Manny Pacquiao Vs. Yordenis Ugas: A Fight To Determine 'True' WBA Welterweight King

Yordenis Ugas is set to face Manny Pacquiao on Saturday, August 21 after Errol Spence Jr. pulled out of the fight due to an eye injury.

Ugas was originally slated to face Fabian Maidana, the younger brother of former two-division world champion Marcos Maidana, but the Argentinian pulled out due to an eerily similar eye injury to that of Spence.

Going into the Ugas-Pacquiao main event fight, the story now shifts as to who is the “true” WBA welterweight champion after the Cuban was promoted as the organization's primary champion due to Pacquiao’s inactivity.

On paper, Pacquiao seems to have the upper hand on Ugas as the Filipino still has punching power and can catch his opponents from weird angles.

However, Pacquiao should still be wary and cautious about the champion.

Ugas is the type of fighter that fights similar to that of an Olympic boxer. He isn’t necessarily known for his punching power–he only has 12 knockouts–but he more than makes up for it with skillful, perfectly timed shots.

A case in point was in his highly controversial split decision loss against Shawn Porter in 2019.

He remained in the center of the ring as he threw body shots for much of the fight, allowing Porter to be the more aggressive fighter.

This tactic allowed Ugas to win much of the early rounds as his precise shots and counterpunching left Porter confused and unable to get much of his punches in.

Ugas lost the bout despite him being the apparent winner after 12 rounds, but the judges saw the fight differently, thanks to a strong finish from Porter.

Pacquiao last entered the ring in July 2019 against Keith Thurman, where he looked so great and dominant in the split decision win that many jokingly wondered whether he was truly 40 years old or not.

The “Pacman” made Thurman look slow and ineffective as he strafed him repeatedly with shots from awkward angles, connecting with almost everything that he threw.

Thurman was knocked down in the first round and he seemed shook throughout the fight, despite landing more than Pacquiao did according to the official punch stats.

Going into the fight, Ugas is expected to slow Pacquiao down with body shots early as he tries to whittle down the eight-division champion’s stamina going into the later rounds.

Pacquiao will play it smart and push Ugas to be on the defensive end to keep him rotating in the center of the ring as he takes potshots from the outside, hoping that he can force Ugas into the ropes for some quick combinations.

This does not mean that the Cuban will just lay down for Pacquiao.

The reigning welterweight champion is a very skilled counter-puncher, and Pacquiao should be cautious about the Cuban's right hand as one clean shot can spell the difference between furthering his legacy and a repeat of his 2012 disaster against Juan Manuel Marquez.

The Pacquiao-Ugas card starts at 9 PM E.T. on FOX PPV for $74.99 for American audiences.

For the Philippine audience, they can stream the fight on Upstream PH by subscribing to the service here.