Freddie Roach, hall of fame trainer, promised a first round knock out. He was wrong about that, but that’s about the only thing he was wrong about. He was right about everything else. He said Chris Algieri doesn’t box, he runs. Check that box correct, as Algieri wore out a pair of shoes running Saturday night at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R. China. Freddie also promised Manny would easily take Algieri’s jab away from him. Check that off as well. Finally, he said Algieri was in over his head. Put a big check in that box.
Algieri had to climb off the canvas six times. That’s right, six times. In between rounds, Manny was chomping at the bit, ready to unleash another attack reminiscent of his old days. Manny felt super confident with the light hitting Chris Algieri. There wasn’t any of that reluctance necessary right after the kayo loss to Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao definitely doesn’t have to be sensitive to criticism about him being an over-the-hill fighter.
For Manny and Freddie, those days (bad ones) are gone. Pacman is the destroyer of old. Manny didn’t get the knockout because Algieri did his best imitation of a long distance runner. Freddie also made a correct statement when he said Manny was beating up on sparring partners, and to make things even more insulting to Chris, the sparring partners are better fighters than Chris.
Manny and primarily Freddie were looking for something in Chris’ style they could exploit. They didn’t have to look far. When circling to his left, Chris allows his right foot/leg to go too far, so much so that it ends up beyond his left or front foot/leg. It’s like disabling a gun, because a fighter in that position cannot throw a right hand, at least not a good one.
Being out of position was common place with Algieri. If he did throw a descent punch, it was an exception. Most of his attempts were swings, arm punches that didn’t have any zip behind them. The only frustration on Manny’s part was with Algieri’s scampering around with fear in his eyes. When Algieri needed to move a foot, he moved three.
The infrequent times when Algieri would jab, it proved no problem for Manny. That was another thing Freddie was right about. He and Manny also proved Chris’ height and reach disparity wasn’t a problem. Manny had no trouble punching up, or punishing Chris when he leaned in.
A big part of Chris’ plan was to use a lot of different moves in hopes of getting Manny off balance and needing to reset. He also wanted Manny to over extend, and make himself vulnerable to counters. It didn’t happen. Manny’s so quick on his feet that he seldom let’s his upper body extend out over his feet, which was the case Saturday night.
About the only thing that caused momentary pause with Manny was his incredulous look at the bonehead positions Chris would get himself in. Instead of causing Manny to reset, he would stupefy him with the cockeyed predicaments he would get himself into. It would cause pause in Manny, almost a time out like when a father is teaching his son how to play chess, cautioning his offspring by saying, “Are you sure you want to do that?” There were many such moments in the twelve round fight.
Chris wanted to be on the big stage, so people could see what he was about, and what he could do. Well, he got his wish, but it’s doubtful he’s happy with what he revealed. His corner didn’t help matters either with instructions that had no relationship to what was happening. There was a laugh out loud moment when HBO’s Max Kellerman asked Chris’ trainer what their plan was? The trainer said he was about to let Chris out of his cage. Just then Chris got knocked on his fanny. That in a nut shell was a summation of the fight. Chris looked like a Doo Doo Bird. You know, the bird that tumbles when it comes in for a landing, because it’s wings are too long for its short legs. In Chris’ cases, his wings were the pre-fight vision he had. His determined attempt at positive visualization was really a pipe dream.
