Tom Loeffler believes his fighter Serhii Bohachuk is in a strong position after his unanimous decision win over Brian Mendoza in Las Vegas on March 30.

Ukraine’s Bohachuk (24-1, 23 KOs) picked up the interim WBC 154-pound title with the win – his first over the distance – over the man who last year knocked out Sebastian Fundora, who outpointed Tim Tszyu in a blood-soaked main event for the full WBC and WBO belts. Bohachuk had initially been slated to face Fundora on the pay-per-view portion of the card, the first offering from PBC on Prime; but when scheduled Tszyu opponent Keith Thurman dropped out due to injury, Fundora stepped in to replace him, and Bohachuk took on Mendoza in the pre-show.

“He's in a very good position,” Loeffler told BoxingScene. "It would have been nice having the Fundora fight for the full world title – although I think for the show, it worked out better because the Fundora-Tszyu fight was tremendous. But with Serhii’s domination over Mendoza, you can make the argument that he beat Mendoza more clearly than Tszyu did [when outpointing Mendoza in October]. And of course, Mendoza pulled out that knockout punch over Fundora. So, all things considered, he's in a great position in that super welterweight division.”

While understandably keen to pursue the originally scheduled matchup against Fundora, Loeffler also recognizes there are “some other great matchups” for the Ukrainian to pursue. 

“There’s a possible fight with Tim Tszyu, Errol Spence is moving up to that division, there are a lot of great matchups at 154 right now. So that seems to have become one of the hottest divisions in the sport and Serhii is perfectly positioned, not only with the interim world champion but also as the mandatory for the WBC, and then once everything shakes out with the WBO mandatory situation. Yes, he’s in a tremendous position right now.”

With Fundora sidelined until much later in the year as a result of the broken nose he suffered against Tszyu, Loeffler isn’t inclined to keep Bohachuk on the shelf, waiting for his mandatory shot, arguing that the best strategy for the Ukrainian is primarily “to stay active.”

In the meantime, Loeffler is striving to keep Bohachuk foremost in the mind of fans, media and boxing power brokers. On Monday, the two men flew to Mexico City for a Tuesday lunch with the media. The WBC is organizing a visit to the Ukrainian consulate – and, adds Loeffler, “from what I understand there will be an opportunity to visit some wounded Ukrainian soldiers, who are recovering in a hospital in Mexico City.”

It is impossible to separate any Ukrainian athlete from the travails taking place back home, and Bohachuk is no exception.

He has lived in the United States for seven years now, but in 2022 returned home to renew his visa. 

“Two weeks before his appointment at the consulate in Kiev, his country gets invaded by Russia,” said Loeffler. “So, he's over there, where they don't allow any military aged men between the ages of 18 and 64 to leave the country. He was there for over four months, until we could get official permission from the government for him to leave. And then once he was able to cross the border to Poland, it took another month to get an appointment in the consulate in Warsaw, for him to get his visa to come over here. So, he was almost six months out, just trying to get back to the United States and get back to his training. And he is continuing to fight on behalf of his country. His brother is in the military over there; his mother is still over there. His city of Vinitza is not directly in the line of fire, so to speak, but it did have some missile attacks in the city center. 

“You never know with this type of war what might happen. So, his friends and family are over there fighting for their country, while he's fighting for his country in the ring over here in the United States.”