Brandon Adams knew the day would come when he’d have a rematch with Serhii Bohachuk.
The two junior middleweights will meet on Saturday as part of the preliminary undercard for Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Adams, 25-4 (16 KOs), knocked out Bohachuk, 26-2 (24 KOs), in eight rounds back in March 2021. It served as a main event for the now-defunct Ring City USA. Adams handed Bohachuk his first career loss, and is the only fighter to stop him.
“I knew eventually the warrior in Serhii Bohachuk would want to rematch me,” Adams told BoxingScene. “I didn’t know when it would happen.”
Their first fight took place in Puerto Rico and was held outside. This was at the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic, and between rounds, some form of sanitizer was used in the ring. That made the canvas slippery. Adams, 36, noted, “It was already humid, and whatever it was made the ring too slippery,” Adams said. “We were slipping and sliding from start to finish.”
Since that fight, Bohachuk, 30, has seen his stock rise. He defeated Brian Mendoza. Then, the Ukrainian Bohachuk had a close fight with Vergil Ortiz Jnr, losing a majority decision. Bohachuk would drop Ortiz twice in that fight. Adams believes that he saw something in that fight.
“What Vergil was doing was what he saw me doing,” Adams said. “I became the blueprint on how to beat Serhii Bohachuk.”
Adams of Whittier, California, has had an up-and-down career. He looked to be a breakout star in ESPN’s Boxcino Tournament, but was stopped in the finals by Apollo Thompson (at the time listed as John Thompson). Adams would be inactive for three years before returning in the reboot of “The Contender” television series. He would win the tournament, defeating Shane Mosley Jnr in the finals. That would propel him into a title fight against Jermall Charlo for the WBC middleweight title. Adams would lose a one-sided unanimous decision. Over the next four years, Adams would have four fights, one of which was a stoppage of Bohachuk, as well as making it to the finals of the OTX junior middleweight tournament.
He’d lose a split decision last November to Andreas Katzourakis, which was his last fight. Adams explained his motivations heading into this bout: “I am pulling my motivations from all corners of the earth, I try to be something that I needed when I was growing up.”
Trevor Sambrano will lead in Adams’ corner. Bohachuk, trained by Manny Robles, is on a two-fight winning streak, with his latest victory coming in May, defeating Mykal Fox. Bohachuk came in just under the middleweight limit. Adams views this stage as a chance to show what is possible. “I want to show myself that under the lights I can be much better than I have shown,” Adams said. “I truly don’t know how good I am.”
