Ugas and Robinson added to Garcia/Rios
Yordenis Ugas and Ray Robinson are set to square off in an IBF welterweight title eliminator with the winner to be the mandatory to IBF champion Errol Spence Jr. Showtime announced that the fight will kick off the Danny Garcia vs Brandon Rios telecast on February 17. The super middleweight title rematch between David Benavidez and Ronald Gavril is also part of the card.
Ugas (20-3, 9 knockouts) has five consecutive wins since suffering back-to-back defeats in 2014. His string of wins includes decisions over Jamal James and Thomas Dulorme.
Robinson (24-2, 12 KOs) also tasted defeat in back-to-back fights and hasn’t lost since. Those setbacks came at the hands of Brad Solomon and Shawn Porter in 2009-’10.
It’s an interesting decision by the IBF to order the fight considering Carlos Ocampo is currently the mandatory and is rumored to be the favorite to face Spence in June when the champion has the homecoming fight he has wanted in Dallas. The June date was announced by Showtime last week during their Boxing Upfront presentation from New York.
The fact this fight has been put together this quickly almost leads one to think maybe the mandated fight between Spence and Ocampo for whatever reason isn’t a sure thing and they want a backup plan just in case.
By: Chris Henderson
