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It's a good fight. Algieri is fresh blood, someone new, an undefeated title holder coming off a big win and his 5'10 frame, long reach and awkward style will give problems to Pacquiao. I'd rather see a fight like this than another recycled Top Rank fight like Marquez 400 or Timothy Bradley 3. The only real problem is this probably isn't PPV worthy since Algieri is little known. It would be a great HBO regular main event fight, but obviously HBO can't pay $20m purses and Pac/Top Rank aren't going to fight for $3-$5m or whatever HBO could afford.
Algieri is tall and lean, so he'll have a considerable height & reach advantage over Pacquiao. He is a boxer who uses movement, counter punching and a good jab. He can take a punch as shown by fighting Ruslan and winning a decision over 12 (with a badly swollen eye). I expect Algieri to give Pacquiao a lot of problems. Stylistically, this is a tough match up for an aging Pacquiao to handle (unless he suddenly looks like Pacquiao from 2009).
Of course there are bigger and better names, but who is really available? Lets look:
147
Mayweather (fighting Maidana/Showtime/Haymon)
Bradley (just fought)
Marquez (already fought 50 times, JMM turned down or wanted 50/50)
Maidana (fighting Floyd, Al Haymon/Showtime)
Keith Thurman/Porter (Al Haymon/Showtime)
140
Danny Garcia (Fighting Ron Salsa, Al Haymon/Showtime)
Matthysse (Al Haymon/Showtime)
Lamont Peterson (fighting Carlos Santana, Al Haymon/Showtime)
That leaves:
Algieri, Ruslan and Mike Alvarado, the last two just got beat.
The one name I'm not sure about is Amir Khan. I know he signed with Al Haymon but there is confusion on my part wether or not he has a contract with Golden Boy (if anyone knows please drop some knowledge). That was the fight Bob Arum and Roach were talking about, but something got in the way it seems. To me, that was the best realistic fight I thought could have happened but I guess not.
So there you have it. A solid match up on paper, not quite PPV worthy but a good fight nonetheless.
Algieri is tall and lean, so he'll have a considerable height & reach advantage over Pacquiao. He is a boxer who uses movement, counter punching and a good jab. He can take a punch as shown by fighting Ruslan and winning a decision over 12 (with a badly swollen eye). I expect Algieri to give Pacquiao a lot of problems. Stylistically, this is a tough match up for an aging Pacquiao to handle (unless he suddenly looks like Pacquiao from 2009).
Of course there are bigger and better names, but who is really available? Lets look:
147
Mayweather (fighting Maidana/Showtime/Haymon)
Bradley (just fought)
Marquez (already fought 50 times, JMM turned down or wanted 50/50)
Maidana (fighting Floyd, Al Haymon/Showtime)
Keith Thurman/Porter (Al Haymon/Showtime)
140
Danny Garcia (Fighting Ron Salsa, Al Haymon/Showtime)
Matthysse (Al Haymon/Showtime)
Lamont Peterson (fighting Carlos Santana, Al Haymon/Showtime)
That leaves:
Algieri, Ruslan and Mike Alvarado, the last two just got beat.
The one name I'm not sure about is Amir Khan. I know he signed with Al Haymon but there is confusion on my part wether or not he has a contract with Golden Boy (if anyone knows please drop some knowledge). That was the fight Bob Arum and Roach were talking about, but something got in the way it seems. To me, that was the best realistic fight I thought could have happened but I guess not.
So there you have it. A solid match up on paper, not quite PPV worthy but a good fight nonetheless.
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