Yordenis Ugás Will Defend WBA Welterweight Strap Against Eimantas Stanionis Next (Analysis)

By Carlos Costa

Yordenis Ugás, the calvo Cuban world champion who narrowly outpointed our boxing great Manny Pacquiao, will make the next defence of his black ‘n golden WBA Welterweight (Super) World Title against younger, unbeaten Lithuanian 147-pounder Eimantas Stanionis.

The WBA announced that a bidding scheduled for this coming Thursday in Panama has been cancelled as the two fighting camps have reached a satisfactory agreement.

Following that, the Ugás and the Stanionis teams contacted the WBA, confirming that their clash will take place and that the main points in their negotiation have been solved and agreed upon.

Full details on the date, venue and other conditions of the negotiation will be publicly announced in the coming days once fight contracts have been signed, sealed and delivered with every aspect 100% dealt with.

The 35-year-old Yordenis “54 Milagros” Ugás (27-4, 12 KO’s), the Cuban fighter now living in Miami, Florida, became super known to boxing fans around the world for scoring an unexpected 12-round win by points over the legendary, much-beloved Filipino icon 🇵🇭 Manny Pacquiao last August in Las Vegas.

That battle has become the Pacman’s last rumble in boxing in a fantastically amazing boxing career that brought so much pride and joy to all Filipinos.

The 42-year-old “Pacman,” a popular Filipino Senator, is currently waging a hard uphill battle in politics in his native country as the former champ competes for the title of President of The Philippines in the May of 2022 presidential elections. Will Pacquiao win that title too?

Meanwhile, the glory-hungry 27-year-old challenger 🇱🇹 Eimantas Stanionis (13-0, 9 KO’s), the former Rio 2016 Olympian born in the historic City of Kaunas in the eastern European Republic of Lithuania, the beautiful land on the shore on the Baltic Sea has grand plans of his own.

After coming to America to launch this pro boxing career in April of 2017, the former 2015 European Amateur champion has piled up a 13-0, 9 KO’s record, getting better and better, getting himself in the position of being a world title challenger.

In his last battle last August, Stanionis fought veteran Puerto Rican former titlist Luis Collazo, a duel that ended in a no-contest decision, due to an accidental clash of heads that caused a dangerous cut on the Puerto Rican’s right eyelid.

Prior to that clash, Stanionis outclassed in 10-rounds another Puerto Rican, Thomas Dulorme (25-6-1, 16 KO’s), last April at the Mohegan Sun.

These two names, Collazo and Dulorme, have been the two most accomplished fighters whom Eimantas Stanionis has dealt with this far.

However, the slight problem for the Lithuanian is that neither of them is no-where near the completion level of the slick, smart 🇨🇺 “54 Milagros” Yordenis Ugás. Absolutely.

The two Puerto Ricans (seemingly on the other side of the hill), are light-years beneath the quality of the Cuban champ, leading fans to think that when Stanionisc climbs the ring and start trading blows with Ugás, he will be battling a far superior fighter, one with skills, experience, solid defense and hard-to-read moves; although it is undeniable that Stanionis’ punching power can be a threat to the former Olympian born in Santiago de Cuba.

Will the elder, more accomplished Ugás dominate Stanionis, teaching a superb boxing lesson to the coming-forward younger, perhaps less-talented Lithuanian?

Or will the unbeaten Rio 2016 Olympian shock and badly disassemble Yordenis “54 Milagros” Ugás, dethroning him, leaving him stunned in disbelief, same as what Kambosos did to Teofimo?

One truth seems plausible: the winner gets himself in a good position for more rewarding rumbles in 2022, hopefully against unbeaten kings Errol Spence (27-0, 21 KO’s), or Terence Crawford (38-0, 29 KO’s)… or maybe even Keith Thurman (29-1, 22 KO’s), if “One Time” wants to laced up the boxing gloves for an exciting, high-level battle one more time.

Ugás vs Stanionis for the WBA Welterweight (Super) World Title coming in the spring of 2022, may the Best Man Win!

The author Carlos Costa is a veteran boxing writer with a passion for the sweet science. Carlos can be reached at carlos512@hotmail.com or whatsapp/Viber +639184538152.