Pacquiao considering rematch with Yordenis Ugas

By Boxing News - 08/25/2021 - Comments

By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao has had four days to try and make sense of what happened to him in his loss to Yordenis Ugas last Saturday, and he’s now concluded that the Cuban should have been one of the “easiest” guys he’d faced during his 26-year professional career, and he’s considering taking a rematch.

Pacquiao devalues Ugas’ accomplishment in beating him by saying he should have been one of the “easiest” opponents of his career. If you look at the guys Pacquiao has fought, Ugas would have had an excellent chance of beating most of them.

If Pacquiao does come back, it’ll make his boxing fans happy, as they don’t want to see him ending his long career on a loss, Ugas.

They want to see Pacquiao win one more time before he hangs up his gloves and runs for the presidential position in the Philippines next March.

The 42-year-old Pacquiao maintains that he lost the fight. After all, he wouldn’t move the way he needed to against Ugas because BOTH of his legs cramped up in the fourth round.

Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs) says he should have defeated Ugas (27-4, 12 KOs0 last weekend to take back his WBA ‘Super World’ welterweight title in their fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The fight was competitive throughout, but the younger fighter Ugas, 35, pulled away in the second half when he started landing more frequently with powerful looping right hands to the head of the tired-looking Pacquiao.

Pacquiao considering taking rematch

“In my entire career, Ugas was one of the easiest opponents,” Pacquiao said to The Athletic in reflecting on his loss to Yordenis last Saturday.

Image: Pacquiao considering rematch with Yordenis Ugas

“(Ugas) only had one style, and I should’ve been able to easily move away. You’ve seen how I have moved in my fights before. I couldn’t move in this fight. My legs just stopped.”

To Pacquiao’s credit, he probably would have beaten Ugas earlier in his career, possibly in 2019, but it wouldn’t have been easy. With the way Ugas punches, this would have been a difficult fight for Manny no matter when he took it.

Ugas isn’t one of Pacquiao’s easy marks like Joshua Clottey, Ricky Hatton, and Antonio Margarito. There are more gears to Ugas’ game than those fighters had, and his right-hand power is superior to those guys had.

I’ll think about it [a rematch] because I can’t believe one of the easiest opponents I ever faced did that,” said Pacquiao in seeming disbelief about his loss to Ugas.

If Pacquiao takes this fight with Ugas, he needs to lighten up on his training so he doesn’t wind up with leg cramping issues from all the running he’d done.

Of course, if Pacquiao loses a second time, hopefully, he gives Ugas credit and doesn’t blame his defeat on some physical ailment again.

Chris Williams is noticing a trend with Pacquiao in which he starts with the injury excuses after he loses. I mean, we saw the same thing with Pacquiao’s loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2o15. After that fight, Pacquiao blamed the defeat on having a preexisting shoulder injury.

De La Hoya: Yordenis made Pacquiao look bad

“I thought Manny Pacquiao looked good, but Yordenis Ugas didn’t make him look good,” said Oscar De La Hoya to Fighthype in giving his reaction to Pacquiao’s loss last Saturday.

“Being 44, I think Pacquiao was; he looked good. He actually looked good going 12 hard rounds against a younger guy,” De La Hoya continued.

“So he fought Ugas, and he looked like an old Manny Pacquiao. But if he fights somebody his age, then he’s going to look great. It’s probably an end of an era,” said De La Hoya.