Moments after touching down in Los Angeles on a private jet from Las Vegas yesterday, Chris Algieri held court during a press conference promoting his Nov. 23 clash with Manny Pacquiao, assuring everyone that he is “looking to be the new WBO welterweight world champion.”
Top Rank chief Bob Arum joined Algieri on the short hop from Sin City to Hollywood and the unbeaten New York fighter oozed with confidence with less than a week before he and his team fly to Macau.
“Training camp has been going fantastic,” said Algieri, 30, a huge betting underdog in the scheduled 12-rounder at the Cotai Arena.
“I’m feeling even more confident and as you know I’m a very confident guy to begin with, but training camp has been above and beyond what I expected.”
During the affair, Sylvester Stallone, best known for his portrayal of the fictional character Rocky Balboa, had a cameo appearance and even struck a pose and clowned around a bit with Algieri.
Despite the light moment with Stallone, an avid fight fan, Algieri was quick to make it clear that everything’s dead-serious in training.
“We’ve had great work. The energy in camp has been incredible…On November 22, it’s not going to be my “Rockyesque” performance that’s going to win the day. It’s going to be my smart technical boxing skills and my strategy and my mental and physical preparation.”
Algieri is set to leave for Macau on Nov. 12 and Arum won’t be too far behind as the Hall of Fame promoter, who turns 83 early next month, is slated to spend two nights in Hong Kong before hooking up with everybody in the former Portuguese colony on Nov. 17.
Pacquiao, meanwhile, will head to Macau straight from General Santos City in the late afternoon of Nov. 17, immediately after his last sparring session.
Two days ago, Pacquiao went 12 rounds in sparring, “five with Antonio DeMarco, four with Mike Jones and three with Stan Martnyiouk,” according to lead trainer Freddie Roach.
In the remaining sparring days, Pacquiao, who turns 36 on Dec. 17, will begin to taper off to avoid burnout.