Chris Algieri is training far differently while doing the same things to prepare for Manny Pacquiao that he did for Ruslan Provodnikov, the WBO junior welterweight champion he upset in June to earn the biggest payday of his life ? and a shot at Pacquiao Saturday in Macau, China.
Algieri is sparring, hitting the bags, running, taking ice baths and massages, skipping rope; doing all the usual things boxers do leading up to a fight . . . except the unusual ones he usually had to do.
?This is actually the first time I?m fighting when I?m not working as well,? Algieri said last week. ?I?ve been a full-time boxer for this camp, so all this (promotional) stuff I?ve been doing is kind of on par with stuff I?ve been doing anyway. I?m a guy who does a million things in addition to boxing.?
Among those things was working a side job as he?s done throughout his career, including during the days leading up to his June title shot. That night he survived two first-round knockdowns and an eye closed tighter than Scrooge?s wallet to win a split decision from Provodnikov and an unexpected shot at Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs).
?I was (fitness) training people on the Tuesday of fight week,? Algieri said of the Provodnikov fight. ?I had some very fit people. I had a very varied client list.?
A graduate of Stony Brook and New York Institute of Technology with a bachelor?s degree in health care management and a Masters in clinical nutrition, Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) is a most unusual boxer. A kickboxing world champion before taking up prizefighting, Aligeri paid the bills working as a nutritionist and physical trainer while living in the basement of his family?s home and boxing when he could.
Like many Americans, he was working multiple jobs to make ends meet. Now he?s on his way to China unburdened for the first time by debt or multiple job demands but that doesn?t mean all remnants of his hard-scrabble past have been erased.
When Algieri went to the airport from his basement apartment on Long Island inside his family home to begin his first full-time training camp, he didn?t go in a limo. He drove a Honda Accord with more than 200,000 miles on it. Depending on what happens in Macau, that car may soon be a thing of the past, too, but he has other plans as well.
?Medical school is the next step in my career,? Algieri said. ?There?s no doubt about that. My mind is still hungry and I want to continue my education, but that?s on hold. Right now I?m focusing full-time on my boxing career. We?re at the elite level right now and that takes 100 percent focus.?
And no side jobs.
Pac-Man wants Floyd
Speaking from his training camp in the Philippines, Pacquiao reiterated both an interest in facing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and a clear problem in making that happen.
?I do have one specific goal and that is to give the boxing fans the fight they have always asked for,? Pacquiao said. ?I want that fight (with Mayweather), too. I believe good-faith negotiations could produce that fight, but it is impossible to negotiate when you are the only one sitting at the table. Two fighters who want to fight each other have never been kept from fighting each other.?
Pac-Man may have been trying to say the same thing his promoter did more bluntly last week.
?How can I talk for Mayweather?? Bob Arum said. ?As much as a lot of people surrounding it would want it to happen, myself included and Manny included, Floyd is reluctant to fight Manny Pacquiao. If people don?t see that by now, they?re never going to see it.
?In as far as if Chris Algieri wins the fight against Manny, than there?s a provision in the contract for a rematch. If he beats Pacquiao, then beats Manny in a rematch and Floyd wants to fight him, that?s not my business.?
Hopkins proves big lure
The fight may not have gone the way Bernard Hopkins hoped last weekend when he lost the WBA and IBF light heavyweight titles to WBO champion Sergey Kovalev in one-sided fashion, but Hopkins attracted the kind of viewership he and HBO desired.
The 49-year-old ex-champion may or may not have fought for the last time, but if the interest in watching him is any indication he still has an honored place in front of fight fans. Despite the fact the main event didn?t begin until midnight, it averaged 1,328,000 viewers, the second-best performing fight of 2014. The only fight audience on premium cable to outdo Hopkins-Kovalev was the HBO rematch between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Bryan Vera, which did 1,390,000 viewers.
The Hopkins-Kovalev audience was a 75 percent improvement on the audience that watch Hopkins win the WBA title from Beibut Shumenov in April, which averaged 760,000 viewers.
This was Kovalev?s fifth appearance on HBO in the past 15 months and by far his biggest viewership.
Short jabs
Before catching a late flight back home to Los Angeles Monday to see his newborn son for the first time, Kovalev first travelled to Connecticut to visit his friend Magomed Abdusalamov. Abdusalamov suffered grave neurological injuries following his fight with heavyweight contender Mike Perez earlier this year and continues to struggle. After his last title defense against Blake Caparello in August, Kovalev auctioned off memorabilia from the fight on eBay and donated the proceeds to help Abdusalamov?s family with his mounting medical bills. . . .
Provodnikov returns to Russia Nov. 28 to face a very old warrior, 40-year-old former lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo, in a 12-round non-title welterweight fight in Moscow. Provodnikov (23-3, 16 KOs) has not fought in Russia in three years and is coming off that split decision loss to Algieri, who he dropped twice in Round 1 but could not hold off. Castillo (66-12-1, 57 KOs) is a former two-time WBC lightweight champion who twice lost decisions to Mayweather more than a decade ago. . . .
HBO last weekend announced what is believed to be a three-fight deal with unified heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, beginning with last night?s yawner vs. little known mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev in Hamburg, Germany. HBO hopes that deal will culminate in a unification fight next year between Klitschko and the winner of the pending Bermane Stiverne-Deontay Wilder WBC championship bout. Klitschko (62-3, 53 KOs) has held some form of the heavyweight title for more than eight years and made his 17th title defense last night. That is the second longest heavyweight title reign behind Joe Louis. . . .
Showtime closes out its 2014 boxing schedule Dec. 19 with WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson defending his title vs. Dmitry Sukhotsky. Too bad Sukhotsky is the wrong Russian. The only Russian, and the only light heavyweight, anyone wants to see Stevenson face is Kovalev, but Stevenson jumped the HBO fence and a verbal agreement to avoid Kovalev. Stevenson is coming off a surprisingly difficult decision win in May against Andrzej Fonfara, who survived two early knockdowns to drop Stevenson and close strong only to lose a decision. Stevenson was supposed to face Fonfara on HBO and then Kovalev, but instead bolted to Showtime, where he planned to fight Fonfara in a tuneup before facing Hopkins to unify their belts. When negotiations dragged however, B-Hop hopped over to HBO, leaving Stevenson with two meaningless title defenses.
That did not prevent him from insisting during a press conference in Montreal last week that: ?I know I?m the king of the light heavyweight division and I know that everyone wants to take my belt. Sukhotsky is a tough guy and he?s hoping to surprise me. I?ll prepare, my hands will be perfect and it will be a short night.? . . .
WealthTV is no more but it?s still in the boxing business. Now renamed AWE, the network will televise in limited distribution the Nov. 22 rematch between British cruiserweights Nathan Cleverly and Tony Bellew. The two first fought three years ago when both were light heavyweights and put on a pleasing enough show that this card is on pay-per-view in England. In the United States you can watch for free if you can track down AWE. It will also be streamed on AWE?s website.
In addition to Cleverly-Bellew, junior featherweight champion Scott Quigg defends vs. Hidenori Otake; bantamweight titlist Jamie McDonnell faces Walberto Ramos; and George Groves, coming off back-to-back thrilling losses to Carl Froch, will fight Denis Douglin. . . .
Main Events promoter Kathy Duva, who handles Kovalev, continued to stockpile light heavyweight opponents for the unified champion. She signed 29-year-old No. 1 IBF contender Nadjib Mohammedi last week. Mohammedi made short work (2:16 of the first round) of Demetrius Walker on the Kovalev-Hopkins undercard. Mohammedi is now Kovalev?s mandatory challenger for the IBF title.
