(Photo credit: Ed Diller/DiBella Entertainment & Premier Boxing Champions) By Dan Ambrose: Undefeated #2 IBF welterweight contender Errol Spence Jr. (19-0, 16 KOs) will be receiving a smaller purse than his opponent Chris Algieri (21-2, 8 KOs) in their IBF 147lb eliminator bout this Saturday night on April 16 on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Spence Jr. is getting a purse of just $225,000 compared to the larger $325,000 purse of the 31-year-old Algieri. If Spence beats Algieri, and then defeats IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook in 2017, then Spence’s purses will increase by a large amount. He won’t be finding himself getting smaller purses against the likes of Algieri in the future if everything goes well for him. Spence is on the express train to stardom, and whoever gets in his way is going to get run over. This could end badly for Algieri on Saturday night if he hasn’t improved since his one-sided loss to Manny Pacquiao.
Other purses on the card are as follows: WBO cruiserweight champion Krzysztof Glowacki (25-0, 16 KOs) will be receiving $150,000 for his first title defense of his World Boxing Organization title against 39-year-old Steve Cunningham (28-7-1, 13 KOs). For his part, Cunningham will be getting $225,000 as the challenger.
That doesn’t make much sense that the challenger is making more than the champion, but this is boxing. Light heavyweight contender Marcus Browne (17-0, 13KOs) will be receiving $100,000 for his 10 round fight against unbeaten Radivoje Kalajdzic (21-0, 14 KOs). Kalajdzic will be getting $85,000.
“Purses for #PBConNBC card Sat night: Spence $225k, Algieri 325k, Glowacki 150k, Cunningham 225k, Browne 100k, Kalajdzic 85k. #SpenceAlgieri,” said Dan Rafael on his Twitter.
The 26-year-old Spence is a clear favorite to win this fight, and yet he’s getting $100,000 less than Algieri. This goes to show you that what you’ve done in the distant past is more important than what you’ve done recently as a fighter.
Algieri beat Ruslan Provodnikov by a disputed 12 round majority decision two years ago to win the WBO light welterweight title in June 2014. Later that say year, Algieri was beaten soundly by Manny Pacquiao by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision in November 2014. Last May, Algieri was beaten by Amir Khan by a 12 round decision.
Algieri did win his last fight in beaten Erick Bone by a much closer than expected 10 round decision last December. The fight was a real war, and it could have gone either way in the last three rounds, but Algieri was able to score a knockdown in the 8th round and control the last three rounds.
Spence is expected to do a number on Algieri, especially if Algieri chooses to slug with him like he’s done in his last two fights against Bone and Khan. It’s hard to imagine that Algieri will be willing to dare slug with Spence, but you never know.
It could be that Algieri has become too confident since adding trainer John David Jackson to his team. Algieri now feels that he’s a slugger. If he tries to slug with Spence though, it could end badly for Algieri with him getting knocked out fast on Saturday night.
Spence sees this fight as little more than as showcase fight that will give him a chance to show off his stuff to the boxing public. It’s not that he sees Algieri as a bad fighter. It’s just that he thinks he’s a much better fighter than him, and he aims to show the world that when he gets inside the ring on Saturday night.
If Algieri does go the full 12 rounds in this fight, he could a real beating from Spence. It might be better off for Algieri’s career if he gets knocked out early in this fight because if he goes the full 12 rounds, then he’s going to take a lot of heavy blows to the head. That’s if Algieri doesn’t run from Spence the entire fight. I think we might see Algieri using moving once he gets a feel for Spence’s power early on. Algieri wasn’t supposed to run from Ruslan Provodnikov in their fight in 2014, but after Algieri was dropped twice in the 1st round, he got on his bnike and ran the last 11 rounds of the fight to earn a decision. Algieri won because he was the taller fighter and was able to jab and pot shot from the outside. It’ll be a different story against Spence on Saturday night becaus ehe’ll still be able to reach Algieri when he’s on the outside.
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