A clone of Chris Algieri is waiting in the wings over in General Santos City and Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach says six-foot Ukrainian Viktor Postol will bang bodies with Manny Pacquiao today a little over a month before Pacquiao and Algieri get it on in Macau.
Postol is even taller by about an inch or two over the 5-10 Algieri but he resembles the fighting style of the New York native.
Postol, like Algieri, is 30 years old and is undefeated.
Postol has a 26-0 record with 11 KOs, while Algieri has a 20-0 slate with eight KOs.
Roach believes Postol’s presence will give Pacquiao the chance to get used to what Algieri will bring to The Venetian on Nov. 23.
Aside from Postol, also joining Pacquiao’s camp are Stan Martinyiouk and Mike Jones, both rangy and fast movers like Algieri.
Pacquiao had begun sparring last week and the number of sparring rounds will increase in the coming days and next two weeks.
But Roach thinks Pacquiao won’t be racking up a ton of sparring rounds the same way he did in the past, stressing that the main purpose of sparring this time will be for “range and timing.”
Algieri, meanwhile, has set up camp at The Palazzo in Las Vegas after spending several weeks in New York.
On Nov. 13, Algieri and his training team and promoters will travel to Macau to get accustomed not only to the local conditions but get rid of jet lag.
Pacquiao won’t have the same problem as Algieri as he will fly to Macau the Monday of fight week from General Santos City and should arrive in the former Portuguese colony in about three hours.