Notebook: 3 months after postponement, Bohachuk and Adams ready for battle

Hooker preps for Ortiz, DAZN shakeup, Madrimov rehabs

Junior middleweights Serhii Bohachuk and Brandon Adams are both anxious to finally fight, which will they will do in the main event of the first Ring City USA card of the year.

They will meet in a 10-rounder on Thursday night (NBCSN, 9 ET) at the Felix Pagan Pintor Gym in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, three months after they were originally scheduled to fight on Dec. 3 in Hollywood, California.

However, the fight was postponed after Bohachuk tested positive for Covid-19 and Adams instead wiped out late replacement Sonny Duversonne in the second round.

Bohachuk (18-0, 18 KOs), 25, a Ukraine native based in Los Angeles, said he is over his bout with Covid-19.

“I am feeling very good. I am feeling fresh,” he said. “I got coronavirus before the last fight. At the beginning I was really, really upset. But then I gathered my thoughts together and rested. It’s all for the best, so now I am ready. I rested a couple of weeks and now I am feeling fresh and hungry. I want to work, work, work and win this fight.”

Bohachuk added that he feels no pressure to extend his knockout streak.

“I don’t look for knockouts. I am boxing. I do my job,” he said. “I will do 10 rounds, 12 rounds, knockout. It’s OK. Brandon Adams is a good boxer. I watched his fights. This is not an easy fight for me.”

Adams (22-3, 13 KOs), 31, of Watts, California, is the far more experienced pro. He won “The Contender” reality series in 2018 and went the distance with Jermall Charlo challenging him for a middleweight world title in 2019 before rebounding with the win over Duversonne.

“I’ve been ready (for Bohachuk) since Dec. 3,” Adams said. “Everyday that passes I am able to tame that inner beast and control myself a lot more. I feel that I am willing and able to get in the ring with anyone and this time around it’s Serhii Bohachuk. I believe that I have everything that I need to go into this fight and pull out a victory.”

In the co-feature, Danielito Zorrilla (14-0, 11 KOs), of Puerto Rico, will fight Kazakhstan’s Ruslan Madiyev (13-1 5 KOs) in a 10-round junior welterweight bout. Puerto Rico’s Bryan Chevalier (14-1-1, 11 KOs) and Carlos Zambrano (26-1, 11 KOs) meet in the eight-round featherweight opener. Additional undercard bouts, including a four-round super middleweight bout between Fernando Vargas Jr. (1-0, 1 KO), the son of former junior middleweight titlist Fernando Vargas, and Salome Flores Torres (0-2), will stream on Twitch beginning at 7 p.m. ET.

Here are the weights from Wednesday’s weigh-in: Bohachuk 153.8 pounds, Adams 153.8; Zorrilla 139.6, Madiyev 139.6; Chevalier 127.4, Zambrano; Vargas 159.8, Torres 162; Harold Laguna 135.2, Darwin Alvarez 138.8; Jorge Diaz 146, Felipe Munoz 143.

Hooker embraces underdog role

Former junior welterweight world titlist Maurice Hooker said he is embracing the role of underdog for his fight against rising star Vergil Ortiz Jr., whom he meets in a 12-round all-Dallas welterweight bout in the main event of a Golden Boy card March 20 (DAZN) at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

“I love being the underdog. I feel like I've been the underdog my whole life, my whole boxing career,” said Hooker, who is in training camp with trainer Brian McIntyre in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “All the pressure is on him. He's got to look good. I'm just going to go in there, stay relaxed, trust my team and do what I have to do.”

Hooker (27-1-3, 19 KOs), 31, who pulled the upset in 2018 when he traveled to Terry Flanagan’s hometown of Manchester, England, and won a split decision to claim a 140-pound world title, made two successful defenses before Jose Ramirez stopped him in the sixth round of a July 2019 unification fight. Hooker returned for a quick first-round knockout win in December 2019 but has not fought since, mainly because of the coronavirus pandemic. The 15-month layoff is the longest of his 10-year career.

“I am not worried about the layoff because I was in camp throughout most of last year preparing for a fight that fell through,” Hooker said, referring to a fight with former titlist Regis Prograis that was supposed to be last April but wound up being postponed and then canceled altogether. “So many of us are dealing with long layoffs now with Covid but since I stayed in camp with my team all last year I will be good to go on March 20.”

