After pulling off the biggest win of his career against the hard-hitting Ruslan Provodnikov last month, Chris Algieri will be making the jump to the 147-pound welterweight division to face Manny Pacquiao.
The bout to take place Nov. 22 in at the Cotai Arena in Macau, China, (per ESPN.com) will be televised in the United States on HBO pay-per-view. This will mark the second time Pacquiao has fought in Macau, as he defeated Brandon Rios in their bout late last year.
Algieri, a former world champion kickboxer, has seen his stock soar despite landing his first televised fight just last year on a NBC Sports Network televised bout that saw Algieri beat Jose Peralta via unanimous decision.
Since then he also made an appearance on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights and then his first HBO appearance in his upset win over Provodnikov. After surviving a pair of knockdowns in the first two rounds and his right eye swelling completely shut in the process, Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) showed tremendous heart fighting back after the rocky start to beat Provodnikov via split decision victory.
As was the case before he stepped in the ring with Provodnikov, media and fans alike are already counting the 30-year-old Huntington, New York native out of the Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) bout. If history means anything, don’t go writing Algieri off just yet, as he showed he has technically sound boxing skills and even though Pacquiao is not as aggressive as Provodnikov is, Algieri’s boxing prowess will give him a fighting chance.
The bout will reportedly earn Algieri just over $1 million which will be his biggest payday by far as the Provodnikov bout earned him a then career high payday of $ 100,000.
Pacquiao no stranger to big time fight cards and is coming off two solid performances over the past year beating Rios last November and getting revenge against Timothy Bradley in April.
With fans complaining anywhere they can on various social media sites just minutes after the bout was reported, Algieri can shut the doubters up again with a solid performance against Pacquaio, as he has shown us before that he thrives on the underdog title.
