by Nick Giongco
Chris Algieri is no household name but he can very well become one if he gets the chance to fight and beat Manny Pacquiao.
This early, fight aficionados have expressed their opinion about the competitiveness of the proposed Nov. 23 showdown involving the two at The Venetian in Macau.
“I think this is a dangerous fight for Pacquiao,” said Star Promotions’ Joe DeGuardia, who promotes Algieri alongside Artie Pelullo of the Philadelphia-based Banner Promotions.
The camps of Pacquiao and Algieri are in the process of finalizing the deal with Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank calling the shots.
If everything falls into place, an announcement will be made very soon. Algieri entered the scene as a possible rival after his rousing victory over Pacquiao’s stablemate Ruslan Provodnikov of Russia last month.
Provodnikov looked ready to rip Algieri apart in the first round by scoring two knockdowns but the banger of Italian-Agentinian descent stood his ground and went on to survive the assault and outbox his favored foe.
Top Rank vice-president Carl Moretti acknowledges Algieri’s physical attributes as factors why Pacquiao is not being served a fall guy for an opponent in his next fight.
“This kid is tall, rangy, with a good jab and he’s a kid who throws a lot of fast types of punches, sort of the way that Pacquiao’s punches are, which is a lot of volume and multiple punches. We have a situation where if this kid can out-hustle Manny, then he can give him problems,” Moretti told Newsday recently.