Manny Pacquiao – Chris Algieri Post Fight Recap

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By Doctor Ibrahim Hussain

Macau is fast becoming a dragon to be reckoned with when it comes to big time boxing. However on November 23rd in China the closest thing to a Rocky story was the presence of Sylvester Stallone at ringside, for Chris Algieri was simply outclassed in his bid to overthrow the fighting Congressman, Manny Pacquiao. The result was a 12-round shutout (although 2 of the judges strangely gave Chris Algieri one round).

Algieri went into the fight as a massive underdog, and after the first bell it was quickly apparent why the bookmaker’s odds were so heavily against him.
Algieri clearly had a game plan, and showed footwork and head movement that would have made any shadow boxing enthusiast proud, but unfortunately there was no mirror in front of him, just a much smaller boxing wizard from General Santos City looking to take his head off.

Algieri suffered 6 knockdowns during the fight, although some were questionable slips on the wet area of the canvas. However, the 9th round knockdown was delivered by a straight left from Manny’s trademark southpaw stance, which just shows that he still has devastating power, which he is able to generate in a flash.

It was also clear that Algieri had a well thought out game plan in terms of catching the Pacman as he was coming in, which he did on a few occasions. But Chris Algieri simply did not have the gusto to trouble Manny Pacquiao, whose mother was at ringside performing the now characteristic fight prayer rituals to help protect her son.

Manny Pacquiao would have preferred the knockout, but the reason this did not happen was not because he was too cautious about getting hurt. He had walked into a strong right hand from Chris Algieri, and simply walked through it, because of his cast iron chin (as I’ve said previously, the Marquez KO counts for nothing). But rather Chris Algieri showed very dynamic head and foot movement throughout the fight.

Algieri showed great powers of recovery between rounds, and started each of the 3-minute rounds on his toes with a lot of foot and head movement. Pacquiao did slow down his overall body movement throughout the fight, paying little respect to Chris Algieri’s success, which had no affect on him. Algieri would be wise to take a rematch with Provodnikov for a good payday, but otherwise, his articulate analysis of boxing and American dream looks would serve him very well in the boxing commentary business.

When questioned about a possible Mayweather, JR. fight, Pacquiao did not take seriously the notion that the fight would happen any time soon. What is clear is that Floyd Mayweather, JR. would not be able to stop Pacquiao, although his movement (should it not slow any further) is what could cause Manny the most trouble.

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