FIGHT WEEK

MANNY PACQUIAO CHALLENGES WBA WELTERWEIGHT TITLEHOLDER YORDENIS UGAS ON SATURDAY NIGHT AT T-MOBILE ARENA ON PAY-PER-VIEW

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YORDENIS UGAS (26-4, 12 KOs)
VS. MANNY PACQUIAO (62-7-2, 39 KOs)

• When: Saturday, Aug. 21

• Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas

• TV/Stream: Pay-per-view

• Division: Welterweight

• At stake: Ugas’ WBA title

• Pound-for-pound ranking: Pacquiao No. 15 (Boxing Junkie)

• Odds: Pacquiao 3-1 favorite (average of multiple outlets)

• Also on the card: Robert Guerrero vs. Victor Ortiz, welterweights; Mark Magsayo vs. Julio Ceja, featherweights; Carlos Castro vs. Oscar Escandon, featherweights

• Prediction: Pacquiao UD

• Background: Pacquiao returns more than two years after he outpointed Keith Thurman at 40 to win the WBA 147-pound title, which later was given to Ugas because of the Filipino icon’s inactivity. The now-42-year-old was scheduled to face an enormous challenge in two-belt titleholder Errol Spence Jr. but Spence pulled out with an eye injury. The Texan’s misfortunate is Ugas’ ultimate opportunity, as the Cuban will be taking part in the biggest and most-lucrative fight of his career. And Ugas is a legitimate threat to defeat Pacquiao. He is skillful, experienced and rugged. He has a number of quality victories and was competitive in all four of his losses, including a split decision against Shawn Porter in 2019 that some believe should’ve gone his way. He’s coming off a split-decision victory over Abel Ramos last September. Pacquiao doesn’t throw as many punches as he once did; he fights in spurts now. However, he proved in his upset of then-unbeaten Thurman that he remains quick and capable into his 40s. We’ll see what, if any impact the two-year hiatus will have on Pacquiao. He says the time was beneficial because it allowed his body to rest. Of course, this is a much-watch fight because we never know which fight will be the all-time great’s last.

Also fighting this weekend: Cruiserweight prospect Ali Baloyev (10-0, 7 KOs) faces Rolly Lambert Fogoum (11-1-1, 10 KOs) on Friday in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (ESPN+); Kali Reis (17-7-1, 5 KOs) defends her WBA junior welterweight title against Diana Prazak (14-3, 9 KOs) on Friday in El Cajon, Calif. (UFC Fight Pass); and Jair Valtierra (15-0, 8 KOs) faces Alberto Ruiz Ibarra (10-2, 7 KOs) in a lightweight bout on Friday in Mexico City (Telemundo).