ARLINGTON, Texas – Errol Spence Jr.’s surgically repaired left eye held up well Saturday night.

It was Yordenis Ugas’ right eye, though, that eventually ended their welterweight title unification fight during the 10th round at AT&T Stadium. A Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation physician advised referee Laurence Cole to stop Spence-Ugas at 1:44 of the 10th round due to Ugas’ severely swollen right eye.

Spence was declared the winner of what had been a competitive contest by technical knockout in the main event of Showtime Pay-Per-View’s four-fight broadcast. Judges Tim Cheatham (88-82), Glenn Feldman (88-82) and Steve Weisfeld (88-83) had Spence in front comfortably at the time of the stoppage.

The undefeated, unified 147-pound champion fought for the first time since he underwent surgery to fix his torn left retina in mid-August.

“I didn’t have any doubts at all,” Spence told Showtime’s Jim Gray during his post-fight interview. “I believe in myself. You can see I train a hundred percent. And I just knew I was gonna come [back] to beat him. This is what I wanted. I didn’t want a tune-up fight and fight somebody I know I can beat. I wanted somebody I know who would bring the best out of me. And I knew Ugas was gonna bring the best out of me.”

Ugas later told Gray that he wanted to continue, but that he couldn’t see at all out of his right eye.

Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) defended his IBF and WBC welterweight titles and won the WBA “super” championship from Ugas. The DeSoto, Texas, native still will have to fight unbeaten WBO champion Terence Crawford to become boxing’s first fully unified 147-pound champion of the four-belt era.

Spence called out Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs) after he stopped Ugas.

“Everybody know who I want next,” Spence said. “I want Terence Crawford next.”

When Gray asked if Spence could make that happen, he replied, “Oh, definitely. That’s the fight that I want. That’s the fight everybody else want. Like I said, I’m gonna get these straps and I’m gonna go over there and take his sh*t, too.”

The 32-year-old Spence won the WBA “super” title he had hoped to take from Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao on August 21. Ugas replaced Spence as Pacquiao’s opponent on 11 days’ notice because Spence suffered a torn retina in his left eye while sparring.

Spence underwent surgery two days after he officially withdrew from that FOX Sports Pay-Per-View main event. Ugas upset Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs) by unanimous decision in their 12-round fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Spence, a 2012 U.S. Olympian, dealt Ugas his most definitive defeat since he moved up from lightweight to welterweight six years ago.

Before his loss to Spence, Ugas (27-5, 12 KOs) had gone 12-1 as a welterweight since August 2016. His only previous loss at the 147-pound limit was a controversial split-decision defeat to Shawn Porter, then the WBC champion, in March 2019 at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

Though it was an injury-induced stoppage, Ugas also lost inside the distance for the first time in his 11-year, 32-fight pro career.

Not long before the stoppage, Spence seemed to buzz Ugas twice in the opening 1:05 of the 10th round. Ugas, who had obvious vision problems in his right eye, couldn’t see Spence’s stinging left hands coming, but the brave Cuban boxer tried his best to fight through that vision issue.

In a second straight round, Cole warned Spence for a low blow early in the ninth. Spence connected with a left uppercut later in the ninth round.

The swelling surrounding Ugas’ right eye became worse during what was a strong ninth round for Spence.

Cole warned Spence for a low blow barely a minute into the eighth round. With 53 seconds to go in the eighth round, with Spence on the attack, Cole called for a ringside physician to examine Ugas’ severely swollen right eye.

After a long look at Ugas’ eye, the doctor allowed the action to continue.

After Ugas rocked him with two right hands in the sixth round, Spence started the seventh round strong. He buzzed Ugas early in that round with a left hand, which made Ugas hold him.

By then, swelling surrounding Ugas’ right eye was obvious. Spence also brutalized Ugas to the body during that seventh round.

Spence pounded his chest as he walked back to his corner after the seventh round, which drew a roar from his adoring hometown crowd.

Ugas rocked Spence with a right hand when there was just under two minutes on the clock in the sixth round. Spence’s mouthpiece came out, which distracted him and enabled Ugas to land another right hand that backed Spence into the ropes.

Spence smiled as if to acknowledge Ugas caught him with a good shot. A few seconds later, with Ugas on the attack, Cole called for a break in the action, with 1:32 to go in the sixth round, so that Spence could reinsert his mouthpiece.

“I thought the referee said stop, so I stopped,” Spence said. “Then he still hit me with like three, four shots. So, it was my fault. That was a rookie mistake by myself. You’re supposed to protect yourself at all times, and I didn’t do that.”

Spence’s straight left backed up Ugas with a little more than two minutes to go in the fifth round. A few seconds later, Spence landed several clean body shots that made Ugas move backward.

Ugas connected with a straight right when there were approximately 30 seconds to go in the fifth round.

Ugas countered Spence with a right hand less than 30 seconds into the fourth round. Spence landed several hard shots to Ugas’ body later in the fourth round, but Ugas defended himself well against Spence’s head shots.

Spence landed a hard left up top and quickly moved out of Ugas’ punching range late in the fourth round.

Spence landed a flush left 25 seconds into the third round, but Ugas stood his ground and landed a hard right of his own shortly thereafter. With just under 1:20 on the clock in the third round, Cole warned Ugas for pushing Spence’s head down.

Ugas drilled Spence with two right hands within a 10-second span late in the third round. The second of those right hands caused Spence to move away and reset his feet.

Ugas’ straight right hand caught Spence clean with just under 1:15 to go in the second round. Spence then drilled Ugas with a straight left hand about 20 seconds later.

Ugas landed a counter left with just under a minute to go in what had been a tactical first round. Ugas also knocked Spence backward with a left hook just before the first round ended.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.