Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao will stake his WBO welterweight title against taller American Italian Chris Algieri who stands 5’11. The title bout will happen on November 23 at The Venetian Macao’s Cotai Arena.
Algieri, 30, a former kickboxer and wrestler, and his co-promoters, Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing and Banner Promotions’ Artie Pelullo came to an agreement last July 15 to inform promoter Bob Arum about the details.
“We have a deal,” Arum said. “On my end, it wasn’t a hard deal at all. I came up pretty much with what they were looking for and then Joe and Artie had to sit down with Algieri and cut it up fairly amongst themselves.”
“As long as it is OK with Bob Arum, there’s no problem with me. I’m not afraid to face anybody in the ring,” Pacquiao told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone.
Tale of the tape
Though the Sarangani representative and eight-division world champion acknowledged Algieri’s edge in height (Pacquiao is 5-6 1/2) and reach (Algieri has a wingspan of 72 inches against Pacquiao’s 67), Pacquiao said he’s used to fighting bigger guys like Antonio Margarito (5-11), Oscar de la Hoya (5-10) and Miguel Cotto (a beefy 5-7).
Virtually unheralded, Algieri was thrust into the limelight following his split decision upset of Russian Provodnikov for the WBO light welterweight belt on June 14.
Having watched Algieri’s narrow victory over Provodnikov, Pacquiao said he’s already devising a strategy on how to handle Algieri.
“I’m going to broach this strategy with coach Freddie Roach once our training camp starts,” Pacquiao said.
According to DeGuardia, who predicted that his ward will emerge victorious, all the terms have been reached with Top Rank and only the paper works need to be wrapped up.
Fight purse
Though he won’t go into specifics, DeGuardia disclosed that the unbeaten Algieri, 20-0 with 8 KOs, will earn a career-high of over $1.5 million plus expected pay-per-view earnings.
Pacquiao is expected to earn at least $20 million guaranteed outside of pay-per-view shares.
It’s a win-win situation for Algieri as among the points agreed upon is that he’ll keep the 140-pound crown even if he loses to Pacquiao. (inq.net)
Live on big screen
As usual, Filipinos in New South Wales expect to view the fight live at the auditorium of Blacktown Workers Club and Penrith Panthers Club.