Ukrainian middleweight Serhii Bohachuk is feeling good in his new weight class as he looks to move one step closer to the Zuffa Boxing middleweight title. Bohachuk steps out into the main event spotlight at the Meta Apex tonight (Sunday) when he takes on Shane Mosley Jr. at Zuffa Boxing 06. Having already notched one hard-earned victory inside the Zuffa Boxing ring, Bohachuk is looking forward to getting back in there and picking up where he left off. "I'm feeling great. I'm feeling excited,” he said. “(It’s a) big show for me coming up, and a lot of Ukrainian fans are coming to this show. I'm very happy, very excited, ready for this fight. Let’s go.”
Bohachuk made his promotional debut at Zuffa Boxing 02 back in February and defeated Radzhab Butaev via split decision after ten action-packed rounds. "I have good experience with Zuffa because they support me with everything,” he explained. “Food, vitamins, whatever I needed, they helped me, and I’m stronger. When I’m supported with vitamins and good food, I can train harder, and I also think I’m stronger.”
That additional strength was only bolstered by his move up in weight. Bohachuk previously competed at 154 pounds, where he challenged for a sanctioning body world title against Vergil Ortiz earlier in his career. But the 31-year-old said that he felt a downturn in his performance at the weight class in his unanimous decision loss to Brandon Adams last September, and decided the time was right to move up. “I cut weight for the 154 division, and for me it was too hard,” he admitted. “The last time (at 154) against Brandon Adams, I didn’t feel like I did in the Vergil Ortiz fight. I felt different. I felt tired. Then I changed my division, and I showed in my last fight that 160 is my right division. Now I want to stay (at 160) and become a world champion.”
Bohachuk kicked off his campaign at 160 with that victory over Butaev at Zuffa Boxing 02, and now, three months on, he’s ready to return. He faces Mosley Jr in Sunday night’s main event, and it’s a matchup he’s really excited for. “He’s a huge opponent,” he admitted. “It’s good for me, a good experience for me. He’s a good fight for my career, and a good, interesting opponent. He’s not easy. His father has taught him, he’s learning, and he's strong, too. He has the blood of a champion. He’s a good boxer, a good technician, and he’s smart.”
Crowd-pleasing fights are the Ukrainian’s speciality, and he thrives on being able to entertain the fans. “My goal is to show my fans and show people interesting, quality boxing,” he said. “I enjoy it when people enjoy my fights. For me, it’s my number-one goal. I like it when people come out of a fight and say, ‘Thank you! Wow!’ I enjoy this, you know?”
The fight also offers an opportunity for Bohachuk to stake a claim for a shot at the inaugural Zuffa Boxing middleweight title. However, while some fighters like to speak things into existence and speak openly about their next steps ahead of time, Bohachuk is maintaining a singular focus on the job at hand. “I feel very close (to a title shot), but I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it now. I can’t say, ‘Next, next, next!’” he explained. “I have a fight on Sunday, which I’m 100 percent concentrated on. After this fight, I can say, ‘Oh, next will be this.’ But now I have this fight with Mosley. I can’t plan (beyond that). It’s boxing. It’s a very dangerous sport. Every fight can be lost. You can’t plan your next three, four, five fights. I am concentrated one million percent on this fight.”
Clearly, the respect is there for Mosley, and the challenge he poses, but despite holding his opponent in high regard, Bohachuk is steadfast in his belief that he’ll get the job done against him on fight night, however well prepared his opponent might be. “If he’s ready for this fight, I think I beat him over the distance,” he stated. “If he’s not ready for this fight, I’m sorry, I’m knocking him out.”
