It is Pacquiao-Ugas fight day!

LAS VEGAS – It is fight day!

Manny Pacquiao will be back in action tonight after more than two years away from the ring when he will challenge Yordenis Ugas at T-Mobile Arena for his welterweight world title — the one the WBA unceremoniously stripped from Pacquiao in January as it elevated Ugas from his secondary title.

I’ve been writing all week on the fight for RingTV.com and here are my newest pieces:

Pacquiao feels pull of public service: I wrote an extensive Pacquiao-Ugas notebook that I topped with Pacquiao talking about as much as loves boxing he feels drawn to public service in the Philippines, where he is a senator and  is likely to run in the presidential election that will take place in May. Some very deep and heartfelt comments from Manny on the topic.

But there is also much more: Ugas with the bold prediction that no matter what happens, Pacquiao can’t knock him out; how about Pacquiao dropping down to junior welterweight to challenge Josh Taylor for the undisputed title since the one thing Pacquiao has never accomplished is being an undisputed champion; Pacquiao explaining what he views as his greatest victory and why; some thoughts from Ugas trainer Ismael Salas on what will be the reason Ugas will win; former pound-for-pound king Pacquiao on current P4P king Canelo Alvarez and the unretirement of his old rival Oscar De La Hoya; and more. Please read that piece here: https://www.ringtv.com/625888-notebook-manny-pacquiao-feels-pull-of-public-service-over-boxing/

The weigh-in: The fighters weighed in on Friday afternoon inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena but it was not your typical Pacquiao card weigh-in. Find out why, what everybody weighed and some last-minute comments from the main event participants. Read that story here: https://www.ringtv.com/625921-the-manny-pacquiao-vs-yordenis-ugas-pay-per-view-card-weigh-ins-are-official/

iFL TV interview

I joined my friends at iFL TV in the Pacquiao-Ugas media a center to discuss several boxing topics: Pacquiao-Ugas in depth, Pacquiao's legacy, the #wretchedWBA, what if Pacquiao dropped down to fight undisputed junior welterweight champion Josh Taylor, who idolizes Pacquiao, Fury-Wilder III and Joshua-Usyk. Please check out that interview here:

Mykal Fox has bigger plans

After welterweight Mykal Fox was blatantly robbed by the judges of a victory against Gabriel Maestre for the WBA’s interim welterweight belt on Aug. 7 in Minneapolis and in front of shocked national TV audience on Fox, the WBA, under intense fire, stripped Maestre of the belt he “won.” It also ordered an immediate rematch and asked the Minnesota commission to change the result to a no decision.

But Fox has no need for that rematch and plans to move on. Fox’s promoter, Marshall Kauffman, is here in Las Vegas for Pacquiao-Ugas and I had a chance to talk to him about the situation. Kauffman explained why their team is not going to fight Maestre again and what they are working on instead. I wrote about it for World Boxing News. Please read that story here: https://www.worldboxingnews.net/2021/08/20/mykal-fox-wba-rematch-order/amp

Show and tell

After unified welterweight titlist Errol Spence Jr. was forced out of the main event with Pacquiao due to a torn retina and Fabian Maidana was forced out of the co-feature against Ugas because of a cut, the new Pacquiao-Ugas main event was made on 11 days’ notice. That meant the program for Pacquiao-Spence, which was about to go on press, had to be scrapped. So, on extremely short notice, SP Boxing’s Jay Seidman, my longtime friend, who I have written for and assisted for many years in producing programs, turned around a Pacquiao-Ugas program in about three days. I wrote most of it, so maybe I am biased, but it came out great. Of course, I am bringing some home for my collection. They’re also available here: https://www.spboxing.com/

Also, as a sign of the Covid-19 times, there are official Pacquiao-Ugas masks available. Here is the one I will take home.

Weigh-in photo: Scott Kirkland/Fox Sports