By Dan Ambrose: Former WBO light welterweight champion Chris Algieri (21-2, 8 KOs) has never been stopped before in his eight-year pro career, but this Saturday night it’s going to be tough for him to keep from getting stopped by unbeaten Errol Spence Jr. (19-0, 16 KOs) in their fight on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Algieri, 31, is going to have a very tough time trying to keep from getting knocked out in this fight by Spence because he doesn’t match up with the stronger, younger fighter. If Algieri tries to win the fight instead of just looking to survive, he’s going to be at great risk of getting knocked out by Spence.
In fact, I think that’s what we’re going to see this fight. Algieri has changed his fighting style in going from being a finesse fighter to that of a banger, and he’s likely to try and slug with Spence on Saturday night. Aligeri has had success in his last two fights ins lugging against Erick Bone and Amir Khan.
Both of those fighters struggled with Algieri’s size and pressure. It could be that Algieri is starting to believe that he can stand and bang against the big punchers in the 147lb division, and I believe he’s going to find out the hard way that he picked the wrong guy to try and punch with in Spence.
Spence needs Algieri’s scalp to put the welterweight division on notice that he’s the new kid on the block. A knockout over Aligeri would be a very nice attention getter to show the boxing world that a new potential star has emerged in the 147lb division. Another important thing about this fight is that the winner of it will be the IBF mandatory challenger to Kell Brook, the champion that has still yet to face his first quality opponent outside of his fight against Shawn Porter two years ago.
Brook fancies himself as a slugger, and Spence would be a real test for him if Brook doesn’t vacate his IBF title first. His promoter Eddie Hearn seems to be getting the fans ready for the eventuality by him saying that Brook will be ready to move up to the junior middleweight division after a couple more fights. Brook has two voluntary defenses coming in a row in 2016. If Brook then moves up to the junior middleweight division after those fights, then he’ll be able to avoid fighting Spence in 2017. That’s what some boxing fans see happening.
It's #PBConNBC Fight Week!!
👊: @ErrolSpenceJr v. @ChrisAlgieri
📅: Sat., 4/16
⏰: 8:30 pm ET/5:30 pm PT
📺: @nbc pic.twitter.com/AOiGu6oNH9— PBC (@premierboxing) April 11, 2016
Spence, 26, will likely have Algieri on his bike after he catches him with the first big shot of the fight. Algieri isn’t crazy. If he gets hit with something he feels he can’t handle, he’s going to likely revert to form and start running like he used to in the past. Most of Algieri’s career, he’s been a mover. I think he’ll need to go back to that style out of necessity against Spence if he doesn’t want to get plastered all over the canvas on April 16 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Prediction: Spence by 6th round knockout.
Algieri is a good gatekeeper type of fighter, but he clearly doesn’t belong inside the same ring as Spence other than that of an opponent in a showcase fight for the unbeaten talent. Algieri is a good fighter, but he’s up against it in this fight. Spence is the future of the welterweight division, and he’s headed to the number one spot as the new Mayweather.
Anyone that has the bad luck of getting in the way of Spence as he rises to the number one spot will get rolled over. I suspect that after Spence destroys Algieri on Saturday night, it’s going to become more difficult for Spence’s management to get him fights against top guys. Luckily for Spence, he’ll be locked into the IBF mandatory spot after this fight because he’ll get his shot at the IBF title. Once Spence becomes the IBF champion, he can then slowly build up his popularity.
Spence just needs work on becoming more charismatic outside of the ring. That’s a huge part of what made Mayweather so popular. If Spence can learn from Mayweather, he can become a lot more popular. In boxing, you need personality as well as talent to become a PPV star.
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