Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao was supposed to take on Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr. on August 21, but Spence suffered an eye injury and needed surgery to fix it.
It was supposed to be Spence’s big moment, but instead Cuban WBA welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas took the fight on short notice beat Pacquiao and also received the glory that should have been Spence’s.
The unfortunate circumstances are nothing new to Spence who suffered a car accident only to prove the naysayers wrong by coming back with a dominant decision win over former champion Danny Garcia.
The WBC/IBF world champion remains undefeated and he is likely disappointed but not discouraged that he didn’t fight Pacquiao on August 21.
Most people think the most logical step for Spence is to fight Ugas for a unification belt with three world titles on the line, but I think they can wait for that fight.
When Spence fully recovers from his eye surgery, he should face Manny Pacquiao instead.
Pacquiao is going to be 43-years-old in December and likely going to retire soon, but he won’t retire on a loss, a fighter like Pacquiao has too much pride to go out with a loss.
If the Filipino southpaw decides to rematch Ugas, it would likely be more of the same, another one sided decision.
Spence should demand first to fight Pacquiao and then try to one up Ugas by knocking out Pacquiao and then the fight with Ugas would be even bigger, because they could promote it as Spence doing something Ugas couldn’t do when he fought Pacquiao and that is to stop him.
Pacquiao and his camp could then fight someone like Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero in the Philippines and retire in front of his countrymen with a win.
After Spence knocks Pacquiao out, he can fight Ugas and unify.
Spence has been trying to get that fight with undefeated WBO champion Terence “Bud” Crawford for years, but Top Rank kept trying to avoid the match-up claiming it’s on Al Haymon to reach out to them.
There is a glimmer of hope for a Spence vs. Crawford super-fight. With Crawford fighting PBC fighter Shawn Porter next, maybe, just maybe the much anticipated Errol Spence Jr. vs. Terence Crawford welterweight unification for undisputed champion status will happen.
The only issue I see is that Crawford might lose to Porter, and that could hurt the super-fight between the two undefeated American champions, but at the same time if there is no rematch clause it would mean the PBC would have all the straps at 147-pounds and then Spence and Porter could fight for undisputed in a rematch.
The welterweight picture has gotten interesting and I can’t wait to see the match-ups to come.
