THERE is no way unbeaten Chris Algieri will beat Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao.
Some Filipino boxing personalities weighed-in on the fight, and like Freddie Roach, believe that it will still be Pacquiao?s hands that will be raised.
?Algieri is not at the level of Manny and it should be a walk in the park for Manny.
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Manny is just too good, too quick for a fighter of Algieri?s caliber. He may not be knocked out because it is difficult to knock out a guy who fights to survive,? ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer told Sun.Star Cebu.
Pacquiao and Algieri face off today at the Cotai Arena of the Venetian Hotel in Macau.
Though it?ll be an easy task for Pacquiao, who is coming off a one-sided unanimous decision over Timothy Bradley back in April, Aldeguer believes that the fight will go the distance.
?Yes. It will go the distance because Algieri will fight to survive and will be on defensive mode as he knows if he tries to come in, Manny will knock him out as Manny is just too quick with too much power,? he said.
Algieri earned the right to face the 35-year-old Pacquiao, still one of the biggest draws in boxing, after an upset win over Ruslan Provodnikov. The 30-year-old New Yorker got dropped twice but rallied back to win the fight by split decision despite a swollen right eye.
Unlike Aldeguer, his ward, World Boxing Organization (WBO) light flyweight champion Donnie Nietes, feels that Pacquiao will score a knockout and it will come in the middle of the fight.
?Algieri will be knocked out in four to six rounds,? said Nietes, who is just fresh from a stoppage win over Mexican challenger Carlos Velarde last week. ?Pacquiao is in good shape and he is very fast.?
Sammy Gello-ani, the head of the SGG Promotions said that Pacquiao needs to get Algieri in the early rounds as the latter is ready to go the distance.
?Pacquiao will win possibly by decision if he cannot get Algieri in the early round. Algieri has prepared well too and is hungry for glory,? said Gello-Ani.
Cebuano boxing coach Brix Flores also feels that the fight will end prematurely because Pacquiao and Algieri are fighters on different levels.
?As what I see, the farthest that it will go will be eight rounds. Pacquiao will knockout his opponent,? said Flores. ?He has not been exposed with elite opponents.
Only the Russian (Ruslan Provodnikov) that he fought but I believe he was losing that fight. He didn?t do anything but run.?
Former world champion Malcolm Tu?acao, who is now campaigning in Japan, also sees Pacquiao winning by knockout. However, he feels that the former pound-for-pound king should still watch his guard.
?Algieri can?t win against Pacquiao,? said the 36-year-old former World Boxing Council (WBC) flyweight champion. ?But Pacquiao should not take Algieri for granted because he is still young and very much hungry. A knockout maybe in the seventh round.?
