(Photo credit: Lucas Noonan/Premier Boxing Champions) By Scott Gilfoid: Chris Algieri (20-2, 8 KOs) thinks he did enough to earn a 12 round decision last night in his match-up against Britain’s Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs). Algieri says he landed the cleaner and harder shots, and he hurt Khan on three occasions.
Algieri also feels that he was the aggressor through most of the fight as well. The judges felt differently, giving Khan the victory by the scores of 115-113, 117-111 and 117-111.
Few fans are crying robbery today after watching the Khan-Algieri fight on Spike TV on Premier Boxing Champions. Algieri fought well, but he appeared to lose the fight by a close decision. It was a winnable fight for him, but he was unable to match the greater output by Khan. If Algieri had been putting more emphasis on throwing a lot of punches like Khan was, rather than looking for one big shot, he would have had a good chance of winning.
The strategy that Algieri took to win the Khan fight was one that power punchers use, and it was the wrong one for him given his lack of major power. The middleweight-sized Algieri did look stronger than he’d been before, but his punching power still didn’t look to be in the same league as other welterweights like Kell Brook, Shawn Porter, Keith Thurman, Manny Pacquiao, and Marcos Maidana. Algieri needed that kind of punching power for him to beat Khan by KO; otherwise he should have been focusing on looking for a decision instead of a KO. Like I said, it was a failed strategy for Algieri. It would have been perfect for guys like Maidana, Porter, Thurman, Pacquiao and Brook, but definitely not Algieri.
“The style was to be the aggressor and put pressure on Amir, and not let him rest,” Algieri said at the post-fight press conference. “I don’t think I took a backwards step in the full 12 rounds. I put good pressure on, and I imposed my physical strength. I think I’m a lot stronger than a lot of people know about. I wanted to impose that early. I felt like I was having great success, especially early on. I felt like the pace was going to catch-up to him, and in the 2nd half of the fight it was going to be mine. I am a competitor, and I’m a fighter, so of course I feel like I won the fight. I felt great in there. I felt like I was in control of a lot of rounds. There was action because I was pressuring. I felt like I landed the cleaner, harder shots. I felt like I buzzed him several times throughout the fight. When the final bell rang, I thought it was my fight. But it was definitely disappointing and it was surprising too, but that happens sometimes. The style I fought tonight, I was just having fun. That’s the way I want to fight. That’s the way I like to fight. I like to be the aggressor. I like to put pressure and I like to hit,” Algieri said.
Algieri should be proud of himself in coming close to beating Khan. He came very close to defeating him, and he showed clearly that Khan still has problems with guys that put pressure on him. Algieri showed that he’s a bigger puncher than Khan, and that he doesn’t like being backed up and hit to the body. Algieri did a good job of potentially ruining Khan’s dream of a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. by making him look bad, and showing that he doesn’t have the same kind of talent as him and Pacquiao.
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