Unified Welterweight Champion Errol Spence, Jr. was forced to withdraw from his blockbuster showdown with eight-division and former welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao on Sunday, August 22 (PH Time) from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas due to a retinal tear in his left eye.
WBA Welterweight Champion Yordenis Ugas will move up to replace Spence and will defend his title against Pacquiao, who won that title when he defeated Keith Thurman in his last fight July 2019. Ugas was preparing to make his first title defense against Fabian Maidana in the co-feature of the Spence-Pacquiao card. Being elevated to the main event against boxing legend Pacquiao means Ugas will get a career-defining fight sooner rather than later.
The 35-year-old Ugás (26-4, 12 KOs) has established himself as an elite welterweight since returning from a layoff in 2016 and was elevated to world champion in January after winning a WBA Championship belt by defeating Abel Ramos last September. Ugás, who is from Santiago, Cuba and now lives in Miami, Florida, was on an eight-fight winning streak before losing a narrow split-decision to Shawn Porter in a world title fight in March 2019. The Olympic bronze medalist trains in Las Vegas and owns victories over then undefeated fighters Jamal James, Omar Figueroa Jr. and Bryant Perrella, plus veteran contenders Thomas Dulorme and Ray Robinson.
Fans nationwide can watch the newly anticipated fight on TapSPORTS, TapEDGE, Premier Tennis and Premier Football; available on Sky Cable, Cignal, Air Cable, Converge Pacific Kabelnet Vision, Cablelink and WeTV iflix. The fight will also be shown on GMA, TV5 and CNN Philippines; Tap’s free-to-air telecast partners. Fans can likewise have the option to watch without ads on Pay-Per-View through their cable television providers. And as a special offer, Tap DMV is making the Pacquiao vs. Ugas fight available for free by subscribing to TapGO, Tap’s Sports & Entertainment subscription streaming service. Log on to tapgo.tv and subscribe now! TapGO is also available on Google Play (Android) and the App Store (IOS). TapGO digital access codes to the fight can also be purchased on Shopee, GCash and PayMaya.
ADVT