With the increased media attention surrounding Chris Algieri ahead of the biggest bout in his career against Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 22 at The Venetian Macao, the 30-year-old out of Huntington, New York met a living legend in the boxing world, Rocky himself, Sylvester Stallone.
As Stallone was in much of the Rocky series, Algieri is the heavy underdog against Pacman, as he was against Ruslan Provdnikov when he out-pointed him in June.
With many of the fight sequences in the Rocky movie being what dreams are made of, it is fitting that Algieri explained that he has had dremas where he defeats Pacquiao via knockout, but making that dream a reality will be tough for Algieri.
Not know for his power, Algieri is a technically sound fighter, who relies heavily on his reach and hand speed to win fights, as we saw against Provodnikov.
This time around Algieri won’t have Provodnikov on a one-track mindset to KO him, he will have Paquiao, a fighter who posses ample speed and power as well.
With Algieri’s last KO win coming seven bouts ago versus Winston Mathis in 2012, a knockout from Algieri seems highly unlikely, and may be a waste of time if Algieri shoots for an early ending to the bout.
If Algieri wants any chance of a real Hollywood ending he must stick to what got him where is at in the first place, a more traditional boxing fight plan. If he can use his jab to frustrate Pacquiao and knock him off his own fight strategy, he has a legit shot at pulling the upset mirroring Rocky when he took down Apollo Creed in their rematch in Rocky 2, minus the knockout ending.
