Yordenis Ugas Cruises Passed Abel Ramos to Win WBA Regular Title!
It’s been a long road since taking back-to-back losses in 2014 for top welterweight contender Yordenis “54 Milagros” Ugas (25-4, 12KO). Decision let-downs to Emmanuel Robles and Amir Imam nearly had him out of the sport at just 28 years-old.
Since, he has become one of the “wildcards” in the welterweight division. Along with that, he is arguably one of the more avoided fighters in the division. A controversial split-decision loss to another major player at welterweight in Shawn Porter followed by a twelve-round destruction of undefeated contender Omar Figueroa helped spawn his new image.
Ugas has yearned to get another shot against the best. Therefore, he jumped at the opportunity to grab the vacant WBA “regular” title against Abel Ramos (26-3-2, 20) in order to get closer to a big fight.
BOXING 101
From the start, the jab of the former Olympian dictated the fight. The use of the double jab and utilizing the punch at different levels made Ramos an easy target. The speed behind the punch was too much for the non-defensive minded power-puncher.
Behind the jab, Ugas was able to setup his signature straight right-hand at will. The ruggedness of Ramos allowed him a few opportunities as the Cuban is not known for having electrifying footwork. Therefore as the underdog came in, Ugas wouldn’t budge from his position.
RELATED: The Art of the Jab: The Most Important Punch In Boxing!
When not pushed back out of range from running into combinations, Ramos managed to land a jab of his own. In round four, he was able to land a nice left hand in an exchange that momentarily buckled the favorite. However, this would be the only notable highlight for him in a round of being completely out-boxed.
Conversely, if the American stayed too long in-range, Ugas would throw short hooks to the body, destabilizing the attack of his foe and moving him back out of range, right where he wanted him.
JUST AS WE EXPECTED
Not many fans gave Ramos a chance when this fight was announced. The reason is Ugas’ boxing ability is among the upper-echelon of the division. The American tried his best to match the ability and IQ of his opponent but as adage goes: “there are levels to this shit!”
One takeaway that can be seen as a negative for Ugas is he can get frustrated. If this happens, he can drop a couple notches on the “IQ bar” and decide to fight in a phone booth. He is still an effective mid-range to inside fighter, however, he opens himself to taking damage he shouldn’t be taking.
Regardless, Ramos was just not skilled enough to take complete advantage of this flaw.
CONTROVERSY STRIKES
3kingsboxing.com saw a shutout for Ugas with a score of 119-109. However, the judges returned three ridiculous cards that resulted in a split-decision. One judge (who was sleep the entire fight) saw Ramos dominating as he turned in a 117-111 scorecard for the American. The other two must have dozed-off a couple of rounds as they saw Ugas winning a close fight at 115-113.
This makes absolutely no sense and is another indication of how bad judging plagues this sport. Although the right man won, the discrepancy of the scorecards relative to what actually happened is disgusting and the sport needs to do better!
By: EJ Williams
