Brandon Adams couldn’t care less who won the back-and-forth Vergil Ortiz-Serhii Bohachuk showdown earlier this month.
He has more important things to worry about, including winning the Overtime Boxing junior middleweight tournament. First, he needs to get Francisco Veron.
“I’ve never watched this fight until now,” Adams said The Ring. “I didn’t want to watch it. It was my belt. I was not active. It was not my call to be inactive. They reactivated him as the champion as if he had won that fight. He did what he had to do, defended his belt. But he defended my belt. And that’s the joke I always say.
The Adams-Veron 10-round semifinal takes place Friday on DAZN from Overtime Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. This is paired with the other tournament semi-final between undefeated Andreas Katzourakis and Robert Terry.
Junior featherweights Elijah Pierce and Jose Sanmartin also meet on the same card.
Adams (24-3, 16 knockouts), who lives and trains in the Los Angeles area, was mentioned a few weeks ago as a talking point about Ortiz-Bohachuk.
Ortiz (22-0, 21 KOs) prevailed by unanimous decision in their Aug. 10 thriller in Las Vegas. There were plenty of viewers who felt Bohachuk (24-2, 23 KOs) did enough to win in their top Fight of the Year contender.
The loss to Ortiz was Bohachuk’s second of his professional career. The other loss came at the expense of Adams via a come-from-behind knockout in March 2021.
Adams had no interest in catching an Ortiz-Bohachuk rematch for several reasons. He is convinced he is a better fighter than Bohachuk. The resurgent contender also questions whether Ortiz has the strength to be a top fighter at 154 pounds.
“I didn’t watch that fight because that’s what keeps me hungry,” insists Adams, who has won three in a row. “Not the fact that it’s Bohachuk. I’m not going to lie. I usually rarely say this, how I see myself, (but) I am above Bohachuk. I’m honestly glad he’s doing well. I’m glad he’s doing well, but I’m better than him. This is not the level I wanted to stop at. If he is one of the top fighters today, I push myself above the likes of him.
“It showed that night (against Bohachuk), as lazy as it was, you saw me get the same few hits all night until he couldn’t answer the bell. The guys who face him because he’s one of the top guys, or they want to prove themselves. It’s all about staying sharp, staying mentally focused, staying mentally strong. And it suits my physicality.”
Adams knocked out Ismael Villarreal in the third round on April 19, his most recent in-ring performance. He will face an undefeated fighter in Veron (14-0-1, 10 KOs), who represented Argentina in the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
It’s a compelling clash between young fighter and seasoned veteran. Adams considers his experience and current outlook on the sport to be his edge.
“He’s the type of fighter I once was,” said the 35-year-old Adams, who made his pro debut in March 2011. “He should be ready for this kind of test. He is one of the best fighters of his country and then tries to become one of the best fighters in the world.
“I’ll be one of those guys you want to show your skills to. In the same breath, I wouldn’t want to be that exact guy you want to pit your inexperienced fighter against. As time has shown, I grow. I am getting better as time goes on. I’m looking to go out and show different skills, but also show that I can dominate at this level and above.”
Prior to the win over Villarreal, Adams had not fought since the knockout win over Bohachuk. He was in the gym, training and sparring competitors and top prospects in and around his weight class.
It was at this stage that Adams reflected more on his career. Changes have been made to provide more longevity and success. The tactic worked, as he is one win away from the finals of the tournament, which includes a cash prize and a clearer path to a major title shot.
There are many intangibles that give Adams credit. Wisdom and maturity are foremost among them.
“Honestly, there’s a bunch of angles,” Adams said. “It’s a lot of angles. Let’s use a nice word, like deferred. Without fighting. It gave me the opportunity to learn a lot more about myself. I could grow and mature. When I was younger, I did it because I had to. I didn’t even know how to make weight properly. But now I do things a little differently. I listen to my body a lot more. There are so many things that I do completely differently than I did before. I am much more mature. When I look at my beginning stages and how I once was, I am much more advanced, mentally and physically. From the mental point of view for me it was the hunger to sit around and watch all these other fighters.
“We just saw Bohachuk and Vergil Ortiz just fighting and I’m the only person who stopped Bohachuk. And Bohachuk is a tough guy. You see that fight and he ate everything Vergil threw at him. All it took was for me to hit him with a solid hit, one good solid hit, and it changed the whole night. For me, I’m looking for these opportunities to keep showing, to show my abilities to the world and to keep progressing and keep growing.”
As for Adams, he believes he is among the best in the division.
“As far as how I rate myself, I have what it takes to be ‘it’. I am strong, physically. Punch wisely. I am fast enough, as fast as the fastest fighters. I’m just as fast as the fastest fighters in our division, just as strong, if not stronger. It’s not the game to get hit, but I’m solid. I have good ring IQ, understand how to use my body in the ring. I have all the qualifications to be a world champion; I even speak clearly. That’s how I see myself and I never really put myself against anyone because I’ll always be against everyone. I don’t see myself losing to anyone. I can only beat myself at this point.”
Adams is grateful to fight on a platform as Overtime Box/ OTX Box. He hopes to make history by not only fighting for a world title belt, but also being the first fighter to do so under the Overtime Boxing/OTX boxing banner.
Adams has fought in a handful of boxing tournaments, including the ESPN ‘Boxcino’ and ‘The Contender’ series. He has always fallen short but hopes to reverse the trend and become the OTX champion.
“At this point, I’m like kind of a tournament king,” Adams noted. “I’ve been in almost every tournament there is in boxing except the (Showtime) Super Six in the last ten years. After this – and the way Overtime promotes their fighters – they all try to promote. And the ones that do really well, the ones that can actually do really well for Overtime, of course – they’re going to do a little bit more. Right now I’m that guy. Spoken quietly or loudly. I’m that guy who can make the noise. I’m that guy that people can say ‘Look he was on overtime. He did it. He fought in this tournament. Right after the tournament, look what he did. Look at his success. He’s right there at the championship event.’
“It’s not just great for me, Overtime, my community. This is great for anyone who has been kicked off and thought it was the end. And then they say, I can’t give up. It’s a part of me that just didn’t know how and kept going. It’s great for boxing. It’s a great story.”
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at (email protected)
