Manny Pacquiao will be a heavy favorite in his upcoming fight against Chris Algieri on Nov. 22 at Venetian Resort in Macau, but the reigning World Boxing Organization welterweight champion is not taking any chances.

Pacquiao, who will put his welterweight title at stake, said in an interview that he is taking Algieri seriously, which is the reason why he started training early for the fight.

"I'm not taking Algieri lightly. He's taller than me and moves around the ring with savvy. That's why I started my training early," said Pacquiao, who will look to neutralize Algieri's four-inch height advantage.

Algieri, who went unbeaten in his first 20 professional fights, is coming off an impressive split decision win against Ruslan Provodnikov in their WBO light welterweight title fight in June.

Algieri went down twice in the opening round of the bout, but he managed to recover, using his height and reach advantage to score an upset victory against Provodnikov.

Buboy Fernandez, his longtime friend and assistant trainer, also said that they are not underestimating Algieri because they are aware of his strengths, which were clearly shown during his win against Provodnikov.

"Algieri uses the ring well and he loves to lean on the ropes. We must devise a strategy to counter this," Fernandez said.

Fernandez said that one of Algieri's strengths is his speed, but the Filipino trainer pointed out that the Huntington, New York, native is not as fast as Pacquiao's previous opponents, particularly Timothy Bradley.

"He's fast, but not as fast as Timothy Bradley. So he can be an easy target for our boxer," Fernandez said.

Pacquiao, who holds a 56-5-3 record with 38 knockouts, lost to Bradley during their first fight in June 2012. The Filipino boxing icon avenge the defeat in their second showdown earlier this year where the former pound-for-pound king ran away with a unanimous decision victory to reclaim the WBO welterweight title.

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