The long-running rumor is indeed true. WBC & IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. and WBA kingpin Yordenis Ugas will unify three-quarters of the 147-pound gold in Spence's backyard, AT&T Stadium in Arlington, on April 16th. Spence hails from DeSoto in Dallas County. The unbeaten Spence,27-0 (21) confirmed the fight and location through his various social media accounts. Spence's last fought at AT&T Stadium was three-years-ago and unanimously outpointed Mikey Garcia in front of nearly 50,000 fans.
In the last three years, Spence has battled major outside the ring issues including a horrific car crash and a detached retina. He has fought just twice since that Garcia fight. He outpointed two former world champions in Shawn Porter and most recently Danny Garcia back in December of 2020.
Yordenis Ugas put the welterweight division and the boxing world on notice when he retired the legendary eight-division world champion, Manny Pacquiao, back in August. He was scheduled to fight on the undercard of Pacquiao-Spence, but when the Texan had to pull out of the fight due to the retina issue, Ugas stepped in and scored a career-changing 12 round unanimous decision. Ugas sports a 27-4 (12) record and has won four in a row since losing a controversial split decision to Shawn Porter back in 2019 including a win over Brownsville native Omar Figueroa a former world champion.
Spence has since recovered from the retina injury and was cleared to return to the boxing activity in late in 2021. He has had a full recovery. The 12-round, 147-pound unification bout will headline a four-fight pay-per-view event that either FOX or Showtime will air. Fight night is officially less than 10 weeks away.