Yordenis Ugas plans to leave no doubt against Omar Figueroa Jr

By G. Leon

19/07/2019

Yordenis Ugas plans to leave no doubt against Omar Figueroa Jr

Greg Leon: How's everything going in preparation for your July 20th bout versus Omar Figueroa Jr. [28-0-1]? Yordenis Ugas: "The same as always, I'm excited to be getting right back into the ring with a great opporunity like this, it's just an exciting time for me. In a month's time I'm going to be in the ring with Omar Figueroa who is a former [WBC lightweight] champion and a good fighter." GL: He's an all action fighter, are you expecting this to be another crowd pleasing fight? YU: "Figueroa is an action fighter, I'm an action fighter and I feel like this is a can't miss fight. It's a can't miss match-up of styles. On July 20th, I plan on getting my hand raised in victory and regain my spot with the WBC to fight for the title that I feel I should have won a few months ago. I'm looking to get right back in there to win it."
 
GL: Did the Porter decision change your mentality at all coming into fights? Will you go balls to the wall more now?
 
YU: "To be honest I pressed the action most of the time. I feel like I could have jabbed a bit more, I probably could have fired off a few more shots. I won the fight and I feel like Porter wasn't engaging. Sometimes it's hard to let your hands go against a guy who just doesn't want to engage. Porter just wasn't letting his hands go, I expect this fight to be different. I don't think Omar Figueroa is going to be afraid to get in there and slug it out, and that's the type of fight I like, thats the type of fight I want."
 
GL: How confident are you that if you win this fight the mandatory will be enforced?
 
YU: "It's not my job to make those kind of decisions, it's my job to go in there and win the fight when they've got the guys in front of me. I think the WBC will do the right thing by me, I feel like the referee missed a knockdown that cost me the decision and I'm very happy that the WBC is giving me the opportunity to get right into the positon to fight for it again."
 
GL: What do you think about Figueroa? Have you studied him at all?
 
YU: "Obviously I've watched Figueroa, he's a high level guy who throws a lot of punches and you know he's coming to fight. I'm going to be prepared and I'm going to bring out the best you've ever seen from me on July 20th."
 
GL: Who do you like in Keith Thurman vs. Manny Pacquiao?
 
YU: "That's a great fight and it's tough to call because you don't know which version of these guys we're getting. Are we going to get this best Thurman? That's the question. Right now if I had to pick I'd say Pacquiao, but that could change before the fight."
 
GL: What about Errol Spence vs. Shawn Porter?
 
YU: "I think that's another great fight with two great world champions and I'm leaning towards Spence to beat Shawn Porter."
 
GL: You feel you beat Porter and now he's in a major unification bout. Is this the move you would've made had you gotten your hand raised?
 
YU: "I would have wanted to make the biggest fight possible, but I can't look back now because I've been through worse in my career and worse in my life, I got to keep moving forward. I know I have to beat Omar Figueroa to get to the winner of that one so we'll see how it all plays out."
 
GL: Closing thoughts for the fans.
 
YU: "Don't miss this fight. This is going to be the best card of the year. I know it's not the main event, but I feel like it's main event material. It's going to be a great night of boxing for the fans and I can't wait!"

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