The boxing evening held on August 21 in Las Vegas was a priori considered one of the main events of the year in this sport. The legendary Manny Pacquiao entered the ring of the T-Mobile Arena for the first time in two years. However, the return of the 42-year-old Filipino turned out to be not as triumphant as he himself might have expected. He lost to Cuban Yordenis Ugas and was unable to regain the World Boxing Association (WBA) welterweight title of the strongest boxer. This defeat could now put an end to Pacman's glorious career and complete an entire chapter in boxing history.

During his life, Pacquiao has achieved everything that a professional boxer can dream of.

He had more than 70 fights, became the only world champion in eight different weight classes, fought with Floyd Mayweather and even after losing to him, he earned a fantastic $ 100 million. When the Filipino was 40 years old, he did not even think about ending his career.

On July 20, 2019, he defeated American Keith Thurman to become the oldest world welterweight champion to win the WBA belt.

True, since then Pacquiao never appeared in the ring and instead of sports began to devote himself to politics.

Back in 2016, he was elected to the Senate of the Philippines, and at the end of 2020 he headed the ruling FDP-Laban party.

The boxer even began to be considered a possible candidate for the presidency of the country - elections are scheduled for 2022.

Against the backdrop of these events, the WBA decided that Pacquiao had been pulling too long to defend the title, and took away his super welterweight title.

The title was transferred to Ugas, and the Filipino was declared "champion on vacation" with the right to fight for the belt with him immediately after returning to the ring.

After that, Pacquiao nevertheless made a choice in favor of boxing and announced a new fight.

However, he chose not a Cuban as a rival, but a much more solid opponent - the undefeated American Errol Spence.

At stake in this fight were the titles of the World Boxing Council (WBC) and the International Boxing Federation (IBF), which were owned by the boxer from the United States.

While Pacquiao was preparing for the fight, he could not be re-elected as the leader of his party and left his post.

However, 11 days before the alleged meeting, which promised to become almost the most high-profile event of the year in boxing, Spence was forced to refuse to enter the ring.

He suffered a tear in his left eye and the fight was canceled.

The American was replaced by 35-year-old Ugas, who was supposed to fight in Las Vegas on the undercard with Fabian Maidana.

By an amazing coincidence, this fight also could not take place due to an eye injury from the Argentine.

Pacquiao's return to the ring from the very beginning did not imply that it would be easy for him to become the world champion.

Even from the last fights, it was noticeable that the Filipino did not have the prowess that helped him sweep away even larger opponents than himself.

But two years have passed since then, and even a young boxer finds it difficult to regain his form after such a long pause, not to mention a 42-year-old athlete.

Not the least was the issue of motivation - Spence was a powerful challenge for Pacquiao, who disappeared overnight. The fight with the Filipino died down just could be very inspiring. Five days before the fight, Pacquiao assured him that he was in good shape and ready to fight. However, he admitted that he would enter the ring for the last time. The Filipino noted that he wants to end his career on a winning note and is ready to risk everything he has for this.

However, Pacquiao still failed to impose an equal fight on Ugas.

If in the first rounds he still responded to some jabs and punches from the right, then further the difference in dimensions, which could not be compensated for by speed, already affected too much.

The Cuban increasingly disoriented Pacquiao with his attacks and knocked him down on the floor, then onto the ropes.

The Filipino continued the fight, but it became obvious that if he held out to the end, the judges would not be supportive of him.

In the final round, Pacquiao attempted to end the fight with a knockout, but in the past 11 years he managed to do this only once.

Ugas built up a strong defense and calmly withstood the final assault of the opponent.

After that, the judges unanimously recognized that the WBA world title belongs to the 35-year-old Cuban deservedly.

Pacquiao suffered his first defeat in four years and eighth in his 72 bouts in the professional ring.

After the fight, he said that he had not yet decided anything about his future career.

At the same time, the Filipino did not rule out that he would still compete for the presidency in his home country.

“I don’t know, I don’t know.

Let me first rest and relax, and then decide if I will still fight.

I will finally announce the fight for the presidency next month.

I know this is a big problem, it is more difficult work than boxing.

But I want to help people, I want to help them, ”said Pacquiao.