Promotions
Banking
VIP Club
The WBO Welterweight title will be on the line this Saturday at the Venetian in Macau as Manny Pacquiao will be defending his title against the undefeated Chris Algieri. This is a bout that will prove itself to be rather appealing. This will take place at 9 p.m. Eastern time and will on HBO Pay-Per-View through many cable and satellite providers.
A Brief Fight Analysis
An important point about this match is that Algieri is being led into a higher weight class for this bout. He is already the WBO Light Welterweight champion. This means that he is being moved from a 140-pound class to a 147-pound class. Naturally, he is going to be going after bigger competition and will have to work a little harder in order to win this match. However, the match will be at a weight level of 144 pounds for both fighters. This is in accordance with an agreement that has been made between the two fighters.
This bout will also be at the Venetian in Macau, a special administrative region of China. Pacquiao has already had one bout in this venue but that was nearly a year ago.
A Look at Pacquiao
Manny Pacquiao has a 56-5-2 record with 38 knockouts and has been trying to get into a comeback following two losses in 2012. After losing his WBO Welterweight title to Timothy Bradley in 2012, he eventually lost in a knockout to Juan Manuel Marquez. In November 2013, he made a comeback with a unanimous decision over Brandon Rios. In April of this year, he took back the WBO Welterweight title by defeating Bradley in a unanimous decision.
Pacquiao's decision to fight Algieri is interesting in that it was widely expected that he was going to take in Marquez again. He holds a 2-1-1 record against Marquez.
A Look at Algieri
Chris Algieri is a mostly unknown boxer with an Orthodox stance who has been running up a series of strong wins. He is 20-0 with eight knockouts and won the WBO Light Welterweight title in June with a split decision over Ruslan Provodnikov. This fight with Pacquiao marks the first time that he has competed outside his native state of New York. He has appeared on HBO's Boxing after Dark but this match marks the first time he has ever been in a pay-per-view match.
Prediction
Chris Algieri has a great deal of talent and his 72-inch reach should help him get a bit of an advantage over Manny Pacquiao's 67-inch reach. However, Pacquiao has a better mass and holds more experience under pressure while having more physical pressure over his opponent. His Southpaw stance is also different from the Orthodox stance that Algieri has seen in most of his opponents. Expect Pacquiao to win this one but it would be hard-pressed to say that he could actually win with a knockout.
Conclusion
This should make for a good match to welcome Chris Algieri to the big time. Meanwhile, this could help to further Manny Pacquiao to the point where he can get into a rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez or even bigger, that long-demanded match between him and Floyd Mayweather that so many people have been hoping for.
