BOXING | Pacquiao’s contender in November Macau fight revealed

The Times has received confirmation that legendary Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao will be fighting Chris Algieri, an American junior welterweight titleholder, on November 22 at the Venetian Macao’s Cotai Arena.
US-based cable channel ESPN reported yesterday that Algieri – who holds a record of 20 wins, zero losses and eight KOs – will earn more than USD1 million from the fight. This sum is ten times higher than what he had previously received from another match.
Chris Algieri grew up in Huntington, Long Island. According to ESPN, the athlete was born to a middle-class family, and began kick-boxing before attending Stony Brook University and finishing a master’s degree. He intends to go to medical school after his boxing career has concluded, and currently works as a nutritionist.
Algieri won the World Karate Association Super Welterweight World Championship as a professional, and was later able to pocket the International Sport Kickboxing Association World Welterweight Championship.
After finishing his kickboxing career undefeated, Algieri decided to enter the new territory of professional boxing.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum noted that the fight between Pacquiao and Algieri will be “interesting” for both boxers. “I’m excited. [Algieri] is a college-educated kid, a good boxer, the kind of kid who will draw interest other than just the hard core boxing fans.”
Arum added that Manny Pacquiao is “100 percent for [the fight].” “I told him I was coming along to it. He said Algieri seems like a nice young man.”
One of Chris Algieri’s promoters, Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing, said that Algieri was “happy for the opportunity.”
“He [wants] the fight and has no problem going up in weight. He wants the welterweight championship. He wants challenges. He loves the idea. He wanted to fight for another championship and he loves that he is fighting Manny Pacquiao for it. He looks at Manny as an elite of the game. He wants to climb another mountain. If he wins this fight, you have the start of another era,” DeGuardia said.
Interestingly, Chris Algieri’s most recent victory was against Ruslan Provodnikov, whose trainer, Freddie Roach, is also Pacquiao’s trainer. JPL