Yordenis Ugas vs Omar Figueroa Jr. Preview July 20th
Yordenis Ugas of Cuba will be meeting unbeaten former WBC Lightweight Champion Omar Figueroa of Weslaco, Texas at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas Nevada this Saturday, July 20th. The 12-round welterweight bout can be seen live in the USA on Fox Pay Per View on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs Keith Thurman tilt. Ugas last fought in when he lost a close split decision to WBC Welterweight Champ Shawn Porter. Figueroa’s last contest was a controversial 10-round unanimous decision win over John Molina Jr in February.
Ugas vs Figueroa Jr. Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Omar Figueroa +345
- Yordenis Ugas -420
My Pick
Ugas is 33 years old and now fights out of Miami, Florida. He enjoyed an excellent amateur career and won a gold medal as a lightweight at the 2005 World Championships when he was 19 years old. He also captured gold at the Pan American Games two years later and took home the bronze medal from the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. He defeated Jose Pedraza, David Arce, Sadam Ali, Francisco Vargas and Darleys Perez as an amateur but was beaten by Amir Khan.
Ugas turned pro in 2010 and has 165 rounds of experience under his belt. He carries a mark of 23-4 along with 11 Kos. He isn’t known for his power with a current knockout ratio of 41 per cent. He stands 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 69-inch. Along with losing to Porter, Ugas’ other three pro losses have been to Johnny Garcia by eight-round split decision in 2012, a 10-round split decision to Emanuel Robles in 2014 and an eight-round unanimous decision to Amir Imam in his next fight in 2014.
Other than Porter, Ugas hasn’t faced any truly elite boxers as a pro, but has victories over Kenny Abril, Cosme Rivera, Jamal James, Bryant Perrella, Thomas Dulorme and Jonathan Batista. He has plenty of boxing skills along with a solid chin and not much in the way of power. However, he showed against Porter that he’s capable of taking on the best in the world and is a legitimate title contender.
The 29-year-old Figueroa will enter the ring with a near-perfect record of 28-0-1 with 19 Kos to his name. He’s a fan-friendly action boxer who also has good power with a current knockout ratio of 66 per cent. However, he’s fought just twice since December of 2015 and is recently came off of another 18- months layoff before he faced Molina. Figueroa s relatively short for a welterweight at just over 5-feet-7-inches tall, but has a decent reach of 73 inches. He gives up about 1.5-inches in height to Ugas but has a four-inch reach advantage.
Figueroa is a former WBC World Lightweight Champion who turned pro back in 2008 and has 136 rounds under his belt since. The only blemish on his record is an eight-round split decision draw with Arturo Quintero in 2010. He’s beaten some decent boxers along the way including Molina. Robert Guerrero, Antonio DeMarco, Jerry Belmontes, Abner Cotto, Nihito Arakawa, Daniel Estrada and Ricky Burns, with several of them being all-out slugfests. Figueroa is an action-packed fighter who’s pleasing on the eye and just keeps throwing punches until the job’s done.
His fight against Nihito Arakawa in the summer of 2013 saw Figueroa land 450 of his power shots, which ranks fourth all-time by Compubox when it comes to volume. He also caught a lot of leather in that bout and proved he’s got a solid chin. Figueroa doesn’t back down once the bell rings and likes to be the aggressor but he can’t take Ugas lightly since he’s a world class opponent even though he doesn’t necessarily come into a fight with the same aggressive mentality as Figueroa.
Prediction…
These combatants have differing styles and this features the classic boxer vs puncher matchup with Ugas being the boxer. Ugas could certainly outbox Figueroa but it’s doubtful he has the power to stop him unless he lands the perfect punch or combination. Figueroa has the reach advantage although he may not elect to use it as he usually works his way inside and throws non stop punches. This fight can go either way but I think if Figueroa lets his hands fly all night long Ugas will have a hard time keeping up with him.
I think Figueroa’s relentless punch output will be the difference.
Play: Figueroa Jr. +345 @ BetOnline.ag
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Omar Figueroa betting • Yordenis Ugas betting