The great Manny Pacquiao did everything he could possibly do against
Chris Algieri other than get a knockout in a one-sided thrashing to
retain his welterweight world title.
Pacquiao, boxing's only eight-division titleholder, scored six
knockdowns and dominated virtually every minute of the fight to win a
lopsided unanimous decision before a sold-out crowd of 13,201 on Sunday
at the Venetian Macao's Cotai Arena in Macau. Now the only question
remaining in his legendary career is whether he will ever get fellow
welterweight champion and pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. to
agree to fight him after years of the biggest fight in boxing going
unmade, mainly due to Mayweather's reluctance.
"The people deserve that fight. The fans deserve that fight,"
Pacquiao said at the post-fight news conference. "It's time to make that
fight happen. It's been a long time. I want that fight. They're always
denying the fight. I think the fight has to happen."
Coming into the fight with Algieri, there were many questioning where
Pacquiao's once-devastating power had gone in recent years because,
after a series of crushing knockouts as he moved up the scale, he had
not scored one in eight consecutive fights since a 12th-round knockout
of Miguel Cotto in November 2009 to win a welterweight title for the
first time.
Make that nine in a row now, as the knockout drought continued
despite Pacquiao's Hall of Fame trainer, Freddie Roach, predicting an
early knockout, even saying at one point that it would be in the first
round.
That didn't come close to happening, but Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs)
laid a beating on huge underdog Algieri (20-1, 8 KOs), a junior
welterweight titlist who moved up to meet him at a catch weight of 144
pounds. The judges all had it by lopsided decision for Pacquiao,
120-102, 119-103 and 119-103. ESPN.com also had it a shutout for
Pacquiao, 120-102.
"Yes. I am looking for a knockout but he is fast and moving, so it's hard to get Chris," Pacquiao said.
Pacquiao's speed advantage was obvious from the opening moments of
the fight. He had an easy first round, landing a good straight left hand
down the middle and momentarily wobbling Algieri with a right hook.
The 35-year-old Pacquiao, the icon of the Philippines, where he is
also a congressman and professional basketball player and coach,
connected with a right hook in the second round that began to swell
Algieri's left eye. He also landed a left hand that forced Algieri back
to a corner, where he slipped on a wet spot. It was ruled a knockdown by
referee Geno Rodriguez.
Pacquiao was landing almost at will. He dished out punishment in the
fourth round, landing a hard uppercut, lefts to the body and lefts to
the head.
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| Chris Hyde/Getty ImagesManny Pacquiao easily defended his WBO welterweight title, knocking down Chris Algieri six times. |
Algieri landed some decent straight right hands during the fight, but
they had little on them. Algieri was also warned for a low blow in the
fifth round.
"I knew he would come on strong," Algieri said. "I had a feeling he
would try to blast me out of there just because I'm not used to the big
stage. Manny is the best in the world at fighting like Manny Pacquiao.
That's really what it is. His style, he has so much experience. He's
perfected fighting like Manny Pacquiao.
"The plan was to get to the later rounds without taking too much
damage, step up the pace and land shots that would hurt him. If the
knockout came, it came. We weren't specifically looking for the
knockout, but we were looking to put some damage on the guy."
He never did, and it was Pacquiao putting damage on him. He found his
power in the sixth round, knocking Algieri down twice. First, it was a
left hand that had Algieri stumbling and then hitting the deck. Then,
Pacquiao landed a clean right hand on the chin for the second knockdown.
Pacquiao, who made more than $20 million, scored two more knockdowns
in the ninth round, one on a blistering straight left hand that sent
Algieri hard to the canvas.
"I sat down on a left hook and he caught me with a great shot," said
Algieri, who made a career-high $1.675 million (a big raise from his
last purse, then a career-high $100,000). "That was really the only shot
that hurt me. I had my legs when I got up but I knew he would come with
an onslaught."
Indeed, Pacquiao did come with an onslaught, dropping Algieri again moments later after a series of punches sent him to a knee.
In the 10th round, Pacquiao notched his sixth knockdown of the fight,
dropping Algieri with a right hook-straight left combination.
Despite the shellacking, Algieri's trainer, Tim Lane, was talking
oddly in the corner after the round, telling Algieri they had Pacquiao
where they wanted him. He should have been thinking about stopping the
fight.
Despite not getting a knockout, Pacquiao said his power is still there.
"We improved our strength, we do more training, we started early in
our training camp so I was very confident I would win the fight, and I'm
in shape," he said.
Pacquiao landed 229 of 669 punches (34 percent), according to
CompuBox punch statistics, while Algieri connected on only 108 of 469
blows (23 percent), few of which had any serious snap on them.
"I did my best. Of course, I am satisfied with my performance," said
Pacquiao, who retained his title for the first time since regaining it
from Timothy Bradley Jr. in April in a rematch of Bradley's hugely
controversial split decision win in 2012. "I came to fight. I did my
best. I think that's enough."
Algieri had come out of nowhere in June to win a controversial split
decision and a 140-pound world title from Ruslan Provodnikov as he
survived two first-round knockdowns and a badly swollen right eye.
Provodnikov was going to be Pacquiao's opponent, but when he lost,
Algieri got the call.
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| AP Photo/Kin CheungPacquiao, 35, retained his title for the first time since regaining it from Timothy Bradley Jr. in April |
Knockout or not, Algieri, 30, of Huntington, New York, gave Pacquiao credit for the way he fought.
"It's not so much the punching power, to tell you the truth, it's how
he mixes the punches up," said Algieri, a former kickboxer with a
master's degree. "He has a very, very distinct and unique style that he
has perfected. Manny Pacquiao is a hell of a fighter."
Yes, he is, but will he ever get Mayweather?
A few days before the fight, athletic apparel retailer Foot Locker
released a humorous commercial featuring Pacquiao in which he riffs on
the fight having not yet happened. At one point, Pacquiao misunderstands
two other boxers in the gym and, believing they said Mayweather was
going to fight him, Pacquiao begins to celebrate wildly in the ring and
yells over and over, "He's going to fight me! He's going to fight me!"
There are signs that the fight is closer to happening than at any
time since the original negotiations fell apart in early 2010. Top Rank
promoter Bob Arum insists there are fruitful talks behind the scenes to
bring together Showtime, which has Mayweather under contract, and HBO,
which has a contract with Pacquiao, for a joint pay-per-view event.
"We're tired. Everywhere we go they ask when is it going to happen?
When are they going to fight," Arum said. "I say enough is enough. Just
make the fight happen. Let's get it done and let's get it done the next
fight for each fighter, sometime in the first six months of next year."
Although Pacquiao is on board with the fight, and the networks might
very well be able to make a deal, there has been no word from
Mayweather, whose reluctance to face Pacquiao has been obvious for the
past couple of years.
After the win against Algieri, HBO's Max Kellerman asked Pacquiao about the fight.
Pacquiao immediately launched into his commercial mode.
"He is going to fight me? Yes! Yes!" Pacquiao joked.
All joking aside, one can only hope Mayweather will face him. There
is nothing left for either of them to prove, and no other fight the
public wants from either.
Source*
Dan Rafael - boxing Story