LAS VEGAS, Nevada—Two years without a fight made Manny Pacquiao a more dangerous opponent for Yordenis Ugás who stakes his World Boxing Association (WBA) super welterweight belt on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) at the T-Mobile Arena.
“It’s a good thing for me,” the 42-year-old Pacquiao (62-7-2 win-loss-draw record with 39 knockouts) told the fight’s final news conference on Wednesday at the MGM Grand Arena. “It was a two-year rest for my body. I have been boxing since I was 12, it’s a total non-stop [boxing].”
The long respite because of the Covid-19 pandemic cost Pacquiao the same belt Ugás is wearing after the WBA stripped the fighting senator of the title for “inactivity” in January.
And that’s bad news for the 35-year-old substitute Cuban foe.
“I rested for two years and a month. So when I came back to training, I felt so young again, the fire just keeps burning,” Pacquiao said.
“I don’t like someone taking my belt without challenging me inside the ring,” he said. “After Saturday, let’s see who has it still?”
Pacquiao stands as the oldest world welterweight champion and at 42, he is aiming to break his own record.
But Ugás, a Beijing 2008 Olympics bronze medalist, doesn’t think so.
“I’m certain that he cannot knock me out,” Ugás said through an interpreter. “I’ve done all the preparations over these past six years to get to this position, I have hit my stride and I just don’t believe I can be stopped by Manny [Pacquiao].”
Ugás said that he prepared for 12 hard rounds to give Pacquiao the fight of his life—whether it be the former eight-division champion’s last fight or not.
Despite the odds in his favor, Pacquiao said he shouldn’t underestimate the 35-year-old Ugás (26-4 record with 12 knockouts).
“I’m not underestimating Ugás though. He has a lot of experience and fought in the Olympics,” Pacquiao said. “I know I have to be very good to win this fight.”
Pacquiao’s head trainer Buboy Fernandez and consultant Freddie Roach joined Pacquiao in the activity, while Ugás brought along well-known Cuban coach Ismael Salas.
Pacquiao beat erstwhile undefeated Keith Thurman two years ago, becoming the oldest welterweight champion at 40 then.
Image courtesy of Wendell Alinea