Serhii Bohachuk and Vergil Ortiz Jr. are fit to fight.

Both fighters weighed 153.8 pounds in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission ahead of their anticipated battle. The two meet for Bohachuk’s interim WBC junior middleweight title this Saturday on DAZN from Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas.

Making weight for a major fight normally serves as the bare minimum for a main event. It’s a sigh of relief, however, for boxing fans who’ve followed Ortiz (21-0, 21 knockouts) and his past health struggles. Three fight dates were scrapped for the unbeaten knockout artist from Grand Prairie, Texas when his body broke down during ahead of—and in one instance, during—fight week.

Two of those occasions were attached to planned showdowns versus WBA welterweight titlist Eimantas Stanionis (15-0, 9 KOs; 1 No-Contest). The most recent was last July, when Ortiz was pulled less than 72 hours from fight night.

Ortiz ultimately went fightless for all of 2023 but is now on his third ring appearance for this year. He scored a pair of first-round knockouts in January and April to set up a big summertime fight date.

It was originally due to come versus Tim Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs), The Ring’s No. 4-rated junior middleweight by The Ring suffered a horrific cut in his March 30 defeat to Sebastian Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs). Not only did it end his title reign but also left him medically unfit to face Ortiz on Aug. 3 in Los Angeles.

Bohachuck (24-1, 23 KOs was more than happy to fill the void.

The secondary titlist has won six in a row since a March 2021 stoppage defeat to Brandon Adams (24-3, 16 KOs). Chief among them was his March 30 points win over Brian Mendoza to claim the interim WBC 154-pound title.

The fight was a compromise made by Bohachuk, No. 5 at 154 by The Ring, who was originally due to face Fundora. A lineup change saw Fundora instead face and defeat Tszyu to win the WBO and vacant WBC full titles.

Bohachuk, a 29-year-old Ukrainian based in Los Angeles, settled for the interim title fight versus Mendoza. The agreement came with the assurance that he’d face the winner but the WBC has yet to order the fight. Fundora, The Ring’s No. 3-rated junior middleweight, is due to return later this year or in early 2025.

Fittingly, Bohachuk landed this opportunity when Tszyu was unable to proceed with his planned clash versus Ortiz. That led to Bohachuk putting his secondary title at stake versus Ortiz on a Golden Boy-promoted show one week later.

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