By Jeff Aronow: Yordenis Ugas weighed in at 147 pounds on Saturday for his 12-round contest against Abel Ramos on Sunday for the vacant WBA ‘regular’ welterweight title at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California. #6 WBA Ramos (26-3-2, 20 KOs) weighed in at 146 lbs.
Ugas vs. Ramos will be shown on Fox Sports on Sunday at 8:00 p.m. PT/5:00 p.m. PT. The two highly ranked 147-pounders will be battling for the secondary World Boxing Association World welterweight belt.
Manny Pacquiao holds the primary WBA title that he captured last year in defeating Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman in July 2019.
Ugas expected to win
The talented Cuban Ugas (25-4, 12 KOs) is considered the favorite to defeat the 29-year-old Ramos, who has won his last eight fights. Ramos hasn’t
Ugas, 34, has a two-fight winning streak since his questionable 12 round split decision defeat against ‘Showtime’ Shawn Porter last year in March 2019. It was a fight that left more questions than answers for Porter, who appeared to be given gift over Ugas.
Rather than be bitter about the loss, Ugas took it in stride, and he’s just made it known that he’d like a rematch with Porter. If Ugas can capture the WBA ‘regular’ welterweight title, he’ll have the perfect bait to lure Porter in to take the fight. Unfortunately, that likely won’t happen until Porter faces one of the big names at 147.
Ramos has failed when he’s stepped it up against better opposition in defeats against these fighters:
- Jamal James
- Ivan Baranchyk
- Regis Prograis
All those defeats took place in the last five years, and there’s no real evidence that Ramos has improved. The only thing that’s changed is Ramos’ opposition has been pedestrian level, which appears to be a move by his management to make sure he turns his career around.
On Sunday night, Ramos will be back inside the ring with the elite at 147, and it’s going to be interesting to see how well he does against a good fighter. Historically, this is where Ramos has fallen apart.
Now he’s got to show that he’s capable of existing at the top level of boxing among the talented fighters like Pacquiao, Thurman, Errol Spence Jr, Terence Crawford, Porter, and Danny Garcia.
Yordenis with an excellent showcase opportunity
Ugas will be able to unveil his entire arsenal against Ramos, who shouldn’t be able to live with him for too long before he falls apart. Ramos is a good fighter, but he doesn’t rate the #6 ranking that the WBA gave him.
Ramos is more of a bottom level type of contender at best, and he’s not going to have a lot of problems trying to stay in there with Ugas. When you get a fighter that is ranked above their talent grade, they usually implode when the pressure is put on them by talented fighters.
You can expect Ramos to reach his crush depth by the sixth round on Sunday night against Ugas.
With a victory over Ramos, Ugas will be in a position to call out the other champions at 147 like Crawford, Pacquiao, and Spence, none of which has shown any interest in fighting him.
You can understand why. Ugas doesn’t yet have the big name that the other Premier Boxing Champions welterweights possess, and he fights on the other side of the pond from the Top Rank promoted Crawford.
