Yordenis Ugas suffered orbital fracture in TKO loss to Errol Spence Jr.

Yordenis Ugas will be sidelined for quite some time.

Ugas, 35, suffered a fractured right orbital in the 10th-round TKO loss to Errol Spence Jr. during Saturday's welterweight title unification, a member of Team Ugas told ESPN.

Ugas (27-5, 22 KOs) was diagnosed with the eye injury early Sunday morning at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. The Cuban was buckled by a left uppercut in Round 7 that did the damage; his eye immediately swelled.

Despite the debilitating injury, Ugas fought on for three more rounds before the ringside doctor advised the referee to stop the bout in Round 10; he concluded the boxer couldn't see out of his right eye, which was completely swollen shut.

Ugas doesn't need emergency surgery, according to his team, and will be reexamined at a later date after the swelling subsides to see if a medical procedure is required.

When Billy Joe Saunders was defeated by Canelo Alvarez in a super middleweight title unification last May, he immediately had metal plates inserted because the orbital was fractured in three places.

Ugas could escape a similar fate but will surely be sidelined for an extended period. He hurt Spence in Round 6 before Spence inflicted the damage the following round. Ugas, ESPN's No. 3 welterweight, entered the bout with the WBA title at 147 pounds, a belt he retained after he sent the legendary Manny Pacquiao into retirement with a loss in August.

Spence, 32, was set to fight Pacquiao last summer but withdrew after he suffered a detached left retina that required surgery. Ugas was the beneficiary, and now he'll look to bounce back from his own serious eye injury.

«The referee stopped the fight, but I wanted to keep going to the end,» Ugas said Saturday through an