By Bill "Two Scoops" Emes
Teddy Atlas, expert analyst for ESPN's Friday Night Fights, is giving WBO junior welterweight champion Chris Algieri (20-0, 8KOs) a shot to unseat Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38KOs) for the WBO welterweight crown on November 22nd at the Venetian in Macau, China. Algieri earned the HBO Pay-Per-View fight with an upset twelve round decision over Ruslan Provodnikov on June 14th.
Atlas is officially picking Pacquiao to win, but he points out that he also picked Provodnikov to win back in June [and Atlas scored it for Provondikov]. With Pacquiao's age, his many wars of the years and his numerous things going on in his personal life - Atlas says Algieri could very well be catching the Filipino star at the right time.
"I thought Ruslan was going to have his way. Obviously he didn't completely have his way, he lost the fight. Like I said, I thought [Provodnikov] won the fight, but look it was a tough fight. Pacquiao is getting older, Pacquiao has a lot of miles on the tires, Pacquiao has been around a long time. Pacquiao has been in a lot of rough wars and he has a lot of personal problems. He has a lot of stuff tugging at him. From what I can see, a young guy like Algieri doesn't have anything tugging at him, he doesn't have many miles on that odometer," Atlas told BoxingScene.com.
"[Algieri] doesn't have the experience, he doesn't have talent, and the skill set as Pacquiao either. But you never know when a guy like Pacquiao gets a little old or when all of those things tugging at him pulls him too far in one way....politics, marital problems, religious problems, he owes money to the tax man over there - all of that stuff can impact you. Maybe Algieri is once again in the right place at the right time."
