Yordenis Ugás

Ugás was U17 (cadets) world champion in 2003 but lost at the junior championships in 2004 to Amir Khan. On other occasions he lost twice to countryman Luis Franco at featherweight, he finished third at the nationals 2004 at featherweight.

In 2005 he moved up to lightweight where he was more successful, winning the Cuban Championships from 2005 to 2008 and turning into a star. He won a tournament called PanAm Championships (not the PanAm Games) in 2005, however in other tournaments he lost twice to Kazach southpaw Serik Sapiyev.

At the Senior World Championships 2005 he suffered two heavy knockdowns against Canadian southpaw Ibrahim Kamal in his third fight but managed to win. The Manila Times writes: "But for two fleeting moments Thursday, unheralded Canadian lightweight Ibrahim Kamal showed the world that the Cubans, arguably the number-one force in amateur boxing, may have jaws of glass after all. The University of Toronto student knocked down Yordanis Ugas in the first and second rounds with two sledgehammer lefts to the side of the chin. But then the Canadian southpaw hurt one knee as he and Ugas wrestled each other to the floor on the third round, leaving him effectively fighting on one leg." Later Ugás beat Russian Khabib Allakhverdiyev and in the final he outfought Romal Amanov from Azerbaijan. Cubanet.org writes "Yordenis Ugas, a sharp, technically accomplished fighter but with a suspect jaw, won the lightweight gold for Cuba after an explosive toe-to-toe clash with Romal Amanov of Azerbaijan." It describes him as "a tall, bony lightweight with a deceptively languid fighting style."

In 2006 he won the Central American Championships.

He was part of the Cuban team that won the 2006 Boxing World Cup.[4]

In 2007 he beat Yordan Frometa and Roniel Iglesias at the national championships. Later that year Ugás won the PanAm Games in Rio beating Darleys Pérez and Everton Lopes. Cuba didn't participate in the World Championships in Chicago.

In 2008 he defended the national championships against old foe Luis Franco and won his Olympic qualifier. In Beijing he was upset in the semifinal by Frenchman Daouda Sow.

In 2009 he went up to junior welterweight beating Roniel Iglesias in the national final.

In March 2010, Ugás moved to the USA in the hope of beginning a professional career.

On July 9, 2010 he made his pro debut.

Ugás moved to North Bergen, New Jersey in 2012.[5]

On 9 March 2019, Ugas fought his first career title fight, against Shawn Porter for the WBC welterweight title. Ugas fought great and landed the cleaner shots throughout the fight. Porter had some success with his jab in the fourth round, but Ugas was the better man in the following round, after both fighters exchanged shots in the middle of the ring towards the end of the fifth. Ugas also had a stronger finish to the fight, and managed to cut Porter near his left eye in the tenth. After the final bell rang, Ugas' team already started celebrating, while Porter just stood and looked at his corner. To many of the fans' surprise, two of the judges scored the fight in favor of Porter, 116-112 and 115-113, while only one of the judges scored the fight in favor of Ugas, 117-111. The crowd was booing what seemed to many as a controversial split-decision win for Porter.[6]

In his next fight, Ugas dominated former world champion Omar Figueroa to a unanimous decision win, winning every round in the process. All three judges scored the fight 119-107 for the Cuban, who only had one point deducted for holding in the fifth round.[7]

In his following fight, Ugas fought Mike Dallas Jr. Ugas boxed well and managed to hurt Dallas Jr on multiple occasions. After the seventh round, Dallas Jr's corner had seen enough and informed the referee he would not be continuing the fight.[8]

On 6 September 2020, Ugas fought Abel Ramos for the vacant WBA Regular welterweight title. Ugas outboxed Ramos, dominating most of the rounds throughout the fight. This earned Ugas the win, However it was scored as a split-decision, with one referee seeing Ramos as the clear winner, scoring the fight 117-11, while the other two had it narrowly for Ugas, both scoring it 115-113.[9]

• Record

• Boxing record for Yordenis Ugás from BoxRec
• Yordenis Ugas - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings at Box.Live