Pacquiao and Ugás unafraid to make title fight on short notice

assOCIaTEd PrEss

LOS ANGELES – Manny Pacquiao could have postponed or canceled his boxing comeback when opponent Errol Spence Jr. dropped out less than two weeks before their Aug. 21 showdown.

Instead, the former eight-division champion quickly found some right-handed sparring partners and went right back to work preparing for a new opponent on very short notice.

“I’m not disappointed at all, because my hard work in training is not wasted,” Pacquiao said Wednesday.

Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) didn’t hesitate to replace Spence with Yordenis Ugás (26-4, 12 KOs), the Cuban WBA welterweight champion, just 11 days before the pay-per-view show at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Spence has a retinal tear that requires surgery, but he didn’t know about it until a prefight medical exam.

Instead of preparing for the left-handed Spence,

Pacquiao and trainer Freddie Roach are now getting ready for Ugás’ orthodox stance – but it’s nothing the 42-year-old Filipino congressman hasn’t seen before in his quarter-century as a professional boxer.

“The only adjustment I’m going to make for this fight is the southpaw versus righthanded,” Pacquiao said. “That’s the only thing, because Errol Spence is aggressive, and Ugas is also aggressive, so that’s good. He can create more action in the ring, and the fans will love it.”

Ugás was scheduled to make his first title defense against Fabian Maidana on the undercard in Las Vegas, but he got the call to replace Spence on the same day Maidana revealed he had a huge cut underneath his left eye, likely forcing him out of his fight with Ugás anyway.

“Once I found out I was fighting Pacquiao, I was excited, and then I just kept on training as if nothing was unusual,” Ugás said

sEE BOXING/B4