By Chris Williams: WBO light welterweight champion Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KO’s) plans on taking advantage of his youth, size and boxing ability to beat the 35-year-old WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) in their fight on November 22nd at the Venetian Casino & Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China.
Algieri thinks Pacquiao isn’t the same fighter anymore for whatever reason. He doesn’t know if it’s because he’s fighting in the wrong weight division or if it’s the ravages of time showing it’s ill effects on the Filipino star.
Algieri doesn’t care why Pacquiao isn’t the same fighter he once was. All he cares about is beating him on November 22nd to prove what he already knows in his heart that he’s a better fighter than him.
“He’s never fought anyone like me who is tall, strong with my boxing skills,” Algieri said via RingTV.com. “Manny has a lot of experience, but the string of guys he’s fought over the last 8 years are all the same kinds of guys. I’m not one of those kinds of guys. I do believe my style will be a problem for him and his style. Manny’s 36, or will be by the time I fight him. It’s tough to learn a new style you’re not accustomed to. After I beat Manny, I’ll have a lot more pull to negotiate myself. I wouldn’t take a fight I didn’t believe I could win.”
Pacquiao had better watch out with this guy, because he believes in his mind that he’s going to beat him and build his career off of a big win over him. Algieri hasn’t made the big money, so he’s hungry. He plans on attending medical school in the future, and if he can whip Pacquiao and get a rematch against him, the cash that he gets from those two fights should help pay for the tuition for medical school, plus leave a large nest egg for him to live off of comfortably once he’s out of medical school.
Algieri needs this win a lot more than Pacquiao because he’s been making chump change until now. The $1.5 million that he makes for this fight will nothing compared to the money he makes for a rematch with Pacquiao, unless Bob Arum of Top Rank decides he doesn’t want to chance it by having Pacquiao try and avenge his loss.
Algieri is like a taller version of Tim Bradley but with better defensive skills, power and jab. He could very well give Pacquiao nightmares on November 22nd by beating him. With Algieri signed up with Star Boxing, he’d be available to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr after this fight. That would be an interesting fight should Algieri beat Pacquiao.
Mayweather could come in and see how he matches up against Algieri. If Pacquiao or Arum didn’t want to make the Algieri fight a second time, then Mayweather in theory could come in and face him to see if he could snatch up the WBO welterweight title that he grabs from Pacquiao.
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