LOS ANGELES — A part of Manny Pacquiao’s free time in the final days leading up to his duel with Yordenis Ugas would be to size up the Cuban puncher on YouTube.
“I haven’t really seen him fight nor watched him up close,” Pacquiao told two stringers from TV stations and a visiting scribe from Manila.
One of these days, Pacquiao is going to do just that as the 21 August world welterweight war set for the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas draws closer by the hour.
Ugas’ fights are readily available on the Internet and Pacquiao, not known for spending too much time studying a foe on video, will watch a round or two and that would be enough.
Ugas was called in to replace Errol Spence after the Texas striker failed an eye exam administered by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
All he knows about the 35-year-old Ugas is that he is almost the same height as the 5-foot-9½ Spence.
By the time Pacquiao answers the bell next week, he would already have Ugas — from head to foot — all figured out and ready for the taking.
Ugas, meanwhile, should also be neck-deep in reviewing the Filipino star’s fights.
Not only is Ugas going to watch Pacquiao’s devastating defeat to Juan Manuel Marquez but even his brightest moments would also be dissected by a think-tank headed by the maestro Ismael Salas.
Regarded as Cuba’s premier tactician, Salas’ handprints are found among Cuba’s greatest champions and his presence alone in Ugas’ corner is a cause for concern.
But Pacquiao is also coached by a great mind in Freddie Roach, who has transformed the once face-first brawler into an even more calculating and smoother operator on top of the ring.
Interestingly, Roach also hasn’t paid too much attention to Ugas that he is likely to be studying him on YouTube as well to determine what adjustments should be made.
Unlike the lefty Spence, Ugas is a right-hander.
But not even the last-minute change has raised the alert level over at Team Pacquiao.
“It doesn’t really bother me. It hardly matters to me whether my opponent is left-handed or orthodox,” Pacquiao, 42, said.
“I am used to fighting either right or left.”
For Pacquiao, having fought more than 70 times for over two decades and having won eight world titles in as many weight classes, makes him supremely confident about his assessment of opponents.
There’s really nothing that Pacquiao hasn’t seen in the ring.
The only thing fight fans haven’t really seen him do is box a kangaroo or wrestle with an alligator.
Meanwhile, all the traditional events in Las Vegas next week won’t be open to the public.
Not even the formal arrivals, press conference and the official weigh-in are going to be staged behind closed doors owing to Covid-19.
