By Ian S Palmer
There’s a huge welterweight title unification bout in Arlington, Texas this Saturday, April 16th as unbeaten southpaw Errol Spence Jr. of Long Island, New York takes on Yordenis Ugas of Cuba. Spence will be putting his WBC and IBF belts on the line while Ugas’ WBA “Super” Title is up for grabs. The 12-rounder can be seen live in North America on pay-per-view. This is Spence’s sixth defence of the IBF crown while he won the WBC belt in September, 2019 with a split decision over Shawn Porter. He last fought in December, 2020 when he beat Danny Garcia by unanimous decision. Ugas won his title the last time out with a unanimous decision over Manny Pacquiao in August.
Spence won the IBF title in May, 2017 when he stopped former champion Kell Brook in England in the 11th round. He defended it against Lamont Peterson after seven rounds in January, 2018 and then stopped Carlos Ocampo in the first round before beating Mikey Garcia by unanimous decision, then edging Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia. The 32-year-old year-old champ will enter the ring with a perfect record of 27-0 with 21 Kos and has gone the distance in his last three fights.
Spence stepped up in class for the first time when meeting Chris Algieri in April, 2017 after previously beating opponents such as Phil Lo Greco, Chris van Heerden, Samuel Vargas and Alejandro Barrera. He’s boxed 132 rounds since turning pro in 2012 and has a lot of amateur experience as he competed at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England.
Spence isn’t that tall as he stands just over 5-feet-9-inches and has a 72-inch reach. He has very good speed and power and enters the fight with a highly-impressive knockout ratio of 77.8 per cent despite not being regarded as a one-punch knockout artist. He had won 11 straight fights by way of stoppage until Mikey Garcia took him the distance in March, 2019. Spence has a fine jab and will be trying to establish it before unleashing his power shots against Ugas.
As for Ugas, he’s now 35 years old and fights out of Miami, Florida. He enjoyed an excellent amateur career and won a gold medal as a lightweight at the 2005 World Championships when he was 19 years old. He also captured gold at the Pan American Games two years later and took home the bronze medal from the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. He defeated Jose Pedraza, David Arce, Sadam Ali, Francisco Vargas and Darleys Perez as an amateur but was beaten by Amir Khan.
Ugas turned pro in 2010, has 208 rounds of experience under his belt and carries a mark of 27-4 with 12 Kos. Ugas stands 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 69-inch reach which means he’s just half an inch shorter than Spence but gives up three inches in reach. He lost a close split decision to former WBC Welterweight Champ Shawn Porter in his first shot at the title in March, 2019 before beating Pacquiao for the belt.
His other three pro losses have been to Johnny Garcia by eight-round split decision in 2012, a 10-round split decision to Emanuel Robles in 2014 and an eight-round unanimous decision to Amir Imam in his next fight in 2014. He’s also beaten Mike Dallas Jr, Omar Figueroa Jr, Kenny Abril, Cosme Rivera, Jamal James, Ray Robinson, Bryant Perrella, Thomas Dulorme and Jonathan Batista. He’s a handful for anybody but isn’t known for his power with a current knockout ratio of 38.7 per cent.
Prediction…
These are two relatively small but highly-skilled welterweights with Spence having the edge in speed and power. Ugas would probably prefer to make it a bit of an ugly fight if possible as he’s not averse to bending the rules on occasion. Both boxers have solid chins and I’m expecting a hard-fought close fight with Spence’s pure boxing skills helping him retain his titles and add Ugas’ belt to his collection.
