Serhii Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) looked powerful in defeating Ishmael Davis (13-2, 6 KOs) by sixth-round TKO in a WBC junior middleweight title eliminator last Saturday night in Riyadh.
Bohachuk's Power Display
The fight was stopped after the sixth round by referee Hector Afu after Davis' corner decided to stop the fight. With the heavy punches Bohachuk threw at him in the fifth and sixth rounds, Davis would not be able to make it past the seventh round without a knockout. The official stoppage time was 3:00 of the sixth round.
Through four rounds, the fight was competitive at times, with Ishmael having brief moments but mostly getting pounded royally by Bohachuk. In the fifth and sixth, it was one-sided with Ukraine's Bohachuk hitting Davis from mid-range and close range.
Bohachuk vs. Davis hitting stats
– Ishmael Davis: 65 of 223 shots for 29.1%
– Serhii Bohachuk: 135 out of 414 for 32.6%
Most of Bohachuk's punches in the fight were power punches, which explains why he wore Davis down quickly to get a stoppage in the sixth round. Bohachuk connected on 108 hard punches and 27 takedowns out of the 414 punches he threw in the fight. He had excellent accuracy on his power shots, hitting 41.1% of them. That's a big number for a fighter with Bohachuk's kind of power.
Davis outmatched
Surprisingly, Davis thought he could fight Serhii on the inside. What a mistake. Bohhachuk's short punches resembled the punches thrown by light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev. They don't look like they're powerful, but they do damage. Interestingly, Davis didn't try to adjust by moving away, but that probably wouldn't have mattered.
Davis' promoter, Eddie Hearn, looked somber in the crowd after watching Bohachuk knock him out with a left hook in the second round. Ishmael, 29, fought well in the first round, landing a looping right hand that momentarily backed up former WBC 154lb interim champion Bohachuk.
Davis hit Bohachuk with a nice right hand in the fourth round, but it wasn't enough to put him away. Serhii continued to press him, hitting him with powerful hands and not allowing him a moment of respite between attacks.
Davis' movement wasn't nearly enough to stop Bohachuk from cutting off the ring and continuing to pound him with sharp GGG-esque punches. The blows weren't delivered at high speed, but man, they were wearing Ishmael down.
Bohachuk is now the WBC commit for 154lb champion Sebastian 'The Towering Inferno' Fundor. He won't be fighting for the title anytime soon, unfortunately. Fundor will next defend against Errol Spence and may decide to fight someone else in a money fight after that, such as Terence Crawford.
An interesting fight that I would like to see against Bohachuk Jaron 'Boots' Ennis. However, given Boots' decision to stay at light heavyweight to try and unify the division, he would likely turn down a dangerous fight against Bohachuk, no matter how much money Turki Alalshikh was offering him. It would be fun to see Ennis trade power punches against Bohachuk.
With Jaron's porous defense, Bohachuk would have a good day against him, jump at will and have an easier time than against Davis. Boots is promoted by Hearn. He would probably resist the idea of Ennis fighting Bohachuk, knowing it wouldn't end well for him.
