By Ian S Palmer
Ring legend Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines returns to action after a two-year absence on Saturday, August 21st when he takes on WBA ‘Super’ Welterweight Champion Yordenis Ugas of Cuba. The 12-round bout from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada can be seen live in the USA on Fox Pay Per View while fans in the UK can catch it on Sky Sports. The southpaw Pacquiao last fought in July, 2019 when he beat Keith Thurman for the WBA ‘Super’ Welterweight crown via split decision after dropping the former champ in the first round. Ugas last fought in September when he beat Abel Ramos by split decision for the vacant WBA World Title.
Pacquiao is now 42 years old and will climb through the ropes with a record of 62-7-2 with 39 Kos. He’s still an excellent boxer with fine skills and speed, but Pacquiao’s power hasn’t been evident for quite some time even with the stoppage of Lucas Matthysse in the seventh round in 2018. His last KO victory before that was eight years earlier when he stopped Miguel Cotto in the 12th round in 2009. Still, his knockout ratio currently stands at a decent 55 per cent, but he can’t really depend on his power to be the difference maker anymore.
Pacquiao’s chin has held up well since Juan Manuel Marquez landed the perfect punch on him in the sixth round back in December, 2012, but he’s been stopped in three of his seven career losses. Since he’s been on the canvas a few times during his career he needs to keep his focus at all times and make sure he doesn’t leave himself wide open for a Ugas power shot. His key to winning this fight will be his speed and chin as he’ll need to strike quickly and move out of range.
Pacquiao stands just over 5-feet-5-inches tall and owns a 67-inch reach. He’s boxed 486 rounds since turning pro in 1995 and possesses a wealth of big-fight experience against the best in the world after winning world titles in eight different weight classes. Pacquiao has simply faced all the top boxers of his era and has lost just seven times, to Rustico Torrecampo, Boonsai Sangsurat, Erik Morales, Timothy Bradley, Juan Manuel Marquez, Floyd Mayweather Jr and Jeff Horn.
He was stopped by Torrecampo in 1996, Sangsurat in 1999 and Marquez in 2012 and his draws came against Agapito Sanchez in 2001 and Marquez in 2004. Pacquiao avenged his losses to Morales, Bradley and Marquez by beating them each twice. He’s also beaten the likes of Marco Antonio Barrera, Ricky Hatton, David Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya, Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley, Brandon Rios, Chris Algieri, Jessie Vargas and Adrien Broner.
Like Pacquiao himself, a good number of his past opponents will be ending up in the Hall of Fame and this is what makes him a boxing legend. He’s fleet of foot with great hand speed and controls most fights with his right jab, stinging left hand and lightning-quick combinations. After going 60-4 as an amateur, he’s won several regional and minor titles as well as world titles at flyweight, super bantamweight, featherweight, super featherweight, lightweight, junior welterweight, welterweight and junior middleweight.
Pacquiao has captured Ring Magazine Titles at featherweight, junior lightweight and junior welterweight as well as Lineal Titles at flyweight, featherweight, junior lightweight, junior welterweight and welterweight. His record in world title fights stands at 17-4-2 with 8 Kos and has gone 25-6-2 with 11 Kos against former, current, and future world champions. He also owns several other boxing records and milestones and is the only boxer to hold a world title in four different decades.
As for Ugas, he’s now is 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 and has 196 rounds of experience under his belt. He carries a mark of 26-4 with 12 Kos. He’s a handful for anybody but isn’t known for his power with a current knockout ratio of 40 per cent. Ugas stands 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 69-inch reach which gives him a 3.5-inch height advantage over Pacquiao as well as a two-inch edge 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.
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, Bryant Perrella, Thomas Dulorme and Jonathan Batista as a pro. Ugas isn’t the cleanest boxer out there as he’s been deducted a point for either low blows or holding on at least three occasions.
Prediction…
Even though Pacquiao’s 42 years old he’s still a world class boxer. Ugas is too however and is seven years younger. Pacquiao’s been stopped a few times but just once since 1999 and that came in 2012. Ugas has never been stopped but has been dropped a few times. Of course, Pacquiao was scheduled to meet southpaw Errol Spence Jr on Saturday and Ugas was supposed to fight Fabian Maidana but stepped in due to Spence’s torn retina. Speed will be a factor and if Pacquiao can at least match Ugas in this department his chances of winning will increase. Ugas is a very tough opponent but is known to throw wide punches while Pacquiao could make him pay for that. No outcome will be a surprise here and it looks like Pacquiao will have to be at his best to earn a win. It’s a tossup but it’s hard to go against a legend like Pacquiao and because of that sentiment that’s why I’ll give him a slight edge.
