Opening Odds for Manny Pacquiao vs Yordenis Ugas After Spence Jr Pulls Out Due to Eye Injury
- Opening odds for Manny Pacquiao vs Yordenis Ugas have dropped
- Who is favored ahead of this altered welterweight championship bout?
- Check out the fight odds, analysis, and predictions below
Opening odds for Manny Pacquiao vs Yordenis Ugas have been circulating ahead of the Saturday, August 21st prizefight. This title bout emanates from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and broadcasts on FOX Sports PBC pay per view.
The WBA super world welterweight championship is on the line with the defending champion Pacquiao looking to defend against the WBA regular champion at 147lbs Ugas.
Opening Odds Manny Pacquiao vs Yordenis Ugas
| Fighter | Odds at DraftKings |
|---|---|
| Manny Pacquiao | -360 |
| Yordenis Ugas | +275 |
Odds as of August 16th
Errol Spence Jr was initially scheduled to test skills with Pacquiao, but those plans went awry. The IBF/ WBC titleholder had to pull out when Spence Jr suffered a retinal tear in his left eye.
How Did We Get to Pacquiao vs Ugas?
The eight-division world champion will have been in championship fights across four different decades once Manny Pacquaio steps into the ring in the coming days.
The senator from the Philippines is not overly worried about the switch in the opponent. He sees his wealth of experience as being the source of his smooth adaptations.
Pacquiao’s last prizefight saw him best previously unbeaten Keith Thurman. This came via split decision in their July 2019 collision.
Yordenis Ugas is a very credible adversary, and I think the oddsmakers have the line somewhat lopsided in this one. This is a short notice affair that some pundits are calling a high-risk, low-reward fight for Pacquiao.
Ugas brings certain stylistic differences to the table than Spence. One of the biggest differences for Pacquiao is he now goes from competing against a southpaw in Spence to fighting Ugas, who is an orthodox puncher.
Yordenis Ugas’ Sweet Science Resume
Yordenis Ugas has an 11-1 record in recent years, with his lone loss coming to divisional elite Shawn Porter via controversial split decision in March 2019.
The 2008 Olympic bronze medalist has 30 professional contests to his credit. He was supposed to fight Fabian Maidana on this very card but things were reshuffled after Maidana suffered an injury during a recent training session.
In Ugas’ prior outing, he notched a split decision win over Abel Ramos to garner a WBA crown last September.
In terms of how the odds will move as the bout looms closer, I see a bit of underdog money coming in on Ugas. I think mounting rhetoric from analysts and a deeper understanding of what Yordenis Ugas brings to the table will cause that shift.
I still think Manny Pacquiao will remain a sizable favorite due to his pop culture pull and broader name value to the masses. But at a marginally smaller level come fight night.
In summation, I think there is a certain level of parity in this one that is going unobserved as of yet. Also, I think this fight has the potential for fistic fireworks.
A part-time writer and full-time broadcaster, Dylan has hosted MMA talk shows Lights Out and Pure Fight Radio with featured guests like Jens Pulver, Roy Nelson, Miesha Tate, and covered some of the biggest MMA promotions like Rumble in the Cage, Unified MMA, and King of the Cage.
