Manny Pacquiao Next Fight Update: Chris Algieri ‘Not in the Same Level’ as Pacquiao, But Challenger Eyeing KO Win
Chris Algieri has been hearing a lot of negative things about his upcoming fight against Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 22 at the Venetian Hotel in Macau.
Most analysts were surprised when Algieri was picked as Pacquiao's opponent in his November fight, including former world champion Randall Bailey, who expressed doubts about Algieri's chances against his more celebrated opponent.
Bailey, a former two-division world champion, said that Algieri, the reigning WBO junior welterweight champion, doesn't have the skills to match up with a fighter of Pacquiao's caliber, insisting that the Huntington, New York native is not in the same level of the former pound-for-pound king.
"It's just a fight for Pacquiao. The guy has limited skills," Bailey said via Sports News 24. "He's not in the same level and does not belong in the same ring."
Bailey admitted that Pacquiao, the reigning WBO welterweight champion, is not as dangerous as he was before, but he is still convinced that the Filipino boxing icon will score a dominating win against Algieri in the Nov. 22 fight.
"He's been in a lot of tough fights. It's just a matter of time before his body wears down from all the training, press cons and build ups. Algieri is no Antonio Margarito or Timothy Bradley. The fight is made for Pacquiao," Bailey said.
But while the list of his doubters continues to grow, Algieri remains confident about his chances against Pacquiao, saying that he can even score a knockout against the 35-year-old champion.
Algieri, who scored a split decision win against former junior welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov in June, pointed out that Pacquiao has been knocked out in three of his five defeats and the challenger reiterated that he sees no reason why he can't score a stoppage win.
"Manny has five losses and three of them are stoppages. It's definitely not out of the question," Algieri said of scoring a knockout win. "I was saying even with the Provodnikov fight. As good as his chin is, I didn't think a stoppage was out of the question in that fight. I think things changed because of the eye but I don't doubt that if we fought again that a knockout wouldn't be there."
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