Mikey Garcia feels pretty bad about Errol Spence Jr. suffering an eye injury and losing out on a massive fight against Manny Pacquiao on August 21st.
The four-division world champion Mikey says there’s not nearly as much interest in a fight between Pacquiao and replacement opponent Yordenis Ugas for that date, even though the Cuban fighter holds the WBA welterweight title.
Casual boxing fans don’t know who Ugas is, and they don’t care that he’s a world champion. What’s important to them is that they’re not getting the fight they wanted to see with Pacquiao and Spence.
Being asked to pay the same $74.99 to watch Pacquiao fight a replacement opponent, it’s off-putting.
Premier Boxing Champions have a deep enough stable to where they cut have called Keith Thurman up and had him step forward to replace Spence as Pacquiao’s opponent, and there would be far less grumbling from fans.
Mikey: Fans not as excited about Pacquiao – Ugas
“That’s f*** up, that’s sad. He was forced to pull out of the fight, and that sucks, especially when it’s only a week away from the fight,” said Mikey Garcia to Fighthype on Errol Spence pulling out of his August 21st fight with Pacquiao.
“That’s terrible. He had his camp going and was training and then not be able to fight. That sucks for Errol. Manny obviously was ready for the fight, so they could salvage the show and salvage the fight.
He’s fighting Yorgenis Ugas now. So it’s a fight too. It’s not an easy fight. It’s a good match-up, but not as big of a show with marketing and branding.
“Not as many people excited about that as they were for Errol, but still a good fight,” Mikey said.
It’s an understatement by Mikey that fans aren’t excited about Pacquiao vs. Ugas. At this point, boxing fans are still talking more about Pacquiao-Spence than they are Pacquiao vs. Ugas, and that’s a bad sign.
It would have been a good idea for PBC and FOX to drop the PPV price from $74.99 to $65 because Spence is no longer fighting. Why should boxing fans pay the same price for what clearly is a lesser fight between Pacquiao and Ugas?
Even $65 would be pushing it. Pacquiao is famous, but he still needs to be matched against opposition that boxing fans want to see him fighting.
There’s no demand for a fight between Manny and Ugas. You can argue there are at least seven fighters in the 147-lb & 140-lb divisions that fans would prefer to see Pacquiao fighting rather than Ugas. They are as follows:
- Keith Thurman
- Shawn Porter
- Terence Crawford
- Vergil Ortiz Jr
- Jaron Ennis
- Danny Garcia
- Gervonta Davis
- Josh Taylor
- Jose Ramirez
- Regis Prograis
Pacquiao has 2 fights left before retiring
“I’ve heard from different people that he was thinking of having two fights this year and then retires,” said Mikey when asked how many fights Pacquiao has left before he retires.
“It all changes depending on one fight’s outcome. If someone gets hurt or knocked out or something like that, he [Pacquiao] might decide to retire at that point.
“Win or lose doesn’t matter. If your body takes serious punishment and is hurt, that can all change. Who knows if he’s going to be able to squeeze in another fight before the end of the year.
“He might not. If he fights and everything goes well, and he wins and doesn’t get hurt, not cut or anything like that, he might be able to squeeze in another fight before the end of the year. But if it’s a tough fight and he’s cut, he may not have time to do so,” said Mikey.
If Pacquiao has only two more fights remaining before he retires, that puts more pressure on Mikey to try and campaign for his second fight this year.
It’ll be surprising if Pacquiao doesn’t come out of the Ugas fight too dinged up to return for a second match this year. Ugas is just as tough a fright for Manny as his match against Keith Thurman two years ago, and he was black & blue after that one.
As long as Pacquiao doesn’t get cut up or beaten up, Mikey has got a chance to be in the second fight this year. The problem is that Mikey will have to get back in the ring soon because there’s no point in him pushing for a fight with Manny this year if his fight with Regis Prograis takes place in November.
Spence got scared!! Spence ran faster (away)than he ever ran in the ring lol pacman would have made Spence see 3 pacs in the ring with his speed and feints and darting in and out and angles. Lol spence watch those videos of pacman looking fast strong and in best shape of his life knocking out doarring partners ha now he gonna wait a year so he can fight grandpa pacman and sat he retired him BSSS!!! I smell bs he scarred..he would rather give up the money $$ to save his ass from embarrassment lol
Forget Soence..pac needs to dispose of ugas. Fight crawdaddy and retire as the GOAT!
THE greatest legend ever!!
