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A large part of the battle between welterweight champions Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr 27-0 (21) and Yordenis Ugás 27-4 (12) will take place outside of the ring.
Texan southpaw Spence, 31, is trained by Derrick James while the 35-year-old Ugás of Cuba who boxes out of Miami is coached by Ismael Salas.
Spence unified the WBC and IBF titles when he defeated Shawn Porter by split decision to lift the green belt September 2019.
Ugás claimed the WBA title from Manny Pacquaio in August last year when he bested the Filipino legend by unanimous decision.
As much as the battle will take place in the ring, the battle of brains will take place in the corner.
“Ugás’ trainer is looking for the same things I’m looking for on film,” Spence’s trainer James said. “Salas is smart. He’s supposed to look for patterns and see what kind of shots the opponents’ throw. That’s what trainers are supposed to do.
“I’ll watch some of his fights; I watch enough. Just to pick up on tendencies and shots he throws and how he throws his punches so I can mimic them. And I’ll let Errol know that this is coming or that is coming.
“Ugás’ biggest threat coming into this fight is what you can’t see. It’s his heart and his fortitude. It’s his desire to want to be great.
“We can go up to whatever weight he wants to go. We spar heavyweights on a consistent basis.
“Errol’s very physical as a fighter and he can fight up to 160 and maybe even higher. I’m not saying that’s what we’re going to do. He’d probably be comfortable with that because we are comfortable with being in there with bigger guys all the time.”
Cuban trainer Salas is equally confident his charge will be able to get the chocolates against Spence and move on to a rare four-belt unification bout against WBO 147-pound champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford.
“This camp has been outstanding,” Salas said. “We have been able to prepare in the best way for what is going to be a huge fight and the biggest fight in the 147-pound division right now. We feel that the preparation that we have had, with no real adversity whatsoever, has been really great.
“Ugás is one hundred percent ready for this fight. Mentally we are very strong and we are prepared for any style. Every fighter has a different style and styles make fights. We are comfortable fighting a southpaw. Ugás showed and proved that he can already beat a southpaw in Manny Pacquiao.
“Spence is a warrior. We have two front-footed guys, but the one difference is that Ugás is more of a counter-puncher. Spence is physically amazing and he’s strong mentally. But he’s never shown that he can move like Ugás.”
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