Pacquiao Not Pressured To Go For KO Versus Algieri

By Jake Donovan

More than five years will have passed since his last knockout win by the time Manny Pacquiao steps into the ring for his Nov. 22 showdown versus Chris Algieri. The bout will come with a welterweight title state, but fought at a maximum catchweight of 144 lb.

Similar conditions were applied in Pacquiao’s last knockout victory, stopping Miguel Cotto in the 12th and final round of their Nov. ’09 clash, one where Cotto—the defending welterweight titlist­—was contractually bound to weigh no more than 145 lb.

The modified limit for his upcoming bout—which will air live on HBO Pay-Per-View from Macau, China—is suggested as a helpful compromise for Algieri, an unbeaten 140 lb. titlist moving up in weight following his 12-round split decision title winning effort over Ruslan Provodnikov in June.

Pacquiao’s team, however, sees it as means to return to the fire-breathing dragon of old, who wreaked havoc from featherweight all the way up to his early years in the welterweight division.

“The fight is at (144 lb.); I think his punching power will come back and we will see the knockout for sure,” believes Freddie Roach, the Hall of Fame trainer who has guided Pacquiao’s career since 2001.

Training camp in General Santos City, Philippines has been designed to prepare for a bigger fighter. While Algieri is moving up in weight, the 5’10” Long Island (New York) native is second only to Antonio Margarito among the tallest fighters Pacquiao has faced in his incredible career.

“We have big sparring partners. (Fringe welterweight contender) Mike Jones is really big, and so forth,” Roach pointed out to the media during a recent conference call.

Among the other camp members includes Viktor Postol, who—like Algieri—is a tall (5’11”) and lean 140 lb. fighter. All of the sparring partners carries attributes similar to Algieri, but are also naturally bigger in size.

“Manny has shown his power and taking the power (of his sparring partners) in training so far. Training camp is going really well,” Roach insists, while also offering his own personally preferred fighting ending. “I would love to see the knockout.”

That said, having the power to score a knockout, and actually delivering are two different matters.

Algieri has been down before—including having been dropped twice (though voluntarily taking a knee on one the knockdowns) in the opening round versus Provodnikov—but has never been stopped through 20 pro fights. While it would make for a great achievement to become the first to stop the unbeaten New Yorker, it’s not the primary goal.

“Somebody goes up to the plate looking to hit a home run, stands less of a chance of hitting a home run than the guy who steps up to the plate just looking to meet the ball,” points out Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum, using a fitting baseball analogy, as the term ‘home run shot’ is often mentioned at the point of a knockout blow. “If the knockout comes, the knockout comes. To go out and look for the KO and neglect other aspects of the fight, particularly against an intelligent athlete like Algieri, would be foolish.”

“Now if he gets the knockout, great. Yes, it increases the marketability (for future fights). But he has a better chance of getting it just fighting his normal fight rather than going out and looking for it.”

For his part, Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38KOs) is just looking for his third straight win. The rest—the reigning two-time welterweight titlist and champ in a record eight weight classes believes—will just fall into place as the night intends.

“We can't go for the (knockout), but training for my fights are all the same,” Pacquiao states. “We are doing everything in camp to (intensify the hunger) and my focus. I’m hungry for this fight.”

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com, as well as the Records Keeper for the Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and a member of Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox