instant" replay (which took four rounds to reverse), and I'm still not convinced that the punch was in a legally scoring area. However, that shot in the first round and the left hook in the eighth round, which again dropped Ortiz for an instant, cannot be ignored. Ortiz had some real issues with footwork and balance in the fight. Of all the big punches that Bohachuk landed in the fight, the love taps were the ones that put Ortiz on the canvas. The shot in the eighth was a perfect counter hook where Ortiz's defense was nowhere to be found. Again, it wasn't a hard punch whatsoever, but the right shot can be all that's needed to swing a round to 10-8.  

I'm also not sure what Ortiz's plan was for the fight. At times he used his jab effectively, but it wasn't enough for trainer Robert Garcia, who continued to prod Ortiz to throw the shot more frequently. During portions of the fight, Ortiz was terrific with his power punches and did wonderfully in close range. At other points, he drifted to the outside where he got very little work done. There's certainly no problem with being able to fight at different ranges, but Ortiz looked lost at sea both offensively and defensively from the outside.  

Bohachuk lost the fight despite scoring two knockdowns and I believe that the scoring was correct (114-112 x 2 and 113-113). Like two of the judges did, I also had Bohachuk losing eight rounds in the fight. Yes, there were snapshots in each round where he landed excellent punches, but far too often his left hook was sailing over Ortiz's head, his jabs were too lazy, and his defense left a lot to be desired. He was getting outpunched by Ortiz throughout most of the fight.  

Bohachuk himself entered the fight with 23 knockouts in 25 fights and yet so much of his offensive arsenal looked crude or ragtag. Through large portions of the fight, he landed ineffectual arm punches. His accuracy was poor against an opponent who certainly can be hit.  

But the fight wasn't a dud...far from it. If the technical skills weren't up to the highest levels in the sport, the intangibles certainly were there for both. Bohachuk was getting pasted with shots from the beginning of the fight, but he refused to yield. And even more impressive, he kept hanging around and continued to find opportunities to connect on Ortiz. If Bohachuk was outgunned during the majority of the fight, he was certainly opportunistic. His self-belief was admirable. Bohachuk's heart and determination didn't let him down one bit.  

And Ortiz showed a lot in gutting out the win. Garcia told Ortiz that he needed to win the last three rounds of the fight, and he did just that. Despite being dropped twice and having portions of the bout where he lacked fluidity or a cohesive plan, he kept plugging along. He had an excellent 11th round and did enough to sway the judges by the end of the match. It sure wasn't pretty, but round by round his performance was enough to eke out the win.  

Bohachuk finding a home for his left hook
Photo courtesy of Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy

In the immediate aftermath of Bohachuk-Ortiz, there were many who called the bout the Fight of the Year, but to me, I have a problem bestowing that honor on a fight where I believe that both guys were a couple of steps down from their best. Bohachuk-Ortiz reminded me of Charlo-Castano 1, which was highly competitive, had portions of great action, yet gave me a similar feeling where both fighters left a lot of food on the table.   

Like Israil Madrimov the week before against Terence Crawford, Bohachuk just didn't close strong enough to have any claims of a robbery. He had several excellent moments, he competed, but when the fight was there for the taking, it was taken from him. Not by the judges, but by Ortiz.  

Ortiz has long been viewed as one of the best young talents in the sport, but it may be time to curb our expectations. In addition to having multiple fights fall out because of serious physical issues, Ortiz has also played the coaching carousel, going from Robert Garcia to Manny Robles to his father and now back to Garcia. There was certainly a sense that Ortiz either was doing freelancing in the ring in Saturday night or he couldn't fully internalize Garcia's instructions in the corner. Neither would be a great sign for his future. When boxing savants like Mayweather and Crawford freelance, they have the ring IQ, the multifaceted skills, and the experience to go off script with success. But with Ortiz, I often had no idea what his plan was at a given moment. He didn't seem like a guy who had a clarity of thought throughout significant portions of the fight.  

Despite my protestations of its quality, Bohachuk-Ortiz was excellent for boxing. It was the type of fight that defines careers. Bohachuk has proven that his knockout loss to Brandon Adams years ago is now far in the rearview mirror. There didn't seem to be any cobwebs or aftershocks when facing duress. He kept his composure and fought courageously. He kept swinging. He has cemented his status in the 154-lb. division as a serious factor. And Ortiz did find a way to win when a lot of things didn't go right for him. That displays high character as well. And if the fight did reveal certain flaws of his, he has time on his side should he want to improve. 

If there is a rematch, I'm hoping for a higher-quality version of Saturday's fight, even if it's not as competitive. I like to see fighters at their best. I want to believe that Ortiz has the pound-for-pound talent that so many predicted for him and I want to see if Bohachuk is really as offensively gifted as his promoter, Tom Loeffler, has trumpeted over the past half-dozen years. But those weren't my impressions from Saturday night.  

I commend Ortiz and Bohachuk for their effort in the fight. It was a spirited battle, a real prizefight. But I want both to head back to the gym and tighten things up. They fought for an interim-level title belt on Saturday and that felt about right. It was a couple of flawed fighters without their best fastballs trying to gut it out. There's always room for that in boxing, but these two can provide more.  

Adam Abramowitz is the founder and head writer of saturdaynightboxing.com. 

He's a contributing writer for Ring Magazine, a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Panel, the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com

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Opinions and Observations: Haney-Garcia

Haney-Garcia was the good stuff. It's why we watch – the theater of the unexpected, the element of surprise. It was a triumph for Ryan Garcia and a humbling experience for the Haneys (Devin and father/trainer Bill), as well as for boxing fans and observers, with so many convinced that the victory would be a formality for Haney, and that Garcia was on his way to an implosion in the ring. 

Garcia, who was a notable betting underdog entering the bout, was without a doubt the better fighter on the night, the one who dominated the second half, scoring three knockdowns. And Haney, for all his accomplishments in the ring, could not avoid Garcia's signature left hook. Haney displayed bravery in getting up from the knockdowns, but he was outgunned, and perhaps more concerning, outthought on the night. 

Photo courtesy of Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy

The first question that needs to be asked is why did Haney keep getting hit by Garcia's left hook? After the fight, Haney was asked about the punch and he acknowledged that he was certainly aware of Garcia's primary weapon. So, what happened? 

Garcia cracked Haney in the first round with the left hook and it's perfectly understandable that in the early part of the fight Garcia would have the element of surprise with the punch. It's one thing for Haney to see it on You Tube; it's another thing trying to defense it in the ring. Garcia whips his left hook with so much torque and can place it perfectly on the point of the chin. It's unlike most other left hooks in the sport. The trajectory, speed and power behind the shot is unique. It's not that Haney got hit with the shot early in the fight that's the major issue. Those things happen; the greats can make adjustments.  

My main issue with Haney's performance is how Garcia was able to land the shot later in the fight, after Haney had already seen it and had the opportunity to neutralize it. Haney, the supposed defensive master, continually got caught with the same left hook throughout the back half of the match. 

And this leads to the next question: Why was Haney still in range for the hook? Why didn't he try to make Garcia beat him with his right hand? Was it because of overconfidence? Arrogance? A lack of preparation? 

To be fair, Garcia's right hand was much better than advertised on the night and he had stretches of the fight where he created a lot of concern for Haney with his straight right. But none of the three knockdowns occurred from the right hand, and that was telling. At a certain point, a master boxer learns to take away a weapon. Recently, Shakur Stevenson did just this against Oscar Valdez. Stevenson was willing to get hit by Valdez's right hand to ensure that he stayed away from his left hook. On one hand Stevenson did get hit more than we are used to seeing, but he stayed upright and was able to win the fight comfortably because he understood the risk in front of him. 

The Haneys did not have a good night. Devin was in the pocket too much, in range far too often. Devin expected to grind Garcia down with volume and pressure. And although that initial strategy made sense when considering how badly Garcia blew weight and the legitimate questions about his mental state coming into the fight, why were there no adjustments from Haney when it was clear that Garcia remained a threat? 

With knockdowns in the seventh, 10th and 11th rounds, Haney continued to get pasted by Garcia's hook, and he let a victory slip away. Haney was essentially compliant in his own demise. He and his father were unable to get out of the same rut. 

Photo courtesy of Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy

Let's also take a moment to credit Garcia's other punches. Often called a one-trick pony, Garcia set up the first knockdown in the fight from a perfect hooking off the jab combination, where he landed the jab and immediately followed with the hook. The deception worked because of the effectiveness of Garcia's jab and his ability to throw both punches from the same arm slot; Haney didn't know what was coming. 

Garcia's right hand was a factor in the knockdowns in the 10th and 11th rounds. The tenth featured a multi-punch combination where he drove Haney back to the ropes with Haney eventually falling over from the onslaught. Garcia landed shots with both hands and it was a straight left in the exchange that did the most damage. In the 11th, Garcia was able to break free from a clinch (another subtle skill) and hit Haney with a cuffing right to the side of the head before unloading with a pulverizing six-inch left hook that had Haney's eyes rolling back before he hit the canvas. Without the right, I'm not sure that the left lands there. 

The fight contained all sorts of other goodies to discuss too. How about referee Harvey Dock's wild seventh round, where he might have missed two additional Garcia knockdowns (calling them slips after clean shots were landed), and rushing in to give Haney loads of extra time. He took a point away from Garcia for hitting on the break (which was certainly within his judgment to do so), but he took a massive amount of time to restart the action as Haney was reeling.  

Ultimately, I think that there are two key takeaways from the fight. First of all, you can never discount a guy with an A+ punch. It doesn't matter if a fighter is getting beaten from pillar to post or has all sorts of other disadvantages in a given matchup; the big-time punches are separators. There are so few legitimate A+ punches in the sport that we tend to forget just how rare and special they are. Ryan Garcia is live in any fight because of his left hook. He can drop or stop anyone with it. It is up to the opponent to neutralize the shot, because if Garcia is allowed to land his hook, the punch can and will change a fight. 

I think the other key is the poor strategic and tactical performance from Devin and his father. In the Kambosos fights, Devin was masterful in staying on the outside to win. Yet, Devin and his father never employed this approach at any time against Garcia. They were determined to be the hunter, to go after Garcia, and they suffered because of it. Was it a stubbornness that they refused to change, or did the moment get away from them? They were never able to regain control in the second half of the fight. 

The official ledger from the fight will say that Garcia won by majority decision. There will also be a note that he missed weight by three pounds, with the upshot being that Garcia did not win Haney's title belt. Yet none of that really encapsulates the fight. Garcia was the one who dug down deep and turned the fight around. In the process, he not only beat a pound-for-pound-level fighter, but exposed serious shortcomings with Devin and his corner. 

Overall, Haney-Garcia was a thrilling night of action. I certainly hope that there's a rematch and it will be fascinating to see what happens if the Haneys get their tactics right. But first, a big piece of humble pie needs to be consumed. They need to respect their opponents more. And they also must understand the concepts of fallibility and mortality in the ring. Every fighter can be gotten to, every fighter can be hurt, but the key question is what happens next? And this is where they failed. 

On this night Ryan Garcia was king. He had heard all the criticism; he even played his role in facilitating much of it! But he reminded everyone what he can do in the boxing ring. As long as he has his left hand, he is a threat. To anybody.

Adam Abramowitz is the founder and head writer of saturdaynightboxing.com. 

He's a contributing writer for Ring Magazine, a member of Ring Magazine's Ring Ratings Panel and a Board Member for the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. 

Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com

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