I see people making comments who never foiggtan dont understand the Boxing business, So with that being said keep your dumb comments to yourself Now Errol Spence has earned his right by beating everybody put before him and it dont matter how he Won but the Fact is all judges saw him asa Winner So if they were Knocked out its still a Loss,. So my hats off to thd Champ Errol Spence jr. Keep doing what your doing and i pray that you get well Soon and can continue on your Journey beating everybody put in front of you just like Mayweather 😉 did and they still talk trash an hated on him,. Now id love to be in your corner with your awesome Trainer Derrick i think we would work well together,.
I’m a fan of Pacman, but Spence didn’t pull out of anything. Look this was going to be the most lucrative fight of his career both in terms of money and stature, he probably won’t get this opportunity again. Hopefully he fully recovers and faces Crawford. As for facing Pacquiao, that opportunity is gone.
I think the reason the fight is not happening is because Spence won’t do what Keith Thurman did and lose to this guy for Bob Arum. They won’t to keep all those new found Asian fans and how better to do that but for Pac to win against one of those young brothers who would normally beat the breaks off of his old ass remember MARQUEZ smaller than those guys and knocked him out. And I say won 2 of those fights.
Spence and Crawford
I think manny a true hof fighter is worth
Paying the money to watch him fight, but
Find a worthy opponet and i’ll pay. Ut i
Really think this guy is made for manny,
Styles make fights and Ugas is the one
fighter made for making Manny look
Like the true champion he is.
Not sure but smells of Mayweather /
Ellerbe . Mayweather hates Manny for the attention Manny gets and his clean lifestyle . He’s on record along with Ellerbe with weird comments .
Just hope it’s not true but hard to believe otherwise .
…….”I’ll take Mayweather haters for $500, Alex.
Smart but don’t say what’s weak in you cause killer warriors will have a clue.
Y’all stupid and obviously don’t know about the real killers inthe sport.Errol Spence is a killer he was gon retire Pac man, he is not faking an eye injury and the people who say he is r people who obviously r not real fight fans they just know big names and don’t know the how good the individual fighters r in the sport.Mickey Garcia was supposed to b a great fighter until he fought Spence and Spence beat the he’ll out of him every round on the scorecards, all 12 rounds.
You black?
Yeah right Garcia is a 140 lb fighter and Spence can’t even knocked out Garcia. Spence has no chance against Pacquiao speed and ring smart.Pacquiao will destroy Spence period! That’s why he took the easy way out fake an injury one week before the fight. Lol
Pac would’ve buzzed in and out and swooped Spences boring ass
This is the real fact people. Spencer knew he will get his ass beat by a 43 year pld man that why he faked sn injury. Nobofy knows this other guy. I for sure ain’t buying no stinking PPV. AND I URGE EVERYONE TO DO THE SAME.
You’re crazy if you think Spence is scared
Weird how a fighter pulls out of a fight
A week before it all happens.fo Spence to redeem him self.i want Manny to retire.
Spence should fight Crawford.
Plain and simple.
Yep
Pacman will beat Ugas , win his title back then lose it to Spence later this year or early next. That’s the plan.
sure there must be an evidence to show his eye operation. not an eye patch. very fishy. running chicken
I seem to agree with many others about Spence pulling out of this fight with a bad eye . Let’s see the evidence that Spence eye was so damaged that he needed an operation . For me I would show the X-ray or professional doctors report , to pull out of a such important fight . Come on can’t fight because I suddenly got a soar eye . Yes safety is a big issue here if Spence is for real and I am sure Manny Pacquiao wouldn’t want to fight a guy with a bad injury specially if it has anything to do with the guys face . SHOW THE EVIDENCE SPENCE AND CLEAR THE AIR FOR ALL THE VIEWERS AND BOXING FANS AROUND THE WORLD .
If you take a closer look at Spence eye, it looks like small red mark in the corner. It’s like when you rub your eye with your hand. In my opinion and I’m not doctor that doesn’t make him to back out. It sounds fishy to me. Cold feet as everyone called it.
I’m sure he got paid
I’m pretty sure he got paid
I bet he got paid
The fights that needs to be made is spence vs crawford and Davis and thurman and than the winner from those fights would face each other. Those are ppv fights.
The man had a retina eye operation he didn’t just pull out for me pulling out come on I would do the same damn thing why loser I over a fight with many more fights in uou
Oiga que razonamiento más vago es que no saben que el.mismisimo pakiao pidió pelear xon unas porque dice que el titulo que tiene el campeón le pertenece.
Me gustarÃa ver una pelea entre Ugas y Garcia para ver si realmente este último es tan bueno
Pretty fishy to me that Spence would pull out of a fight of this magnitude i dont buy it!!! Especially this close to the fight!!!Sounds like cold feet to me !! I
think he got scared
He has damage to his eye, nothing fishy.
Lets see Spence fight Jermell Charlo at 154#. Spence fan win.
Yep