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Pacquiao vs. Ugas Results: Ugas Defeats Manny Pacquiao Via Unanimous Decision
August 22, 2021
Yordenis Ugas will keep his WBA welterweight title belt after beating Manny Pacquiao via unanimous decision on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The judges scored the fight 116-112, 116-112 and 115-113 in Ugas' favor.
Ultimately, Ugas was just better in numerous facets, as ESPN's Ben Baby noted following Round 8:
Age may have also caught up to the 42-year-old Pacquiao, who did not close strong, per ESPN's Mike Coppinger:
Pacquiao said after the fight that he didn't move well because his legs were tight, per Lance Pugmire of The Athletic.
As far as highlights were concerned, Pacquiao unleashed a flurry of punches in Round 3:
The 42-year-old got in some good shots:
Ugas notably called Pacquiao's double jab an "elite punch" post-match, per Pugmire.
But the Cuban never went away and engaged in a heated end to Round 5:
His confidence didn't go anywhere either:
In the end, the better fighter on the night won a closely contested battle.
Retired and undefeated ex-boxing champion Andre Ward congratulated Ugas afterward:
Boxing trainer and analyst Teddy Atlas also summed up the fight well:
Afterward, Pacquiao was asked if this was his last fight.
"I don’t know. I don’t know. Let me relax and then make a decision," he said, per Coppinger.
Ugas, meanwhile, wants to unify the welterweight belts, with his eyes on IBF and WBC titleholder Errol Spence Jr.
"The plan is to unify. Now they know who the real champion is. (Spence) is the next one on the list," he said, per Pugmire.
Pacquiao had been considered the WBA welterweight champion-in-recess since January when the WBA gave him that designation. He had not fought since winning the WBA (super) welterweight belt over Keith Thurman in July 2019.
The organization's decision made the 35-year-old Ugas, who won the WBA welterweight (regular) title over Abel Ramos in Sept. 2020, the super champion.
That's still the case after his victory tonight, moving to 27-5 lifetime. Pacquiao, a 12-time world titleholder, is now 62-8-2.
Pacquiao was originally scheduled to face Spence on this day. However, Spence learned that he had a torn retina during the Nevada State Athletic Commission's pre-fight medical exam on Aug. 9, forcing him to withdraw, per Reuters.
Ugas was quickly named as his replacement. He was scheduled to fight Fabian Maidana on the Pacquiao-Spence card, but Maidana also suffered an injury during training on Aug. 9, per Coppinger.