Yordenis Ugas suffered broken rib & nose in loss to Spence says Derrick James

By Boxing News - 04/17/2022 - Comments

By Chris Williams: Errol Spence Jr’s trainer Derrick James says Yordenis Ugas suffered a broken rib and nose in his tenth round stoppage last Saturday night in their unification fight in Arlington, Texas.

James states that the 35-year-old Ugas (27-5, 12 KOs) “will never be the same” due to the heavy punishment he endured in his defeat against IBF/WBC welterweight champion at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The fight was stopped in the tenth on the advice of the ringside doctor due to Ugas’ right eye had swollen shut. Also, Ugas’ entire face was swollen from the big punches that Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) had landed in the contest. Spence landed 216 of 784 punches for a 28% connect rate.

Of the 216 punches Spence connected, 194 of them were power punches. Let that sink in for a second. Spence didn’t bother to use his jab much in the fight, as he was looking for a knockout the entire fight.

It’s understandable why Spence didn’t bother with his jab because Ugas was countering him with straight rights every time he’d throw those shots. Spence likely thought to himself, ‘The heck with the jab, I will make my shots count.’

I’m saying he hasn’t faced the same kind of competition,” said trainer Derrick James to Fight Hub TV about Terence Crawford not facing the same level of fighters as Errol Spence.

WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford has had an easy ride since moving up to 147 in 2018, fighting a lot of soft old guys that made it easy for him to win a title and hold onto it.

Spence will be a massive step up in class for Crawford when the two battle it out for the undisputed championship next.

Crawford’s fights at 147:

  • Jeff Horn
  • Jose Benavidez Jr
  • Amir Khan
  • Kell Brook
  • Shawn Porter
  • Egidijus Kavaliauskas

“He did well. We knew he [Ugas] was going to try and time him,” said James. “I think Ugas realized how difficult it was to time him. If Errol had laid back, he [Ugas] would have been great.

“With Ugas, you got to beat that out of him. You got to break him. There’s no way you can beat him. You’ve got to break him.

“A knockout is a shot. It’s over. You may get a little concussed. To recover from that, you may never fight again,” said James about the beat down Ugas sustained at the hands of Spence.

“He took too many hard shots. His rib is probably broken. We know his face is probably broken. The knockout is probably the best thing that can happen to somebody.

Taking a beating like that round after round after round. I know how hard he [Spence] punches, man. He won’t ever be the same,’ said James.

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