Pacquiao nears end after upset
Print Edition
Although Manny Pacquiao hasn’t decided what his future holds, the eight-division world champion realizes his 26-year professional boxing career might have ended on Saturday night with a disheartening loss.
Yordenis Ugas is only seven years younger than the Filipino senator, yet he’s just getting started after seizing this improbable opportunity to knock off one of the greats.
Ugas beat Pacquiao by unanimous decision in Las Vegas, putting on an impressive technical performance on 11 days’ notice and retaining his WBA welterweight title.
“He’s a great competitor, but I came in here to show I am the champion of the WBA,” Ugas said. “A lot of respect for him, but I won this fight.”
Ugas (27-4) capitalized on this chance as the late injury replacement for Errol Spence Jr. The Cuban veteran was slightly better than Pacquiao (67-8-2) throughout one of the most frustrating fights in the 42-year-old Filipino’s career.
“I did my best tonight, but my best wasn’t good enough,” Pacquiao said. “No excuses. I wanted to fight for the title in the ring, and tonight the champion is named Ugas.”
A visibly disappointed Pacquiao said he hasn’t decided whether he will fight again after an unimpressive performance in his return from the longest layoff of his quarter-century in the sport. He also wouldn’t confirm whether he will enter the Philippines’ presidential race, as is widely expected. He intends to make an announcement next month.
“In the future, you may not see Manny Pacquiao again to fight in the ring,” Pacquiao said. “I don’t know, but I’m so happy for what I’ve accomplished.”
The 35-year-old Ugas threw roughly half as many punches as Pacquiao, but his blows were more precise and more effective. Pacquiao was the solid favorite before the bout, but he struggled to get inside on Ugas’ effective jab while Ugas landed his right hand to increasing effect in the later rounds.
Two judges scored it 116-112 for Ugas, and a third had it 115-113.
Pacquiao also said his legs were cramping from the second round onward. He attributed the problem to a combination of overtraining and age. “I think it was too much hard work. But I’m not young anymore. So I don’t know.”
The victory was the culmination of a lengthy journey for Ugas, who defected from Cuba two years after winning a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Ugas quit boxing for two years midway through the last decade, but revitalized his career and then capitalized on this golden chance by earning his 12th victory in his last 13 fights.
Ugas was in the spotlight only because Spence was forced to drop out last week after discovering he had a torn retina during a pre-fight physical. Ugas had been booked for a bout on the undercard, but he jumped at the type of showcase and payday that had been just out of reach ever since he left Cuba on a small boat bound for Mexico 11 years ago.
“I am very excited, but most of all, I want to thank Manny Pacquiao for giving me this moment in this ring today,” Ugas said through a translator. “We only had two weeks of training, but I listened to my corner and it all worked out.”
Pacquiao had won three straight bouts since July 2017, but he hadn’t fought since beating Keith Thurman in 2019 to win the WBA welterweight title.
That belt belonged to Ugas by the time Pacman returned: While Pacquiao’s political career and the COVID-19 pandemic kept him out of the ring in 2020, the WBA took away the belt and awarded it to Ugas, who had won a different version of the belt in the WBA’s Byzantine championship system.
The WBA’s decision irked Pacquiao, who held various welterweight belts for a decade after he first moved up to 147 pounds in 2009 and stopped Miguel Cotto in arguably his single greatest performance.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
