Yordenis Ugas celebrates after finishing 12 rounds against Manny Pacquiao in their WBA welterweight title fight at T-Mobile Arena on August 21, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ugas retained his title by unanimous decision. Steve Marcus/Getty Images/AFP
MANILA, Philippines—Yordenis Ugas’ first defense of the WBA welterweight super title will be a big one as he’s set for a unification fight against two-belt champion Errol Spence Jr.
As per BoxingScene, the match will also put Spence’s IBF and WBC titles on the line more than a year since he last defended the straps against Danny Garcia in December 2020.
Spence has held his titles since March 2019 when he unified his IBF belt with the WBC championship in September 2019 after beating Shawn Porter via unanimous decision.
Ugas, meanwhile, wasn’t even supposed to be in the welterweight title picture but circumstances brought him to the table after Spence pulled out of his fight with Manny Pacquiao in August 2021 due to an eye injury.
Coming into the fight on short notice, Ugas outclassed Pacquiao on the scorecards to take the WBA Super strap.
Despite not having the same notoriety as Spence and WBO champion Terence Crawford, Ugas is confident that he will hold the three 147-pound belts.
“I am happy that we will have a great fight, the fight that I wanted, a fight that as I have always said will be historic for Cuban boxing. I’m happy to fight one of the best pound-for-pound. So I feel blessed and excited about this challenge,” said Ugas in an interview with Fox Sports, h/t BoxingScene.com.
“One hundred percent [I can win this fight]. The fight that is not won is the one that is not fought. It’s going to be a tough, strong fight, but my mindset is just that, looking for the toughest fights and giving everything of myself. It’s going to be very tough, but I’m already preparing for that.”
Already getting labeled as an underdog against Spence, Ugas said he’s already earned the public’s respect when he beat Pacquiao.
“There are fighters who seem easy or people believe they have no chance of winning, but I think I’ve gained a lot of respect since the Pacquiao fight and that is going to help me a lot with the [opinions of] people,”