Chris Algieri Unfazed By Big Role In PPV Promotion
Nov 12, 2014 • 9:41 AM ET
By Keith Idec
Chris Algieri has been everywhere, figuratively and almost literally, since the promotion of his fight against Manny Pacquiao began nearly three months ago.
After a 12-day, six-city, two-continent press tour that concluded Sept. 4 in New York, the college-educated, extremely accessible Algieri has participated in countless television, Internet and newspaper interviews. His training camp, which began near his home in Huntington, N.Y., also shifted last month to Las Vegas, where he has been staying at hotel/casino on “The Strip.”
To say Pacquiao’s opponent has basically been carrying the promotion of this Nov. 22 HBO Pay-Per-View fight in Macau, China, all while Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) trains in the Philippines, is more than fair. But Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs), unknown to the general public prior to landing the Pacquiao fight, hasn’t viewed his promotional responsibilities as a burden.
The WBO junior welterweight champion doesn’t believe his role in selling the fight has hurt his preparation, either. In fact, he is used to being busy during training camp. While preparing for his career-changing, split-decision win against Russia’s Ruslan Provodnikov (23-3, 16 KOs) on June 14 in Brooklyn, Algieri maintained his business as a personal trainer by working out clients each Tuesday during camp.
“I’ve been comfortable because this is the first time I’m fighting where I’m not working [another job] as well,” Algieri said on a conference call Tuesday. “I’ve been a full-time boxer for this camp. So all this other stuff that we’ve been doing, it’s kind of [on] par with how busy I normally am anyway.
“Pacquiao’s not the only guy who does a milllion other things besides boxing. I’ve got a lot of other stuff that I’ve always been into my entire career. I’ve put all that on hold now. I’ve just been [doing] more stuff involving the promotion of the actual fight – doing interviews and making appearances. For me, I’m no busier than I’ve ever been. I’ve always been a busy guy.”
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
