By Bill "Two Scoops" Emes
Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach is not completely sure if Chris Algieri (20-0, 8KOs) has done enough to secure a November fight against WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38KOs).
On Saturday night, Algieri pulled off the biggest win of his career when he survived two knockdowns in the first round and won a twelve round split decision over heavily favored Ruslan Provodnikov to capture the WBO junior welterweight championship at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Roach trains both Pacquiao and Provodnikov.
Prior to Saturday's fight, Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum said the winner could very well land a crack at Pacquiao in the fall. Pacquiao is scheduled for a tentative date of November 22nd in Macau, China.
"Algieri is a real nice kid. I never heard of him before this fight. He made a good statement with this fight. I don't know if he's quite that big yet [to face Pacquiao]. He's still a 140-pounder moving up 147 to fight Pacquiao. Pacquiao is thinking about moving down to 140. We'll kick that around a bit," Roach said.
"Possibly [he's the right opponent]. He's pretty tall, rangy. I have no problem getting Pacquiao ready to beat him. "
