WBC and IBF welterweight champion Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr 27-0 (21) will have his hands full against WBA counterpart Yordenis ‘54 Milagros’ Ugas 27-4 (12) if they meet this year as expected.
That’s the opinion of former multi-weight world champion Mikey Garcia 40-2 (30) who is coming off a shock loss to virtually unknown southpaw Sandor Martin 39-2 (13) of Spain in Fresno, California last October.
Garcia’s only other loss was to Spence when he moved up in weight to face the welterweight champion almost three years ago.
Spence underwent eye surgery for a torn retina last year and has not fought since. He has fought just once since outpointing Shawn Porter in September 2019, a points victory over former world champion Danny Garcia 36-3 (21) in December 2020.
The reason for the year-plus layoff was because Spence rolled his luxury car at high speed shortly after the Porter fight, sustaining injuries to his face.
Garcia believes the layoff combined with recent injuries could adversely impact his performance.
“That’s a tough one for Spence, coming off eye surgery and all that,” Garcia told FightHype. “You don’t know how he’ll react, how his body will react from actual fighting. That’s dangerous for him, I don’t know.”
Southpaw Spence has emerged as one of the premier boxers in the deep 147-pound division. Only WBO champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford 38-0 (29) can argue he is the top dog in the welterweight division, while Ugas has emerged as a player after out-pointing Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao 62-8-2 (39) in Las Vegas last August.
The Ring ranks Crawford as their number one welterweight, followed by Spence and then Ugas.
Garcia has reservations about how Spence will recover from his most recent setback and clearly rates Ugas highly, who he sees as a genuine danger to the unified champ.
“If he gets hit, I don’t know, it could cause serious injury,” Garcia said. “That’s a tough fight in a return fight after a surgery like that, for Spence. Big props to him for taking fights like that. That’s a dangerous fight.
“Stylistically, I think Spence is a better fighter but Ugas is no pushover. Big size, strength, he’s strong, he’s a world champ for a reason. He fought really good against Porter, some thought he might have won, and then he beats Manny Pacquiao. Like I said he’s big and strong, too. It’s not an easy fight. It’s a tough one. I can’t even tell you who’s going to win.”
“He might actually fight a little different, fight more cautious, based on the injury.
“Maybe he feels fine, but he wants to be more cautious about it, so he might fight different than what he’s usually used to. So that could play a factor into the fight. We’ll see. It’s a good fight, man.”
