Errol Spence Jr. (27-0, 21 KOs) vs. Yordenis Ugas (27-4, 12 KOs), one of the most anticipated fights of the year is finally confirmed to be heading for the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on 16th April. The fight will see Spencer Jr’s WBC and IBF belts going up against Ugas’ WBA (Super) title, to crown the new three belt unified welterweight champion.
Errol Spence Jr vs Yordenis Ugas will crown the new WBC, WBA (Super) and IBF champion at 147
I’m back🦈!! @ATTStadium against wba champion Ugas April 16th… access code ( boxing ) on https://t.co/I8AVWxHCBI at 12pm for early tickets let’s get it ! #warready #strapseason #mandown #cowboys pic.twitter.com/qaaUFlgSEF
— Errol Spence (@ErrolSpenceJr) February 8, 2022
Reports of the matchup had originally gained pace back in December by Mike Coppinger of ESPN. Coppinger revealed that Lithuanian boxer Eimantas Stanionis, who was supposed to challenge Ugas for the WBA title, is stepping aside to let Spence come in, while Stanionis will instead square off against WBA’s “Regular” champion Radzhab Butaev. Stanionis’s stepping aside to let Spence vs Ugas happen was made public by WBA President Gilbert Mendoza.
On top of that, back in early January, Ugas himself confirmed about the fight happening in spring 2022, as he revealed to FOX Sports Boxing his plans for this year. “We’re targeting March or April for the fight. It’s going to be for three titles. That’s a fight that we want,” the Cuban stated at the time, “We’re targeting the springtime for the match against Errol.”
Spence himself had added further fortification to the speculations regarding the fight in a subsequent Instagram post and had already confirmed the fight month: “The fight’s in April. Man down, strap season. He already knows what time it is.”
Yordenis Ugas, the former WBA (Regular) champion was elevated to the ‘Super’ status after former eight division world champion boxer Manny Pacquiao, who was on a two year hiatus away from the squared circle, was made the sanctioning body’s ‘Champion in Recess’.
The fight, which took place on 21st August, which was orginally going to feature Spence against Pacquiao. However, Spence pulled out from the fight due to an eye injury and was replaced by Ugas, defending the WBA (Super) belt against Pacquiao. Nonetheless, the 35-year-old Cuban proved himself once again after defeating the legendary ‘PacMan’ to retain his belt, which also marked Pacquiao’s final career fight.
Spence has reigned as the IBF welterweight champion since May 2017 and clinched his green and gold belt against Shawn Porter on 28th September 2019 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The AT&T Stadium is also the venue where “The Truth” was last seen in action against Danny García on 5th December 2020 when he defended his WBC and IBF titles.
Highlights:
- Errol Spence Jr and Yordenis Ugas will face each other on 16th April at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas
- The winner will be crowned as the new three-belt WBC, WBA (Super), and IBF welterweight champion
