Undefeated junior middleweight Vergil Ortiz (21-0, 21 KOs) needs a new opponent as Tim Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs) has been forced to withdraw from their Aug. 3 bout. Tszyu was advised by his doctors to not continue with the scheduled fight. His cut suffered from his previous fight against Sebastian Fundora in March is not completely healed.
Per source, Tim Tszyu has been forced to withdraw from his Aug. 3 fight vs. Vergil Ortiz Jr. on the #CrawfordMadrimov mega card being put on by @Turki_alalshikh in LA. Doc ruled him out due to terrible cut suffered vs. Fundora not being healed enough for him to fight. #boxing
— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) May 31, 2024
“We are bitterly disappointed with the setback, and Tim is extremely frustrated after a great precamp with Kostya,” Rose, the CEO of No Limit Boxing, said. “He showed everyone that he’ll fight through anything against Fundora, but this decision was taken out of his hands to be honest. Ultimately, it was his body and medical professionals telling him he wasn’t ready yet.”
The highly anticipated junior middleweight fight was set to take place on the undercard of the Terence Crawford-Israil Madrimov title fight in Los Angeles. But the winner of this fight was expected to be in contention for a title shot. Nonetheless those plans are on temporary hold for now.
Possible replacement
At this time Serhii Bohachuk, ESPN’s No. 6 junior middleweight, is in the running to replace Tszyu. Without a doubt Bohachuk scored his best win on the Tszyu-Fundora undercard, a decision victory over Brian Mendoza. “Serhii is in a great position as the WBC interim champion and mandatory challenger, but is definitely interested in the fight with Vergil,” Bohachuk’s promoter, Tom Loeffler, told ESPN. “Serhii lives and trains in L.A. as does Vergil. So it would be the perfect L.A. fight if the fight can be made.”
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Robert LaMar is a writer for Dice City Sports. You can follow him on X via @RobertLaMar26
