A few months back, the boxing icon, Manny Pacquiao, entered the boxing ring after a prolonged 2-year gap. He locked horns with the WBA welterweight ‘super’ champ, Yordenis Ugas. Earlier, Pacquiao was supposed to face Errol Spence Jr, the WBC, and IBF welterweight champ, in a mammoth title clash. But Spence Jr. injured himself and he had to withdraw from the fight.
As a result, ‘Pac Man’ went up against the lanky underdog, Ugas. In this fight, nothing went as per plans for Pacquiao, and consequently, he ended up on the losing side.
Recently, Pacquiao’s long-time coach, Freddie Roach, spoke to Fight Hub TV about this fight.
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“No, the fight had nothing to do with it. For me, they picked the wrong opponent, yes, but the thing is we should have fought the guy we were supposed to fight, and then when we were getting ready to fight and then we have two days to get ready for another guy,” he said.
Ugas was too tall for Pacquiao. The champ employed his reach in this fight and he struck the Senator with some fiery jabs. Moreover, ‘Pac Man’ had to dig in deep to land his punches on Ugas’ chin, but he didn’t connect a supreme hit.
In the mid-rounds, Pacquiao tried to attack Ugas’ body with his left hooks and jabs. But he couldn’t find any significant success there. Overall, the underdog completely outboxed the boxing veteran.
Pacquiao wasn’t in his best form on fight night, and his performance certainly showed the same.
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Was inactivity a reason for Manny Pacquiao’s loss?
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Prior to entering for this fight, the Filipino Senator last took a fight in 2019 against Keith Thurman. He won that fight with a SD and boxing purists expected him to keep an active stint.
But, he stayed out of the game for nearly two years because of his duties outside the fight world.
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With that, he developed a considerable amount of ring rust. And this inactivity was unquestionably a reason for his loss to Yordenis Ugas.
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