The announcement came last Tuesday seemingly out of nowhere: Errol Spence Jr. to be replaced by Yordenis Ugas due to a torn retina.
So, instead of Spence putting his unified world welterweight titles on the line against Manny Pacquiao on Aug. 21, it will be the WBA (Super) world welterweight titleholder Ugas. As Pacquiao-Ugas fight week launches and marches toward Saturday night's tilt from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and live on pay-per-view, let's get to know the Cuban fighter a bit more.
Yordenis Ugas' background
Ugas was born July 14, 1986 in the Santiago de Cuba section of Cuba. As he has repeatedly told media, including DAZN News last week, Ugas began boxing since he was six-years-old.
The Cuban's amateur career included victories over current and former champions including Terence Crawford, Darlys Perez, Francisco Vargas, Khabib Allakverdiev, Jose Pedraza, Julius Indongo and Sadam Ali.
In 2008, the then-22-year-old Ugas represented his home country in the Beijing Olympics, having grinded his way toward a bronze medal at lightweight. Two years later, Ugas defected from Cuba to launch his professional boxing career from the United States as he embarked on a journey from the island to Mexico and then Miami, where he relocated to.
In pursuing his dreams, Ugas left his family in Cuba behind. He spoke about the decision with DAZN News last week.
“It was the most difficult thing I ever had to do in my life,” Ugas said. “Nine years without seeing my family, not just my mom. It was so difficult because I went looking to become the world champion and trying to be free more than anything."
Ugas' record
Since making his pro debut in July 2010, Ugas has had 30 fights. The 35-year-old has garnered 26 victories, 12 of which coming via knockouts, with 4 defeats to his name.
Ugas' biggest fights
Ugas had compiled a 15-1 record at junior welterweight, with seven of those victories coming by stoppage, before suffering back-to-back losses to Emmanuel Robles and Amir Imam less than four months apart in 2014. The consecutive losses put Ugas in a tailspin as he would be out of boxing for 27 months before linking up with noted Cuban trainer Ismael Salas. Under the famed trainer's guidance, Ugas moved up to welterweight and hasn't looked back since with an 11-1 record from that point.
Here are some of his biggest fights:
Second-round TKO of Nelson Lara; April 2017
What made this bout interesting was when it was booked. Ugas stepped in on less than a day's notice to replace Mario Barrios and clash with an overweight 154-pound Lara. Ugas wound up blasting him with a short right to the temple that Lara could never recover from.
Unanimous decision over Thomas Dulorme; August 2017
Ugas again stepped in on late notice — this time against a former world title challenger — and had his hand raised at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The rugged Cuban outboxed and outpointed the Puerto Rican fighter via unanimous decision but not without overcoming a bit of adversity. Despite registering a pair of second-round knockdowns in the fight, Ugas was dropped for the first time in his career in the seventh round. Still, replacing Shawn Porter on eight days notice to secure the victory against a game Dulorme was noteworthy.
Controversial split-decision loss to Shawn Porter; March 2019
Three victories in 2018 punched Ugas' ticket to his first world title shot — against then-WBC welterweight champion "Showtime" Shawn Porter. The tilt had Ugas throwing Porter off his dogged game to go the distance and leave the balance of the title in the judges' hands. Considering that Ugas registered 23 more body shots and matched Porter's 79 power punches, one judge gave the Cuban the victory by the score of 117-111, but the two others gave reverence to the reigning champ, scoring it for Porter, 116-112 and 115-113. Ugas thought he was robbed at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif. that night and has backers on that claim to this day.
When speaking with DAZN News last week, Pacquiao's longtime trainer Freddie Roach commented: “I thought maybe Porter got a gift in that one. It was a very, very close fight. I’m not a boxing judge, but I would have gave that fight to Ugas.”
Dominates Omar Figueroa Jr.; July 2019
Ugas detonated a right hook to the head to drop Figueroa in the first round and dominated his way to a near shutout unanimous decision win at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Not a bad performance against a former world titleholder, as Figueroa was once a lightweight champ.
Ugas crowned WBA (Regular) world welterweight champ; September 2020
This time, Ugas wouldn't be denied. Asserting his jab early paved the way for a split decision victory over Abel Ramos to win the WBA (Regular) world welterweight title at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The win could have very well been a unanimous decision victory for "57 Milagros (Miracles)" the way he kept Ramos at bay with the jab, however judges overly respected Ramos for the hard-fought scrap that he produced and scored it 115-113 for Ugas twice and an inexplicable 117-111 for Ramos toward the split decision toward the Cuban fighter.
That bout had Ugas accomplishing his lifelong dream of becoming world champion and he was later upgraded to WBA (Super) welterweight champion due to Pacquiao's inactivity. Pacquiao had defeated previously-unbeaten Keith Thurman on July 20, 2019 to claim the WBA (Super) title but hasn't competed since.
So, maybe it's only right that Ugas gets to step in on another late notice and defend the title against Pacquiao in the biggest fight of the Cuban's life.