By Bill "Two Scoops" Emes

WBO junior welterweight champion Chris Algieri (20-0, 8KOs) is not bothered by the critics who are bashing his selection as the next opponent for WBO 147-pound champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38KOs). The HBO Pay-Per-View fight takes place on November 22nd at the Venetian Resort in Macau, China.

Algieri earned the fight in June with an upset split decision over heavily favored Ruslan Provodnikov.

There are some fans and experts who believe Algieri earned the fight the hard way, but there are also those who view the match as a soft-touch for Pacquiao.

"To tell you the truth it's sour grapes. That's all it is. It doesn't affect me negatively or positively. It doesn't give me more fire to do what I do. I'm not driven that way. I'm a self motivated person and self assured. All of the negativity, I had the same thing before [the fight with] Ruslan," Algieri stated.

Algieri's promoter, Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing, jumped in with his own thoughts on the subject.

"What's interested, most of the people that are saying things that are negative, and the columns it comes from, are people who picked Ruslan in the fight and said he shouldn't have been in the fight," DeGuardia said.