By Huck Allen: IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. (27-0, 21 KOs) weighed in at 146.25 pounds on Friday at the weigh-in for his unification against WBA champion Yordenis Ugas (27-4, 12 KOs) on Saturday night. Ugas, 35, came in at 146.75 lbs.
Physically, Spence looked better today than he’s ever been in his career, and that includes his 2017 fight against Kell Brook.
Spence is in top form, cut up and not showing the fatigued appearance that he did for his previous fight against Danny Garcia in 2020.
Saturday’s Spence vs. Ugas three-belt welterweight unification fight will be shown on Showtime pay-per-view at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The winner will try and set up an undisputed fight against WBO champion Terence Crawford, who could be ringside on Saturday night to ramp up interest in the fight for later this year.
Ugas is the underdog in this fight, and he’s going to need to raise his game levels above what he showed in his toughest career bouts against Manny Pacquiao and Shawn Porter. That version of Ugas won’t be near good enough to beat Spence.
To come out the winner on Saturday, Ugas will need to increase his work rate considerably, and add more power to his game.
In other words, the Cuban fighter will need to change his boxing DNA to be something he’s never been in the past, and it might not be possible.
Micah is us right now.#SpenceUgas: https://t.co/hm8UTDacri pic.twitter.com/1LMe1QmiZl
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) April 15, 2022
“I think he has a lot to prove, and Ugas has challenges that he wants to show the world that he has the ability to be great again,” said Derrick James to Fight Hub TV about Errol Spence Jr. and his mindset going into Saturday’s fight against Yordenis Ugas.
“I think Ugas is a phenomenal fighter. We’re not thinking about Terence Crawford right now. The focus is on making Errol better, even though that would be something to build off of into a fight.
“We’re just focusing 100% on Ugas. In the Shawn Porter fight and the Danny Garcia fight, the difference is that in the Danny fight, he worked for therapy for months. We didn’t go into therapy. He worked out and was sore, aching, and in pain to get to the fight date [against Danny].
“For this fight [Ugas], he started camp and was fresh and he didn’t have the pain that he did like he did for the Danny Garcia fight because he didn’t have the accident.
“You see the strength like when he was fighting Kell Brook. The whole motivation and determination were like when he fought the Brook fight,” said James about the reinvigorated Spence for the Ugas clash.
“He’s very vicious, punching very vicious, very strong and very physical,” said James when asked what’s different about Spence for this fight with Yordenis compared to his last one against Danny Garcia.
