LAS VEGAS -- From an almost completely unknown entity just a minute ago, we now suddenly have an alarming amount of information about WBA "super" welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas.
That's what happens when you are plucked from the shadows and thrown straight into the limelight of a Las Vegas strip boxing main event against the sport's eternal pay-per-view attraction, the great Manny Pacquiao.
And all the unwanted, albeit required, attention didn't seem to mind the 35-year-old Olympic bronze medalist from Santiago de Cuba.
In fact, he seemed to relish it. Which was no surprise, if you are tipped about his background.
Before successfully fleeing the oppressive island regime in 2010, says Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports, Ugas had spent jail time for six failed attempts to defect from the island nation's oppressive regime.
He isn't gonna flee from a horde of predominantly middle-aged men armed with cameras and voice recorders harassing him with more intimate questions about his life and personal feelings.
If there was some uneasiness, or butterflies flapping beneath his six-pack, Ugas didn't show it. On the contrary, he fit the bill of a man whose face now adorns giant billboards around this city of decadence.
Decked in an elegant black suit with a matching Clorox white collared shirt, he faced reporters during the final conference at a makeshift stage inside the MGM Grand Garden arena.
Wearing an expensive watch with a silver bracelet that glinted along with the diamond stud on his ears, Ugas, through an interpreter, was grateful for the opportunity and honored to fight a legendary figure who is boxing's only eight-division champ.
But he insists he isn't just a footnote in the Filipino's storied Hall-of-Fame resume.
UGAS IS HERE TO WIN AND "READY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE."
The oddsmakers don't share his optimism.
Despite a three-and-a-half-inch height advantage, a three-inch edge in length, and being seven years younger than the 42-year-old fighting senator, Ugas is a plus 240 underdog (bet $100 to win $240) against Pacquiao, the prohibitive favorite at -370 (bet $370 to win $100).
Although technically shrewd, a trait that he had developed through over 500 amateur bouts, Ugas is not a puncher as reflected by his record of 26-4 with only 12 stoppages compared to Paquiao's 62-7 card with 39 KOs.
If longtime coach, trainer, confidant and BFF Buboy Fernandez had his way, he'd like to see Pacquiao immediately crowd Ugas right at the opening bell and inflict a double-fisted fury the Cuban had never met before.
No way, senyor, said Ugas' trainer Ismael Salas, citing the fact that Manny has only two knockout wins in 17 fights from November 2014 to July 20, 2019 when PacMan chewed up Keith Thurman in a gritty split decision victory.
Salas could be right. Maybe the numbers won't lie.
But I wouldn't count on it.
This is a motivated Pacquiao, determined to burnish his legacy, and eager to emerge from the dust of a two-year layoff that had knocked down his career for 25 months.
Unfortunately for Ugas, he will also be fighting an angry Manny Pacquiao.
"I didn't like that someone took my belt without challenging me in the ring," said Pacquiao, obviously alluding to his title being stripped by the WBA during his long layoff and handed over unceremoniously to a willing recipient in Ugas.
Looking sartorially senatorial in a gray suit and tie, Pacquiao's eyes kindled with a hint of anger that he is prone to unleash with the rage of a thousand punches come Saturday night (Sunday morning, Manila time) at the T-Mobile Arena.
I don't see a knockout here, only because the moment Ugas feels how hard Manny can touch him, he will refuse to engage and will only look to finish the 12-rounder up on his feet.
Manny wins in easy fashion and is world champion yet again.
Which sounds so merrily familiar after all these years.
The pandemic had changed the world but Pacquiao's hold of the sport of boxing stays the same.
Postscript. While the Tokyo Olympics are squarely behind us, Fred Sternberg, Manny's longtime publicist, deserves a gold medal for managing the hectic verbal traffic in a presser that went deep into overtime.
Pacquiao also deserves the same element for graciously accommodating every reporter and outlet that sought for his time long after the media availability was over.
This is why Manny is a star and a box office for nearly two decades.
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