Detailed Yordenis Ugas vs Manny Pacquiao Prediction for August 21st

Aug 21 2021: Las Vegas (Fox PPV)

Yordenis Ugas vs Manny Pacquiao Prediction

12 Rounds
WBA Super World Welter Title

News broke this week announcing that the Mega Fight between unified WBC/IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr and future Boxing Hall of Famer Manny Pacquaio will be canceled due to a detached retina in the left eye of Spence. Disappointed fight fans will have to settle for Cuban Yordenis Ugas as a replacement just 10 days before fight night. 

At 42 years old Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquaio has shown no signs of slowing down, with his last fight being a title victory over undefeated Keith Thurman, who is 10 years younger than the Filipino superstar.

After winning the WBA world title in July of 2019, Pacman has been idle as major fights failed to materialize during the Covid 19 pandemic. This 2-year gap in inactivity resulted in Pacquiao’s title being stripped and his champion status being downgraded to “Champion in Recess”.

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Yordenis Ugas vs Manny Pacquiao Prediction

In an interesting turn of events, Ugas was named WBA champ in the meantime. Another interesting fact bringing both of these fighters together is that Ugas’ original opponent on the undercard suffered the same injury as Spence.

For those of you who are not familiar with Yordenis Ugas, he was developed and groomed to fight in the famed Cuban amateur boxing system. He won the Amateur World Championship in 2005 and an Olympic bronze medal in Beijing 2008.

His biggest fight to date would have to be his 2019 title shot against then WBC champion Shawn Porter. Losing this fight to a very controversial split decision which many fight fans had Ugas winning. Bouncing back from this fight he would win his first title in 2020 by defeating Abel Ramos by split decision. 

Pacquaio needs no introduction as he is a beloved champion and one of the best and most existing fighters of this generation. Looking to continue to school younger opponents, Manny is coming into this fight on a 3 fight win streak with wins over Matthysse, Broner, and Thurman.

Manny is going into this fight as the clear favorite but must adapt to a new opponent 10 days out who fights orthodox, instead of the original fighter Spece who is a southpaw. Pacquaio should adapt quickly as he is known to fight with both stances fairly equally. 

This may end up being a closer fight than Spence/Pacquaio as Spence was likely to be too much for Pacman to handle at this point of his career. The PPV price tag will remain the same at $80 with no discount being offered due to the opponent change. 

Prediction 

Ugas is more aggressive and goes for the knockout a bit more than other Cuban fighters, who are known to be more technically sound. I believe this aggressiveness leads to Manny catching him in Rounds 5-8, knocking him out.

Bet365 Odds

Manny Pacquaio by KO Rounds 5-8 +450