By: Sean Crose
One has been one of the most colorful individuals in the fighting game for over a decade. The other has the distinction of bringing the great Manny Pacquiao into retirement. Now it is reported that Keith “One Time” Thurman and Yordenis Ugas may fail this summer. Indeed, Thurman confirmed it when speaking with Movie schedule’ Brian Custer on Last position. After all, this is an interesting matchup between two top names with impressive skill sets. Indeed, a side title will be played if the Thurman-Ugas fight really comes to fruition. Honestly, the problem for every man is that he hasn’t fought in years.
At the age of 36, Yugas hasn’t competed since April 2022 when he was stopped in the tenth round by Errol Spence’s gloved boxer. However, Yugas was not allowed to fight Spence. Sure enough, Spence planned to fight Pacquiao. However, an injury kept Spence out of the game, leaving Ugas with a chance to truly shake up the fighting world, an opportunity he made the most of, defeating the legendary “Pac Man” through a fair unanimous decision. However, facing Spence in his next game is a bridge too far for Ugas. He looks great against Pacquiao, but it’s an old Pacquiao. On the other hand, Spence was at his peak when he and Ugas failed.
As for Thurman, the 32-year-old heavyweight struggled to hit his final fight in January 2022 when he decided on Mario Barios. He hadn’t fought in more than two years before that, he lost to Pacquiao in the summer of 2019. Thurman skipped the fight in 2018, and had previously fought once in 2017 and once in 2019. 2016. Indeed, it was a time for independent-minded Floridians.
Again, however, Thurman and Ugas are very notable strong contenders. Even with young fighters like Jeron Ennis on the horizon, these two are still worth checking out in the ring. No doubt both men would love to face the winner of the Spence-Crawford throwdown, or it’s the rematch. However, time is running out. The shelf life of a boxer is more than once, but it is still relatively short. Thurman and Ugas need to make the most of the opportunities presented to them if they want to stay relevant. Besides that, there are a lot of worse fights that can be made beyond this one, sure to attract attention and money, if it is done.
