(April 16, 2022) Errol Spence Jr. navigated treacherous waters on Saturday night to pick up a third welterweight title. The IBF and WBC welterweight champion showed his greatness against WBA champion Yordenis Ugás, battling back from early adversity to stop Ugás in the tenth round.
The remaining welterweight title not in Spence’s possession belongs to WBO titleholder Terence Crawford, who was an interested observer on Saturday, Tweeting his reaction to the Spence victory. Spence made clear his preference for his next opponent.
“Everybody knows who I want next,” Spence said. “I want Terence Crawford. That’s the fight that I want. That’s the fight everybody else wants. Like I said, I’m going to get these straps then go over there and take his too. Terence I’m coming for that belt!”
Spence had to overcome some harsh conditions courtesy of Ugás to get to this point. After Ugás hurt Spence in the sixth, knocking his mouthpiece out with an uppercut, Spence of DeSoto, Texas, stormed back to hurt Ugás repeatedly to the body and eye. By the tenth round, Ugás’ right eye was completely shut when referee Laurence Cole stopped the contest for the second time to allow the ringside physician to inspect the damage.
Unlike earlier, the doctor advised Cole to stop the bout at 1:44 of the tenth round, giving Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) a resounding victory, a third welterweight belt, and perhaps the greatest triumph of his still accumulating career following a 17-month layoff after corrective surgery to his left eye forced him to pull out of a mega-fight with Manny Pacquiao.
“I feel sad,” Ugás said. “I trained really hard for this fight. All my respect to Errol Spence. He’s a great champion. I’m just sad about what happened tonight. The referee stopped the fight, but I wanted to keep going to the end. I definitely had a chance to win the fight in the sixth round, but he recuperated well. Congratulations to him and his team.”
#ErrolSpenceJr #YordenisUgas #SpenceUgas
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