ERROL SPENCE contained and ultimately stopped Yordenis Ugas in 10 rounds at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Cuba’s Ugas, who defeated Manny Pacquiao last year, showed his quality. He caught Spence at times, a right uppercut dislodging Spence’s mouthguard and, with the American out of position, a heavy cross knocking Spence into the ropes.
But the American southpaw worked to overwhelm Ugas, landing shots to the body and bringing his hooks up to the head. Under pressure, a bad swelling was closing Ugas’ right eye. With that injury, eventually Ugas was halted. The Cuban was disappointed but by that stage Spence had control of the fight and was hurting him.
“I feel sad,” Ugás said. “I trained really hard for this fight. All my respect to Errol Spence. He’s a great champion. I’m just sad about what happened tonight. The referee stopped the fight, but I wanted to keep going to the end. I definitely had a chance to win the fight in the sixth round, but he recuperated well. Congratulations to him and his team.”
Spence added the WBA welterweight belt to the IBF and WBC straps he already holds. Now he wants to go for the best fight available to him in the division. He called for WBO belt-holder and his main rival, Terence Crawford. “Everybody knows who I want next,” Spence said. “I want Terence Crawford. That’s the fight that I want. That’s the fight everybody else wants. Like I said, I’m going to get these straps then go over there and take his too. Terence I’m coming for that belt.”