What To Know
- Zuffa Boxing 06 features a competitive middleweight fight between Shane Mosley Jr. and Serhii Bohachuk, with the winner heading for Zuffa’s first middleweight title fight.
- The Zuffa Boxing main card starts at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, with preliminary fights beginning at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT. Both air on Paramount Plus.
- The undercard features the return of Zuffa favorite Julian “Hammer Hands” Rodriguez and several returning Zuffa prospects.
Zuffa Boxing 06 features a competitive middleweight fight in its main event on Sunday, May 10, from the Meta APEX in Las Vegas. Shane Mosley Jr. of Las Vegas takes on hard-hitting veteran Serhii Bohachuk of Ukraine in a ten-round bout.
Supporting Mosley Jr vs Bohachuk is the return of Julian “Hammerhands” Rodriguez against James Perella in the ten-round welterweight co-main event.
The main card starts at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, with preliminary fights beginning at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT on Paramount Plus.
Both Mosley Jr. and Bohachuk weighed in at the middleweight limit of 160 pounds. Likewise, welterweights Rodriguez and Perella hit the scale at 147 pounds even.
Mosley Jr vs Bohachuk Promises One of Zuffa’s Best Matchups
Sunday’s winner will move on to bigger opportunities. The loser runs out of good options. The stakes and the nature of the two men should deliver solid action for boxing fans.
Bohachuk (27-3, 24 KOs), a title challenger in the super welterweight division with a narrow loss against Vergil Ortiz Jr., says he feels good at middleweight. “El Flaco” won his Zuffa debut against Radzhab Butaev with a ten-round decision.
By defeating Mosley Jr. (22-5, 12 KOs), Bohachuk can tee himself up for the inaugural Zuffa Boxing 160-pound title.
Mosley Jr. says he’s expecting a tough fight against a gritty opponent after watching Bohachuk, but he believes his insight into boxing as the son of a former three-division world champion has given him the winning mindset. Mosley Jr. says winning the first middleweight title offered by Zuffa would be the 35-year-old’s version of success by making history.
Bohachuk says he intends to pick up right where he left off after beating Butaev. “(It’s a) big show for me coming up, and a lot of Ukrainian fans are coming to this show. I’m very happy, very excited, ready for this fight. Let’s go.”
Bohachuk says if Mosley Jr. is well prepared, he’ll beat him by decision. If he’s not prepared, he’ll knock Mosley Jr. out. It’s an ambitious goal. Although Mosley Jr. has five losses, he’s never been stopped or knocked down in his 27 professional fights.
Bohachuk said that he felt a downturn in his performance at super welterweight after a decision loss to Brandon Adams last September, it was the right time to move up.
“The last time (at 154) against Brandon Adams, I didn’t feel like I did in the Vergil Ortiz fight. I felt different. I felt tired. Then I changed my division, and I showed in my last fight that 160 is my right division. Now I want to stay (at 160) and become a world champion,” said Bohachuk.
Bohachuk compliments Mosley Jr. as a strong fighter, a good boxer and technician, and a smart ring general.
Bohachuk loves entertaining the fans, truly a people’s champion. It sometimes gets him into trouble. “My goal is to show my fans and show people interesting, quality boxing. I enjoy it when people enjoy my fights. For me, it’s my number-one goal. I like it when people come out of a fight and say, ‘Thank you! Wow!’ I enjoy this, you know?”
Bohachuk can’t lose sight of the opportunity in front of him to resurrect his opportunity to win a title with Zuffa by taking unnecessary chances.
“It’s boxing. It’s a very dangerous sport. Every fight can be lost. You can’t plan your next three, four, five fights. I am concentrated one million percent on this fight,” promised Bohachuk.
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Co-Main Event: Julian Rodriguez vs James Perella
The welterweight co-main event features two East Coast-based fighters. Julian “Hammer Hands” Rodriguez of New Jersey (25-1, 15 KOs) returns to the Meta APEX to take on undefeated James Perella of Massachusetts (21-0, 15 KOs).
Perella, age 33, only turned pro at 26. He comes into his Zuffa Boxing debut having knocked out eight of his last nine opponents.
Rodriguez handed previously undefeated Cain Sandoval his first loss on the main card of Zuffa Boxing 01 in January. Rodriguez returns to claim his fifth straight win as he seeks to make himself one of Zuffa’s top welterweight talents.
In the opening fight on the main card, two undefeated middleweight prospects risk their records against each other. Mexican Olympic bronze medalist Misael Rodriguez (16-0, 8 KOs) faces Greece’s Andreas Katzourakis (16-0, 11 KOs) in a bout scheduled for ten rounds.
Rodriguez scored a fourth-round stoppage in his Zuffa debut against previously unbeaten Austin Deanda. Now “El Chino” wants to cement his status as a legitimate contender for the inaugural Zuffa Boxing middleweight title, possibly against the winner of the main event.
Zuffa Boxing 06 Preliminary Undercard Lineup
The preliminary card features lightweight prospect Justin Viloria of Whittier, California (12-0, 8 KOs) versus Ivan Ortiz of Guadalajara (12-0-2, 9 KOs) in a lightweight fight at eight rounds. Viloria is the nephew of former world champion Brian Viloria.
Heavyweight prospect Da’Mazion Vanhouter of St. Petersburg, Florida (11-0, 8 KOs) hopes to remain unbeaten against Raphael Murphy (18-1, 14 KOs). Vanhouter, age 21, is taking a step up against Murphy.
Uzbek light heavyweight amateur standout Rakhmatullo Boymatov makes his professional debut against replacement opponent Caleb Hall of Englewood, Colorado (6-1-2, 4 KOs). Yes, Boymatov trains in Indio with the Diaz Brothers.
Bantamweights Emiliano Cardenas of Union City, California (10-0, 4 KOs) and Alexis Alvarado of La Puente, California (9-1-1, 5 KOs) meet in a rescheduled fight when Cardenas withdrew from Zuffa Boxing 05 due to illness.
Light heavyweights Raphael Monny of France (9-0, 3 KOs) and Suray Mahmutovic of Pittsburgh, California (8-1-1, 6 KOs) meet in a scheduled eight-round fight.
Gayle Falkenthal is an award-winning boxing journalist with more than four dozen awards for both written and video coverage from the Boxing Writers Association of America, Society of Professional Journalists, and San Diego Press Club, where she is the past president. She is the only woman journalist who is a full voting member of the BWAA. She is the Boxing Editor for NY Fights based in San Diego, California.