Vergil Ortiz Jr.’s proposed junior middleweight bout appears to be on track. with Serhii Bohachuk already has a date and place.

Ortiz and Bohachuk are expected to fight on August 10 in Las Vegas, Nevada. ESPN’s Mike Coppinger was the first to announce the date and location.

On Monday night, a source confirmed to The Ring that the expected venue for the fight was Las Vegas.

Bohachuk emerged as a potential opponent for Ortiz after former WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu withdrew from his Aug. 3 fight against Ortiz at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. Doctors did not clear Tszyu for medical reasons because the hairline cut he suffered in his March 30 fight against Sebastian Fundora had not healed properly.

The fight between Ortiz and Bohachuk, who weighed 154 pounds according to The Ring, has been brewing for the past few weeks. In an interview with The Ring earlier this month, Tom Loeffler, who promotes Bohachuk, clarified that negotiations between the two sides are “ongoing,” correcting an article on Boxingscene.com that suggested the fight had already been signed.

“Just to be clear, I did an interview (June 6) about this fight,” Loeffler told The Ring on June 7. “I said that both fighters had agreed to fight each other but no terms had been agreed. They came to us when Tim Tszyu was (decided) that he was unable to run (August 3). They, Golden Boy and TGB (Promotions), contacted us and I said Serhii would take the fight. Serhii agreed. From what I understand, Golden Boy’s team and Vergil Ortiz’s team have agreed to fight. Both fighters, both fight camps, agreed, but no terms were agreed upon. It has not been confirmed that there will be anything on this show (August 3).

“I think it’s an amazing fight, no matter what event the fight ends at,” Loeffler said. “Both fighters owe all their victories to knockouts. So I don’t know how you can get a better matchup. Serhii is the WBC (junior middleweight) interim champion and Vergil holds the WBA gold title. This is a really great fight if there is a way we can make this fight happen.

Ortiz (21-0, 21 KO), based in Grand Prairie, Texas, has been promoted by Golden Boy Promotions since his professional debut in July 2016.

The 25-year-old last fought on April 27, defeating former world title challenger Thomas Dulorme in the first round. The 26-year-old Ortiz is managed by Rick Mirigian and trained by Robert Garcia.

Bohachuk (24-1, 23 knockouts), who currently lives and trains in Los Angeles, also fought at the same event on March 30 in Las Vegas, defeating Brian Mendoza by unanimous decision. Bohachuk has won his last six fights since suffering the only loss of his career at the hands of Brandon Adams in March 2021.

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Julio Cesar Martinez has reportedly been handed a nine-month ban for failing a drug test.

According to Ring Magazine, the 29-year-old Mexican tested positive for S5 diuretics and other masking agents in a test conducted after his majority victory over Angelino Cordova on March 30 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and was therefore banned. by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

The same publication also reported that his suspension was backdated to March 30 and would run through at least December 29, that he was ordered to enroll in a random drug testing program and that he would be required to return immaculate samples throughout that period for the prohibition examination, that the result of this fight was changed to a no-contest and that he was fined $11,250 and ordered to pay costs of $157.04.

Martinez-Cordova was featured on Tim Tszyu-Sebastian Fundora’s card and represented Martinez’s final defense of the WBC flyweight title, which he vacated in May.

He previously tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol during random drug tests supervised by the Immaculate Boxing WBC program. Nevertheless, it was subsequently cleared by the sanctioning authority on the basis that the findings led it to conclude that its test results were a consequence of the ongoing problem of meat contamination in Mexico.

David Benavidez’s stock has dropped dramatically since his 175-pound debut against former WBC airy heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15.

Seen as a bogeyman and called the “Mexican monster,” Benavidez (29-0, 24 KO) looked deadly at 175, showing that he is not the fighter the boxing public previously thought he was.

The 27-year-old Benavidez’s performance showed what I expected: He’s only good at 168 pounds due to his massive size advantage over his opponent.

Grandfather clause on hydration?

Benavidez is still adolescent enough to lose weight to compete at 168 pounds and utilize his size to beat smaller fighters. Benavidez would have problems if he had to deal with the 10-pound hydration limit that the IBF imposes on title fights.

Benavidez holds the WBC interim title at 168 pounds, and the organization does not have a 10-pound hydration limit.

Ideally, all sanctioning bodies should have a hydration limit of 10 pounds security reasons to prevent weight bullies from cheating the system to take advantage of their huge size to gain an advantage over a smaller opponent.

If all four sanctioning bodies implement a 10-pound hydration limit to protect fighters, it would put Benavidez in a hard position where he would likely be forced to move up to 175 because he would be unable to gain weight.

The only way to get around this would be for one of the sanctioning bodies to introduce a grandfather clause allowing some players to continue hydrating well beyond the 10-pound limit.

It would be like what Major League Baseball did when it banned the game of baseball spitball in 1920. Under the grandfather clause, they continued to allow spitball pitchers to utilize this field for the rest of their careers.

Without a similar 10-pound hydration limit clause, Benavidez would have had to move up to 175 pounds and swim with predatory sharks without his usual weight advantage over his opponent.

Eddie Hearn’s skepticism

Promoter Eddie Hearn shared his thoughts, stating that Benavidez is not cut out for the 175-pound weight class and will lose to champions Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. Hearn says Benavidez specializes at 168 pounds.

“I like Benavidez; I think he’s a good fighter. How good? [Oleksandr] Gwozdyk is decent. Sold. I don’t think Benavidez is a 175-pounder. I don’t think it will break through [Artur] Beterbiev. I don’t think he will beat Bivol,” said Eddie Hearn Fighting Hub TVtalking about his take on David Benavidez following his recent airy heavyweight debut on June 15.

“I think he’s very strenuous to beat at 168 pounds. I think that’s where a lot of his advantage comes from,” Hearn said of Benavidez.

The future of the Mexican monster

Benavidez’s performance in his 175 debut against Gwozdyk cast doubt on his future in the weight class. If Benavidez continues his campaign at 175, he will likely struggle against Bivol, Beterbiev and several of the top contenders in his weight class.

While Benavidez may be able to return to 168 pounds to continue dominating smaller opponents in that weight class, due to the WBC not having a 10-pound hydration limit, he won’t physically be able to do so for much longer. Benavidez will soon turn 30 and is gaining weight.

If Canelo isn’t going to fight Benavidez, there’s no reason for “The Mexican Monster” to continue dropping down to the 168-pound weight class. Other than the recently defeated Jaime Munguia, no one else is popular in this division.