IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. vs. WBA champion Yordenis Ugas has just been announced for their three-belt unification fight on April 16th on PPV at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
It’s good that the Spence-Ugas fight was finally announced because it would have been bad for them if they waited until March or April to announce the fight.
This is a huge fight with the winner potentially to face WBO champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford later this year if it can be negotiated. This is going to be an interesting fight involving these two highly technical 147-lb champions.
Spence will get the opportunity to show the boxing world whether he still has it after suffering an eye injury last year while training for a fight against Manny Pacquiao.
The 31-year-old Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) has been pushing for the fight ever since the 2008 Olympic Bronze medalist Ugas (27-4, 12 KOs) defeated Manny Pacquiao last August to send the 42-year-old Filipino star into retirement.
Ugas previously held the WBA ‘regular’ 147-lb. belt since being elevated in September 2020. Then last year in August, Ugas replaced the injured Spence as Pacquiao’s opponent and went on to defeat him in an impressive performance.
It’ll be interesting to see what kind of crowd turns out for the Spence-Ugas fight at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Canelo Alvarez has attracted huge crowds at AT&T Stadium for his fights against Billy Joe Saunders and Liam Smith.
If Spence can sell out the stadium against Ugas, that would be an impressive fete and a sign of how popular he is.
The winner of the Spence-Ugas fight is expected to try and set up a fight against WBO 147lb champion Terence Crawford. That’s the fight that boxing fans will be pushing for after this one.
Spence might be able to stall the fans by choosing to face former WBA/WBC champion Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman but provided he wins that fight, he’ll have to face Crawford if he doesn’t want to be seen as avoiding him.
Ugas’s best career wins:
- Manny Pacquiao
- Abel Ramos
- Jamal James
- Thomas Dulorme
- Omar Figueroa Jr
- Ray Robinson
You can argue that Ugas deserved a win in his fight against Shawn Porter in 2019, as he performed better against him than Spence. The judges didn’t give Ugas a break in that fight.
