Turki Alalshikh wants Vergil Ortiz Jr. win, Ortiz-Terence Crawford next
Aug 10, 2024 • 10:31 PM ET
LAS VEGAS – Turki Alalshikh arrived to watch Saturday night’s Vergil Ortiz Jr.-Serhii Bohachuk junior middleweight bout and said he would like to see Ortiz take a victory and fight newly crowned titleholder Terence Crawford next.
By the end of a three-minute interview on DAZN, Ortiz promoter Oscar De La Hoya said he would pursue a card that featured both a Crawford-Ortiz fight along with a lightweight title fight between unbeaten WBC titlist Shakur Stevenson and consensus No. 1 contender William Zepeda of De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.
The comments significantly raise the importance of tonight’s bout for the WBC interim junior middleweight belt between Ukraine’s Bohachuk (24-1, 23 KOs) and Ortiz (21-0, 21 KOs).
BoxingScene will have complete coverage throughout.
- Oscar De La Hoya
- Terence Crawford
- Shakur Stevenson
- Vergil Ortiz Jr.
- Serhii Bohachuk
- William Zepeda
- Turki Alalshikh
Lance Pugmire has been a full-time boxing writer for nearly 20 years, serving now as BoxingScene’s U.S. Senior Writer and assistant producer for ProBoxTV’s “BoxingScene Today.” Pugmire capped a near 20-year career at the Los Angeles Times (sports investigations, NHL/MLB beat work, law enforcement/courts and boxing/UFC) to join The Athletic, and then USA Today. Pugmire’s stint at The Times started with the first Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez fight and the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jnr then-record pay-per-view, leading through a slew of ringside assignments at major bouts, including Mayweather-Pacquiao, Mayweather-Canelo and the Canelo-Golovkin trilogy. Lance’s appreciation for boxing is rooted in his admiration and appreciation for the fighters, gladiators who have proven to be the most forthcoming and candid of all the athletes he has interviewed over a career dating to 1990. Lance was honored to be named the 2022 winner of the Boxing Writers Association of America Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence and he’s collected many BWAA writing awards in categories ranging from breaking news to deep-dive long features.
