By Jim Calfa: WBA welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas says he wants to take on WBO champion Terence Crawford for the undisputed 147-lb championship if he’s victorious over IBF/WBC champ Errol Spence Jr. on April 16th.
While Ugas has now come out and made his intentions clear about wanting ‘Bud’ Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs) next, Spence hasn’t said whether he’d face the Omaha, Nebraska native if he wins.
Indeed, there’s a strong possibility that instead of Spence facing Crawford, he’ll defend his titles against the famous former WBA/WBC welterweight champion Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman in his next fight.
There will be a lot of money for the 31-year-old Spence Jr to be made fighting ‘One Time’ Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs), who recently completed a successful comeback, defeating Mario Barrios by a 12 round unanimous decision on Fox Sports PPV on February 5th.
Ugas (27-4, 12 KOs) and ‘The Truth’ Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) will be meeting in the main event on pay-per-view at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Yordenis wants Crawford after Spence
“I would like Crawford [if I defeat Errol Spence Jr],” said Ugas to ESPN Deportes. “The only thing I will say about this fight [Spence] is that the winner agrees to fight Crawford, that the winner continues to go for the undisputed crown.
“On my part, that is what I want to do. I also have the option of Thurman, a great fight that is there at the top.”
“I am ready to fight at the highest level in the sport and give my best to the fans who watch the fights,” Yordenis continued.
Yordenis sent boxing legend Manny Pacquiao into retirement last August, coming in as a replacement on two weeks’ notice to defeat the Filipino start by a 12 round unanimous decision. The scores were 115-113, Dave Moretti 116-112, and 116-112.
Ugas, 35, has won his last four fights since losing a questionable 12 round split decision to Shawn Porter in March 2019. The previous apparent defeat for the talented Cuban Ugas was in 2014 when he was outboxed and outpunched by Amir Imam by an eight round unanimous decision.
There was no question that Imam deserved the victory against Ugas, as he beat him to the punch the entire night. 2014 was a bad year for Ugas, as he also lost to Emmanuel Robles by a 10 round split decision.
To Ugas’ credit, he’s improved considerably in the last eight years since suffering those back-to-back defeats against Imam and Robles. It’s fair to say that Ugas is a much different fighter than the one that lost to those boxers.
Ugas expects Errol to be at his best
“He showed it already when he came back from the accident,” Ugas said of Spence coming back from his terrible car crash in October 2019.
“I’m expecting an even better Errol Spence,” Yordenis said of Errol in coming back from his car crash to defeat Danny Garcia in 2020. “I don’t think anything is going to affect him.”
Spence looked good in his first fight after his car crash in defeating Danny Garcia by a 12 round unanimous decision in December 2020. Although Spence took some big shots against the hard-hitting Danny, he was the clear winner at the end.
