By Edward Chaykovsky
Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach is predicting a sure knockout victory on Saturday night in Macau - if Chris Algieri makes good on his promise to bring the fight to WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao.
Algieri has stated that he plans to be very active, use movement and angles, and wants to be aggressive in the contest to keep Pacquiao thinking at all times.
Roach is anticipating that Algieri will start running as soon as he gets clipped by a hard power shot. But if he decides to make it a fight, Roach has no doubt that Pacquiao will secure his first knockout win since stopping Miguel Cotto in the twelfth round in 2009.
“When you have a reach advantage? How hard is that to take away?” Roach said. “If you have a boxer like Manny that's not so difficult. Just because he's taller doesn't make him better. We're faster, angle better. We're going to take him to school."
“Pacquiao will outscore him if he does run. But if he has any guts at all, he wants to fight a little bit and go for the world title, I think we'll knock him out.”
