There are many who feel that a fight between Pacquaio and Algieri shouldn’t take place. Those same people think that whoever Mayweather and Pacquiao get into the ring with, if it’s not against each other, it’s not really worth their time, or their money. But with the two (still) biggest names in boxing refusing to fight each other, the options of finding someone to fight are limited unless Pacquiao is looking to repeat himself. And he’s not getting in the ring with Juan Manuel Marquez again. Too much of a risk, not enough of a reward.
Algieri isn’t a bad fighter. He is 20-0 with 8 knockouts. He has a huge height and length reach over Pacquiao, the same Antonio Margarito had against Pacquiao before he was crushed by the smaller yet smarter, faster, stronger and simply better fighter. It’s impressive that he won the WBO Light Welterweight title from Ruslan Provodnikov, but that was a split decision, and that’s pretty much the only decent name on the list of guys he has fought since beginning his proffesional career in 2008. Heck, the only other guy with a wikipedia page from that list is Mike Arnaoutis, a Greek fighter who is 24-10-2.
So is this just something for Pacquiao to pass the time with? Yes and no. Obviously, there’s the Mayweather fight he will always be eyeing for, but right now it’s not happening, and it doesn’t even matter why and because of who right now. It seems that it takes too much of giving up on both sides, mainly Mayweather on his camp and Bob Arum out of the Pacquiao camp, to get this thing done. Pacquiao, fighting in Macau for the second time in a year (beat Brandon Rios there last November), can’t wait for Mayweather to stop his ducking forever.
Can Algieri win this fight? Anything is possible, but unless the referees decide to pull another Bradley I, it’s not going to happen. Algieri will try to keep Pacquiao away with his jab and maybe, if he establishes it early, this is going to turn out into a more difficult fight than anyone imagined. But a focused Pacquiao shouldn’t have any problem picking up the win.
A knockout? Pacquiao hasn’t won by a knockout since 2009, bruising Miguel Cotto to surrender. Algieri has a very tough chin and can get up from being knocked down. It’s not going to be easy making him last a 10-count. Just winning and picking up the paycheck is probably what we have in store. From the way boxing is at the moment in 2014, we can’t expect a whole of a lot more.