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The Ukrainian world boxing champion lost his title by knocking his opponent down twice. Video
The interim WBC world champion in the first middleweight division, Ukrainian Sergey Bogachuk (24-2, 23 KOs), lost the title to Virgil Ortiz (22-0, 21 KOs) from the United States. The fight at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas (USA) ended with a split decision of 113-113, 114-112 and 114-112.
Ortiz started the fight confidently, demonstrating superiority in accuracy, power and hand speed, significantly outclassing his opponent in the power struggle. The American acted more solidly in defense, but it didn't save him from a knockdown in the 1st round. It was awarded after watching the replays.
In the 8th round, Virgil missed a left side kick and touched the ring canvas with his gloves. The judge counted the second knockdown. In response, Bohachuk missed an overhand, stood on his feet, but it was obvious that he was dazed.
The denouement came in the championship rounds. The Ukrainian failed to adjust to the fact that the challenger was constantly changing his fighting style. In the last minutes, the US fighter hit the Ukrainian with an overhand again.
According to the statistics, Bogachuk threw more punches, but Virgil Ortiz was more accurate. Sergey threw 832 punches (225 were accurate), including 82/417 jabs and 143/415 power punches.
Ortiz threw 747 punches, 265 of which were accurate. He also threw 316 jabs (76 accurate) and 431 power punches (189 accurate).
Commenting on his defeat, the 29-year-old native of Vinnytsia was not eloquent.
"I want to say only one thing. Everyone saw this fight today. Anyone who knows boxing understands what happened today. I know that I won. I scored two knockdowns," the Ukrainian said.
As OBOZ.UA reported, Bogachuk won his title on August 31. On March 31, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the 28-year-old native of Vinnytsia defeated the former holder of the belt, American Brian Mendoza (22-4, 16 KOs), on points - 118:110, 117:11 111.
After that, our compatriot took the yellow and blue flag and made a powerful speech.
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