Father Time finally caught up with Manny Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs) tonight with him getting outworked and outboxed by WBA ‘Super World’ welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas (27-4, 12 KOs) on Saturday night in the main event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 116-112.
Pacquiao made the rounds close with his flurries, but ultimately the judges were more impressed with the power, accuracy the superb defensive skills of Ugas. He was deadly accurate with his powerful head and body shots.
The shots to the body from Yordenis seemed to really bother Pacquiao, making him less willing to attack as he’d done with his opponents. The 42-year-old Pacquiao’s mobility was totally done, taken away by two years of inactivity and age.
VIDEO Welterweight Robert ‘The Ghost’ Guerrero (37-6-1, 20 KOs) outworked a shot-looking former WBC welterweight champion ‘Vicious’ Victor Ortiz (32-7-3, 25 KOs) to win a 10 round unanimous decision. The scores were 96-94, 96-94, and 96-94.
There was a lot of head-butting and mauling with clinching, and very little real action. Once the fight went into the second half, Guerrero and Ortiz looked tired and ended up holding a lot.
It’s hard to believe this fight was the co-feature on a PPV card, as it looked out of place. This was more of old celebrity match, and not worthy of being a co-feature, which are usually designed for top-level fighters that are still relevant.
In arguably the toughest fight of his career, featherweight Mark Magsayo (23-0, 16 KOs) stopped Julio Ceja (32-5-1, 28 KOs) in the 10th round. Magsayo, 26, flattened former WBC super bantamweight champion Ceja with a right hand to the head to get the knockout.
Earlier in the contest, Ceja fought well, wearing Magsayo down with body shots. In the fifth round, Ceja hurt Magsayo with a hard left to the body and then dropped him with a right to the head.
The takeaway from this performance is Magsayo isn’t ready to challenge for a world title. He needs more experience before he looks to face one of the champions.
In the first fight on the television portion of FOX Sports pay-per-view, unbeaten featherweight Carlos Castro (27-0, 12 KOs) defeated the hard-hitting Oscar Escandon (26-6, 18 KOs) by a 10th round knockout.
The 37-year-old Escandon surprisingly got the better of Castro in the first half of the fight, but he faded in the second half of the contest. In the 10th round, Castro knocked Escandon down twice.
The fight was stopped after the second knockdown. The time of the stoppage was at 1:08 of the 10th.
It was an uneven performance by Castro, who showed that he potentially can win a world title at 126, but not if he mixes it up with the wrong guy.
WBO champion Emanuel Navarrete and WBC champion Gary Russell Jr. would be a step too far for Castro at this point.
Preview:
Pacquiao vs. Ugas will be heading the card with former welterweight world champions Robert ‘The Ghost’ Guerrero and ‘Vicious’ Victor Ortiz meeting in the co-feature bout.
Guerrero (36-6-1, 20 KOs) last fought in 2019, beating Gerald Thomas by a 10 round decision.
Seven years ago, Guerrero was one of the best welterweights on the planet, but the bottom dropped out on his career with him losing four of his next five fights from 2015 to 2017, and all of a sudden he was seen as washed up by boxing fans.
What cemented that view was the way Guerrero was demolished by fringe welterweight contender Omar Figueroa Jr in three rounds in 2017. Guerrero losing to a fighter like Figueroa Jr. in that type of fashion was difficult for boxing fans to digest.
This is an interesting old-timers type of fight between two guys that were relevant a decade ago. Ortiz, 34, still has pop in his punches, but he hasn’t fought since 2018, so it’s difficult to gauge what he has left.
In other fights on the card, talented featherweight contender Mark Magsayo (22-0, 15 KOs) will be battling the always dangerous big-punching former WBC super bantamweight champion Julio Ceja (32-4-1, 28 KOs). Magsayo vs. Ceja is a WBC featherweight title eliminator with the winner to be the mandatory challenger to WBC champion Gary Russell Jr.
Unbeaten Carlos Castro (26-0, 11 KOs) will be battling Oscar Escandon (26-5, 18 KOs) in a 10 round fight for the vacant World Boxing Council Continental Americas Featherweathert Title.
Castro vs. Escandon will be the first fight on the televised portion of tonight’s card on FOX Sports PBC PPV.
How to Watch Manny Pacquiao vs. Yordenis Ugas Boxing fans can watch Pacquiao vs. Ugas at 9:00 pm. ET at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight can be purchased on FOX Sports PPV.
Boxing 247 will be giving fight updates on the results of the contests below of this interesting four-fight card.
Fight card:
Manny Pacquiao vs. Yordenis Ugas
Before Errol Spence Jr pulled out of the fight on an eye injury two weeks ago, this fight was marketed as potentially the last one of Pacquiao’s 26-year pro career.
With Spence being replaced by the unknown belt-holder Ugas, this fight is more about Pacquiao taking back his WBA title, which was stripped from him earlier this year by the World Boxing Association and given to Ugas.
Pacquiao vs. Ugas – Who wins? Unfortunately, the fans haven’t aren’t super excited at the idea of seeing Pacquiao fight Ugas and are less pleased now that the rumors of the Cuban fighter having an injured left bicep, which looks painfully swollen.
If Ugas has a torn left bicep, tonight’s fight will be about as interesting as watching a fighter workout on a heavy bag. It’ll only be a matter of time before the plug is pulled.
“It could be my last fight, or there could be more
With Pacquiao wanting to run for the presidency of the Philippines in 2022, he needs a better win than a victory over Ugas to help him win that spot. As such, we’ll likely see him stick around long enough to fight Spence or Terence Crawford.
Manny Pacquiao is hoping to take back his WBA welterweight title from champion Yordenis Ugas tonight on FOX PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The action begins tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 PT on FOX Sports Pay-per-view.
If Manny Pacquiao wasn’t drugged up like Deontay Wilder, he is really going to get beat up next time.
Both Carl Lewis,( fury ), and Usain bolt,(. Anthony Joshua), ran until they couldn’t run anymore. What are they scurrying from in a shamelessly cowardly manner?
From Deontay Wilder, for seven years, running and running from Deontay Wilder and Luis Ortiz.
UK fans for Deontay Wilder. We are all fascinated by Deontay Wilder. How can a 217 pound heavyweight boxer beat up 300 pound giants easily?
Run cockroach run
Don’t be afraid fury, you can take him.
Rumors are circulating that Manny Pacquiao could have been drugged, it’s believable since both Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder were out of character in their fights.
Has Deontay Wilder requested fury get randomly tested?
Deontay Wilder, rumor has it, is in the best shape of his life.
Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder next would be the fight, if fury ducks Deontay Wilder again and Deontay Wilder is left without a dance partner, rumor has it that the WBC won’t strip fury of the belt .
Manny is not the same as the heavyweight division. We want good heavyweight fights.