Pacquiao vs. Ugas on PPV

Saturday, August 21st | 6 PM – FOX PPV

Generational great Manny Pacquiao, who even at an accelerated age of 42-years-old, will face the largely avoided Yordenis Ugas, who lost his opponent Fabian Maidana, to the same injury on nearly the same day.

For Ugas, this is a triumph, as he has been one of four WBA world champions at welterweight, and looked to be a lock to get an Errol Spence Jr. PPV fight, before Pacquiao got the bout, and left Ugas, out by himself. Ugas, now will get his big moment, as he has grinded his way back from being a journeyman to being one of the most avoided welterweights under the watchful eye of Ismael Salas.

Another storyline is that both fighters sparred each other earlier in camp, as Ugas was brought in to give Manny Pacquiao a southpaw look for Errol Spence. Ugas’ opponent, Maidana was not a southpaw, so Ugas will be adjusting to one of the best southpaws ever, on roughly ten days notice.

My thoughts: Pacquiao is a fast-starter, Ugas tends to throw wide punches, and takes a few rounds to get going, especially in terms of hand speed. Though I like Ugas’ narrative, and story, it will take a career-defining performance from Ugas to beat Pacquiao on this stage, as I expect Pacquiao to retire after the bout with a win. This would in theory.

Spence Detached Retina

Sure, science has improved since “Sugar” Ray Leonard, but even looking at the most recent case of a fighter with a detached retina, that I can remember – Abner Mares, I can’t recall him fighting since the injury.

Spence Jr., who it was official announced had this injury, yesterday, will wait and see if he ever returns to the ring, as the countdown to retirement, has started, and now we will see just how many fight he has left, as I suspect the answer being not many.

Spence looked to be PBC’s torch barrier for the boxing content provider, along with Deontay Wilder. The news is not just sad for this PPV, but sad for Spence’s health, as eyes are important to functioning in life, in general.

Pacquiao vs Ugas Undercard

Robert Guerrero vs. Victor Ortiz

It might be nearly a decade after we had originally hoped to see it, but legends of the last decade, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, and Victor Ortiz will do battle in a career crossroads bout.

An interesting aspect to this bout is Victor Ortiz is training with Freddie Roach, and this is after some had compared him to Manny Pacquiao when he was a prospect, as Ortiz will at the very least be entertaining.

The winner of this bout will fight again, I am not sure against who, maybe Jamal James, but for fans of the sport these are two marquee names, who typically are not in boring fights.

Mark Magsayo vs Julio Ceja

Mark Magsayo has the makings of being a featherweight world champion, and Julio Ceja is a hard-working veteran, who has taken a lot of punishment. This should be a dramatic introduction for Magsayo to the boxing world, and more so Manny Pacquiao fans, as Magsayo is from the Philipines as well.

Carlos Castro vs. Oscar Escandon

Carlos Castro is no longer with Top Rank Inc., and now is fighting on PBC for the first time. Castro is also one of the more interesting fighters in the 118-122 lbs title picture, but to get to the bout he wants he has to beat Escandon, a known tough guy, who will test Castro.

Deep Undercard Stuff To Be Aware Of…

FOX & FOX Deportes Beginning at 12:30 p.m. PT

Frank Martin

Frank Martin had a great outing in his last fight against MT Promotions’ Jerry Perez, and Martin, who is now trained by Derrick James, will look to face Ryan Kielczweski, a tough lightweight in a ten-round bout. Martin will look to emerge to the Eimantas Stanionis level after this fight to be able to headline a FOX card by himself, with a dominant win.

Burley Brooks rematches Cameron Rivera

Burley Brooks lost to Cameron Rivera in his last fight, though some debated the win. Brooks also lost to Modesto, Ca tough guy Marco Delgado, a fight before that. Brooks is a limited guy, who can be in fun fights, but his time on the a-side will be short-lived. The Derrick James trained fighter, Brooks, should get one of his big career wins avenging his loss to Rivera on this card, although Brooks makes every fight hard on himself, thus far.

Mikkel Spencer

Joey Spencer’s brother, Mikkel, will turn pro on this undercard, and more than likely fight very earlier on in the proceeding. For deep undercard heads, watch Spencer, as he will be in the mix.

Jose Valenzuela

Valenzuela is trained by Jose Benavidez Sr., and trains alongside his sons, Jose Jr., and David. Valenzuela is a fighter, who many have high hopes for, and should be entering into the title picture soon. Maybe in the future we get Valenzuela versus Martin on a televised main event card.

Club Show

It has been a hard road for Kali Reis, but the WBA women’s junior welterweight world champion, will defend her world title this Friday night in El Cajon, Ca, on UFC Fight Pass against Diana Prazak. Reis stars in a movie “Catch The Fair One,” and is an advocate for the indigenous people who are going missing, and murdered in North America. Reis has a lot of substance both in the ring and out.https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/8tbGKQDVS-s?start=2s&rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0

Jessica Camara will be taking a short-notice replacement world title fight against Victoria Bustos for the vacant WBO women’s junior welterweight title, as Mary McGee withdrew late into fight camp. Camara is coming off a career-defining win over Heather Hardy, and looks to win her first world title, and take the belt back to Canada.

Alma Ibarra coming off a massive win over women’s boxing superstar, Mari Cornejo, will face Kandi Wyatt in an eight-round undercard bout, and Mexican heavyweight Elvis Garcia will face Joel Shojgreen in an eight-round bout. Garcia is trained by Joel Diaz in Indio, Ca.

Germany, Saturday – Zhan Kossobutskiy vs. Joey Dawejko

I would be lying if I told you I knew much about Zhan Kossobutskiy, but I know that Joey Dawejko is a rough outing fight for most. This is a notable heavyweight bout, though I don’t love that Dawejko left for Germany the week of the fight as jetlag is a real thing, but I guess on the east coast it isn’t as bad.

Less than a month after an embarrassing loss to Jack Cullen, Avni Yildirim will face journeyman Slavisa Simeunovic to get his career back on track.

MMA In 500 Words Or Less

PFL Playoffs 2, ESPN2 – Thursday, 6 PM PST.

Kayla Harrison versus Genah Fabian, women’s lightweight semi-finals is happening on Friday, on ESPN2, and I have to say Kayla Harrison is awesome. On a conference call, this week she ripped a reporter, who awkwardly talked about her opponent, Genah Fabian’s good looks, while mispronouncing her name.

Harrison is a two-time Olympic gold medalist in Judo, one of the most interesting fighters in all of MMA, and is sick of the disrespect, and lack of professionalism that is given to women in the sport of MMA. Harrison is as dominant as Ronda Rousey was, and is unapologetic in her views as an athlete. I can’t get enough of Kayla Harrison.

UFC….

Saturday, ESPN & ESPN2

Jared Cannonier will face Kelvin Gastelum in a rather ho-hum main event. This is the type of match-up that maybe some hardcore fans will be excited for, but I think for most, this is the type of bout that feels as though the UFC has oversaturated the market, and the need to fill cards, and fight dates, has created skipable cards. This being one of them.

Clay Guida vs Mark Madsen is the only other bout I see having interesting elements to it as it features former Dannish Olympian Madsen, taking on legend of the sport, Clay Guida in a bout that from a matchmaking standpoint would seemingly look to be a set-up for Madsen to get over to the general fan, who remembers Guida from his bouts a decade ago.

Bellator

Friday, Showtime, 6 PM PST

Heavyweight Cheick Kongo faces Sergei Kharitonov in a clash of two heavyweights from yesteryear.