By Chris Williams: Moments after Manny Pacquiao’s surprising loss to WBA welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas last Saturday night, Terence Crawford took to social media to let Errol Spence Jr know the cold, harsh reality that confronts him now.
With Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs) basically being sent into retirement by the shockingly efficient Ugas (27-4, 12 KOs), WBO welterweight champion Crawford and IBF/WBC champ Spence only have each other now at 147, as far as the possibility for a big-money fight.
Up until Ugas sent the 42-year-old Pacquiao packing his bags, Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) and Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) had both been pining away for a chance to share the ring with the Filipino star to cash in on all the dough that they could have made.
Now, it’s too late for Spence or Crawford to share the court with the former welterweight King Pacquiao, as he was thoroughly beaten by the former Cuban amateur star Ugas in a way that suggests that Manny won’t come back.
That was the kind of loss that you don’t come back from because it’ll likely be worse if you try. It was foolish for Pacquiao to take the fight with Ugas, to begin with, on two weeks’ notice after Spence dropped out of the contest with a left-eye injury.
Looks like @ErrolSpenceJr gone need me after all tho😁 I know you really mad about that fight last night because I was 🤣🤣🤣 but not in a hating way just in a missed opportunity way. Don’t beat yourself up about it get well Champ🤝
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) August 22, 2021
Actually, Crawford, 33, is the one that needs Spence rather than the other way around. Spence, 31, is younger than Crawford, and he still has more options in front of him with all the PBC guys, starting with a unification fight with Yordenis.
In the post-fight press conference last Saturday, Ugas, 35, expressed interest in fighting Spence in a unification fight.
As such, barring a rematch with Pacquiao, we very well could see Spence vs. Ugas next in either December or early 2022.
Given that Spence is coming off an eye injury, it’s probable that he’ll wait until April or May 2022 before he fights again. Crawford might have the better chance of a fight with Ugas, spending on if Premier Boxing Champions wants to give the green light to that match-up.
Chris Williams’ guess is PBC won’t agree to that fight. They’ll save Ugas for Spence or potentially Pacquiao if he chooses to try and avenge his loss.
Only if😔
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) August 22, 2021
Poor Crawford and Spence. They both wanted the fight with Pacquiao all these years, and now the dream is over. Surprisingly, Pacquiao’s career is ending against a non-star in Ugas rather than against one of those two.
The story-book ending for Pacquiao would have been for him to defeat Spence in the final contest of his long 26-year professional career last Saturday night.
Pacquiao then could have taken the victory over Spence and went on to run for the presidency of the Philippines in March. Now, things are in chaos for Pacquiao with him losing to an unknown fighter, and his chances of winning the election not nearly as good as they would have been.