But Spence suffered a retinal detachment/break in his eye and was forced to the sidelines. Instead, Yordenis Ugas was the replacement opponent on 11 days' notice and would end up shocking Pacquiao to win by unanimous decision.

Heading into the fight, Pacquiao was enjoying a renaissance in what was already an established and legendary career, beating Adrien Broner and Keith Thurman as a 40-year-old in 2019. The pandemic put a pause on the Filipino’s career before the slugfest against Spence surprisingly surfaced.

The bout never came to be for Pacquiao, who was listed as a near +300 betting underdog against the -450 favorite Spence.

Although Pacquiao was 42 at the time, he’s now prolifically proclaiming that beating Spence, who was 31 and one fight removed from a near fatal car crash, would have been a cinch.

“Of course I wanted to fight him, because I know I can easily beat him,” Pacquiao said on Monday's episode of “Inside The Ring” on DAZN.

“[I would have beaten him] with speed. It's not about strength, or how strong the punch is. It's about skills and abilities in the ring and how you move. That's boxing. That's the secret to being an eight-division champion.”

Pacquiao ended up having a nightmare performance against Ugas that pushed him into retirement. He revealed after the fight that an ill-advised massage in the dressing room zapped his legs.

“It would have been different than the Ugas fight [if I fought Spence],” he said. “In the Ugas fight, I was tight and cramping and could not move for the first time in my career.”

It can be argued that Spence would have dished an even more vicious beating against the debilitated Pacquiao, with or without a pre-fight massage. After Ugas, a battered and bruised Pacquiao was seen being spoon-fed by his wife Jinkee.

Ugas outlanded Pacquiao 150-131 and would eventually face Spence in April 2022 in a welterweight title unification bout.

Spence broke Ugas' right eye socket en route to a 10th-round stoppage win.

Pacquiao returned from retirement in July and fought to a majority draw against Mario Barrios.

Pacquiao, 47, is supposed to face Floyd Mayweather, 49, on September 19, while Spence is gearing up for a return of his own against Tim Tszyu this summer following a three-year break after getting stopped by Terence Crawford.

Inside The Ring airs live every Monday on DAZN (2 p.m. ET/7 p.m. BST), providing interviews, analysis and breaking news with the sport's most captivating names. Portions of each episode will become available on The Ring’s YouTube channel after they stream live. Also follow on Instagram (@insideringshow), TikTok (@InsideRingShow), X (@InsideRingShow) and Facebook (Inside Ring Show).

Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan