LAS VEGAS – Freddie Roach sensed last week that he took the news of Errol Spence Jr.’s abrupt withdrawal from his huge pay-per-view fight against Manny Pacquiao harder than the Filipino legend himself.

“I was probably more disappointed than him, I think, because this is one of the biggest fights out there,” Roach told BoxingScene.com. “You had two of the best fighters in the world fighting each other. And now they give us an opponent that a lot of people don’t know and so forth.”

Roach, Pacquiao’s longtime trainer, quickly familiarized himself with Pacquiao’s new opponent, Yordenis Ugas. He studied footage of Ugas’ controversial, split-decision defeat to Shawn Porter and other bouts last week, when Pacquiao sparred against right-handed opponents on three different days at Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California.

The 42-year-old Pacquiao spent more than a month sparring with left-handed fighters in preparation for what was supposed to be his fight versus Spence (27-0, 21 KOs), a powerful southpaw, on Saturday night. An extensive eye exam administered August 9 by the Nevada State Athletic Commission detected damage to Spence’s right retina, which forced him to pull out of their highly anticipated fight on short notice to undergo surgery August 11 in Dallas.

The Cuban-born Ugas (26-4, 12 KOs) was scheduled to face Fabian Maidana on the Spence-Pacquiao undercard. Argentina’s Maidana (18-1, 13 KOs) suffered a cut while sparring recently, but Ugas happily replaced Spence rather than waiting for Maidana’s replacement.

Ugas, 35, will defend the WBA “super” welterweight title that was stripped from an inactive Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) in January in this FOX Sports Pay-Per-View main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Miami’s Ugas won the then-vacant WBA “world” 147-pound crown when he beat Abel Ramos (27-4-2, 21 KOs) by split decision in a 12-rounder last September 6 at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Ugas hasn’t fought in the 11 months since he defeated Ramos.

Pacquiao will end more than a two-year layoff when he enters the ring for their 12-round title fight. He hasn’t boxed since he out-pointed previously undefeated Keith Thurman (29-1, 22 KOs, 1 NC) by split decision to win the WBA “super” welterweight championship in July 2019 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Roach isn’t concerned that a disappointed Pacquiao won’t be as motivated for his fight against Ugas as he was for challenging the favored Spence.

“We can’t look at the fight that way at all,” Roach said. “This guy is from Cuba. Cuba has a great boxing team. He’s had good fights. He’s had a couple good wins in his past. And with Porter, a lot of people thought he won that fight [in March 2019]. He’s a great puncher and he goes for the home run quite a bit. I saw him go for the home run on one of the tapes and he fell down. He does go for it. He is a big puncher and coming from the Cuban background, he knows how to fight. That’s for sure. This might not be as big a name, but he’s a very quality opponent.”

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