At 26, Vergil Ortiz Jr.'s career has been somewhat of a sonic boom with a 21-0 record and all of his victories coming by the way of knockout.
On Saturday night at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, and live on DAZN, Ortiz will face arguably his toughest opponent to date in WBC interim super welterweight world champion Serhii Bohachuk.
Ortiz knows a win will grant him a world title opportunity at 154 pounds, raising the stakes on this fight all the more.
"I would say that this is a tough test that we have to get past to open up the doors to get the bigger fights," Ortiz told Gabe Rosado on "THE SHOWDOWN" as he sat across from Bohachuk. "This is a test. This is a huge test."
For that reason, and the expectations for a firefight considering Bohachuk's aggressive, rugged style, Ortiz believes that he'll be more "on edge" during this fight more than ever.
"It's these fights that bring it out of you," Ortiz said acknowledging the danger both fighters present to each other. "You ever sparred someone or in a fight with someone and you know they're not on your level? You're lazy a little bit. You're not on edge.
"This is a fight that I'm going to be on edge the whole time because he's a good fighter, he's a tough fighter," he continued, "and we're going to get the best out of each other."
Bohachuk (24-1, 23 KOs) vows that he'll be an opponent for Ortiz like no other.
"Vergil has had good fights, he's had good opponents," Bohachuk said, "and he's never had an opponent like me ... I have a special style."
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