Yordenis Ugas’ size proved to be troublesome for Manny Pacquiao.
Pacquiao, who was four inches shorter than the Cuban, was dealt a unanimous decision defeat at the hands of WBA Super Welterweight champion Ugas, Sunday (Manila time) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The scorecards went 115-113, 116-112×2.
What was supposed to be a celebration of Pacquiao’s legendary career ended up as a coming-out party for Ugas.
Photo from Ryan Hafey/Premier Boxing Champions
“I want to thank Manny Pacquiao for giving me this moment. I am just glad to prove that I am the WBA champion,” said Ugas, who was handed the belt early this year after Pacquiao was stripped of it due to “inactivity”.
It was definitely fate that brought the two fighters to this dance.
Pacquiao was originally slated to face Errol Spence Jr. But just 11 days before the bout, the reigning World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation champion had to pull out due to a detached right retina.
Ugas, who was supposed to Fabian Maidana, stepped up.
“We only had two weeks of training,” said Ugas.
“It was a big adjustment for a few days. It’s still good because that’s boxing,” said Pacquiao.
All throughout the 12-minute affair, Ugas had one bread and butter — a combination of short jabs and body shots.
Then when Pacquiao goes on the offensive, he would have a high guard to negate the Filipino’s flurry.
All in all, Ugas, who had a two-inch reach advantage, had 37-percent efficiency with his punches — going 50-of-234 in his jabs and 101-of-171 in his power shots, according to Compubox.
Pacquiao, who has been known as a volume puncher for almost four decades, only landed 16-percent of his shots (130-of-815). He was only able to connect on nine jabs and 88 power shots.
Photo from Ryan Hafey/Premier Boxing Champions
And the 42-year-old Pacquiao admitted that he had trouble in bobbing and weaving his way out of Ugas’ shots as the fight progressed.
“I was having a hard time in the ring to make adjustments with his style. I think that’s the problem for me. I was not able to make adjustments right away,” he said. “My legs were also tight.”
Prior to fight night, Pacquiao was the huge favorite, holding a minus-330 odds to win. Ugas was a plus-275.
Pacquiao, 42, fell to 62-8-2 in his career. This is his first loss since being dealt a controversial loss by Jeff Horn back in July of 2017 in Brisbane.
And at his age, many are questioning whether he should continue in the sport.
Ugas, on the other hand, went up to 27-4 (12KO). More importantly, he secured his place in the sports’ most difficult weight division.
