Pacquiao vs Ugas Rematch Will End All Doubts
By Ralph Rimpell
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 29 Aug 2021
Last Saturday the sport of boxing saw future hall of famer and former eight division champion Manny Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39KOs) return to action against WBA (Super) Welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas (27-4, 12KOs) of Cuba at the T-Mobile center in Las Vegas.
Ugas had replaced unified WBC/IBF champion Errol Spence Jr, who withdrew from his match against Pacquiao because he had a detached retina. Ugas, who had defected from Cuba to pursue a professional boxing career, had faced adversity early in his career and it seemed that not only would he not become a boxing star, but likely would not win a professional world title. Ugas turned his career around and eventually won a world title and his status as a champion gave him the ticket to the “Big Time” which was a match against Manny Pacquiao.
Looking at Ugas’s professional record it seemed as though Pacquiao, who had fought and beaten better fighters on paper, would easily defeat Ugas. There was even talk of who Pacquiao would fight after defeating Ugas. Most dismissed Ugas as having any chance of winning.
Ugas seized the opportunity and after 12 rounds all three fight judges scored the fight in Ugas’s favor. An Ugas victory now means that Pacquiao vs Spence likely will not happen (if Spence recovers from his injury), neither will Pacquiao vs Crawford, and even less likely of Pacquiao vs Mayweather II. Yes, there are some fans that do still want to see Pacquiao vs Mayweather II. Pacquiao attributed the loss to overtraining, cramps in his leg, and using the wrong fight strategy against Ugas.
Reports are that Pacquiao is interested in a rematch in January 2022, which is 5 months from now. Ugas has stated that it would be an honor to rematch with Pacquiao. Ugas no doubt wants to show that his victory was not a fluke or luck and clearly wants to show that his victory over the living legend was due to hard work and skill. At the time of the writing of this article, Pay Per View (PPV) sales of Pacquiao vs Ugas have not been officially released, but the reported attendance at the T-Mobile center in Las Vegas on fight night at 18,000 seat sports center was 17,438 practically a sellout. That shows that Pacquiao is still a major draw.
Reports are that Pacquiao does not want to leave the sport with his final fight being a loss. Some are calling on Pacquiao to retire and focus on his political aspirations by running for the Presidency of the Philippines.
Both Pacquiao and Ugas fight for Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) so a rematch can easily be made. Boxing odds would likely be different in a rematch against Ugas were he would likely be favored and Pacquiao would be the underdog based on their last fight.
Questions such as should Pacquiao retire, or does he have 1 or 2 more fights before he finally retires will be answered. Then there are questions about Ugas. Can Ugas defeat Pacquiao a 2nd time or will Pacquiao regain his title as other champions in past like Lennox Lewis vs Hassim Rahman or more recently Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz?
If Pacquiao vs Ugas II happens, whoever is the winner of that fight will end all doubts regarding both fighters.
Contact Writer: RLuvsboxing@aol.com
***Ralph Rimpell is a writer based out of New York and is a Boxing Correspondent for Philboxing.com. Ralph holds an undergraduate degree from City University of New York. He has been a Boxing Writer for over ten years having written for several top boxing websites on the World Wide Web. Before becoming a writer, Ralph's passion was for professional wrestling until he realized professional wrestling was entertainment and not a real sport. It was at that time the 1984 US Olympic team made up of future stars such as Evander Holyfield, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, etc. entered the professional ranks and signed with promotional outfit Main Events.It was also at that time a young exciting Heavyweight originally hailing from Brooklyn named Mike Tyson also turned professional and became the face of boxing. Young boxing fan Ralph just couldn't get enough of boxing as a large part of it was being broadcast on "free TV". As time went on, Ralph felt boxing writers were not being forthcoming with their boxing coverage, opinion pieces, interviews, etc. So Ralph decided to write an article and submitted it to a Boxing website thinking it would be deleted and ignored by the Editor. To Ralph's surprise his article was posted on their website and the readers embraced it. The rest is history.
"I thank God for the Internet because it has created opportunities for writers like myself who likely would not have been given an opportunity to write for print publications. I hope someday soon to expand my role in Boxing on different levels." -- Ralph Rimpell
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ralph Rimpell.
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