Ortiz (16-0, 16 KOs), 22, last fought in July, when he knocked out Samuel Vargas in the seventh round.

New DAZN leadership

There will be new leadership at DAZN, which is heavily invested in boxing, including output deals with Matchroom Boxing and Golden Boy Promotions.

The company announced on Wednesday that Kevin Mayer has been appointed chairman of the board of directors. Mayer previously was chairman of direct-to-consumer and international at The Walt Disney Company, where he was spearheaded the launch of its streaming businesses, including Disney+ and ESPN+. Prior to that role, Mayer served as Disney’s chief strategy officer, leading the acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 21st Century Fox and BamTech.

“As chairman, I’m looking forward to partnering with the management team and my fellow directors to help DAZN build on its impressive track record of success in developing a truly global sports platform,” Mayer said. “I’ve been impressed with DAZN’s ambitions and ability to quickly grow from a new entrant to an important player in key markets throughout the world. I look forward to guiding DAZN’s strategic development into its next chapter.”

Mayer will replace John Skipper, who joined DAZN in 2018 after leaving his role as president of ESPN. Skipper is stepping down “to focus his efforts on Meadowlark Media, a newly launched content company,” DAZN said. Skipper will remain on the DAZN Group board of directors and also serve as a strategic adviser, the company said. DAZN said it intends to “invest in and collaborate with Meadowlark on original programming projects in the future.”

“I’m incredibly proud of what the team has accomplished over the past several years,” Skipper said. “We’ve secured rights to the world’s premier sports leagues, dramatically increased subscriptions and revenues, and launched our platform in more than 200 countries and territories. It’s the ideal moment to transition the company into its next phase of growth. Having worked closely with Kevin at The Walt Disney Company for more than two decades, I can’t think of a better person to lead the DAZN Group board of directors.”

Madrimov rehab going well

Three months after junior middleweight Israil Madrimov, one of boxing’s elite prospects, underwent surgery on his injured left shoulder, plans are in motion for his ring return.

The 26-year-old Madrimov (6-0, 5 KOs), of Uzbekistan, who is trained by Joel Diaz in Indio, California, suffered a torn tendon in his shoulder early in his unanimous decision win over Eric Walker in a DAZN-streamed bout Aug. 15 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“The rehabilitation from the surgery a couple of months ago is coming along very well,” Madrimov said. “I look forward to starting my training again very soon and hope to be back in the ring in April or May. I’ll be back soon and continue to put on great fights for the fans as I continue towards my dream of becoming a world champion.”

Vadim Kornilov, who manages Madrimov, said the injury impacted his performance against Walker.

“Israil didn’t want to make any excuses after the fight but it was clear when we talked afterwards that the injury affected his performance. Walker was a very tough opponent who had been avoided by many of the other world ranked junior middleweights. Sometimes boxing politics will make for certain circumstances that will push us into making mistakes. We learned from this one, and in the future, we will make sure that we do not take fights on 5-6 week’s notice against guys that have been training and anxiously waiting for their opportunity.

“Now, three months after the surgery, Israil is feeling much better and our goal stays the same for him -- the biggest fights and the biggest opportunities. He has made a huge impact and garnered a wealth of international fans with his exciting fights since turning professional and we can’t wait for him to be in the ring again soon.” 

Show and tell

After the great Felix Trinidad unified two welterweight titles with a controversial majority decision win over Oscar De La Hoya, he moved up to junior middleweight and won a world title in his first fight in the division. It came against David Reid, the undefeated 1996 U.S. Olympic gold medalist, who was making his third title defense. Reid gave Trinidad problems early on and dropped him in the third round. But Trinidad changed the fight and Reid’s career with his vaunted left hook, knocking him down in the seventh round and delivering a massive beating for the rest of the fight. Trinidad dropped Reid three more times in the 11th round, won a unanimous decision and essentially ended Reid’s career. The fight was 21 years ago on Wednesday. A few weeks before the fight, I had been hired as the boxing writer at USA Today but I would not be moving to Virginia to start the job for a few more weeks. I watched the Trinidad-Reid PPV wishing I had already started, but knowing that I would probably be at Trinidad’s next fight (which I was, against Mamadou Thiam in Miami). Here’s a site poster from Trinidad-Reid in my collection.

Bohachuk-Adams photo: Tom Hogan/Ring City USA; Madrimov photo: Team Madrimov