By Victor Salazar
New York, NY- Former junior welterweight world champion Chris Algieri (21-2, 8KOs) has been on the big stage multiple times with some of the biggest names in the sport.
In 2014, when he was on the biggest stage on pay-per-view with Manny Pacquiao, he was dropped six times and managed to last the entire twelve rounds to lose a lop-sided decision.
It was after that disappointing loss that Algieri made a switch from trainer Tim Lane to veteran coach John David Jackson. So far he’s had two training camps with Jackson where he gave a very respectable effort in losing to Amir Khan and fought his way to a tough win over a game Erik Bone.
Now in his third fight with the trainer, Algieri will take on undefeated rising prospect Errol Spence (19-0, 16KOs) on April 16th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Algieri promises to be at his best ever when he steps in the ring with Spence.
“Every fight is going to be mental and every fight I’ve proven I’ve grown some and I think I get better,” Algieri told BoxingScene.com. So we’ll see on April 16th, we’ll see the best Algieri yet.”
Algieri feels that he's just scratching the surface on how good he can be.
“John’s been a part of the team for one year now,” Algieri said. “He’s allowing me to find out what type of fighter I am. He’s allowing me to see some things that I have are there that I just haven’t shown yet. Honestly, we’re really just starting to put out potential together and displaying what type of fighter I am.”
So what will Jackson bring out of Algieri come April 16th?
“I believe we have worked well together the last two camps and this third camp will show a lot more. Only time will tell which Chris Algieri will show up on fight night. You don’t know if I’ll go forward, use my footwork and keep boxing. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
