Manny Pacquiao’s longtime trainer Freddie Roach may not be joking when he said that a first round knockout is possible when Pacquiao confronts Chris Algieri in the ring on Saturday (Sunday in Macau) at the Cotai Arena in Macau, China
While Roach has been targeting a knockout win for Pacquiao in his third ring appearance after his stunning knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012, it was his first time to predict a first round KO for the Algieri fight. Shy of vocalizing his prediction, Roach pointed his forefinger up when asked about a possible knockout win, indicating the round Pacquiao will knock Algieri out. ?Manny only needs one round to keep his crown,? the Hall of Fame trainer told Philboxing’s Eddie Alinea. Roach must have anchored his bold prediction on what Ruslan Provodnikov did to Algieri when he was knocked down twice in the first round by the Russian brawler. Certainly Roach could see the same scenario happening in the Pacquiao-Algieri fight on Saturday where Provodnikov could have ran away with a KO win. It is possible that Roach is trying to scare Algieri out of his wits with his rather unusual instant KO prediction but he seems to be talking from his experience with the Algieri Provodnickov fight. Roach was on Provodnikov’s corner when Algieri got the scare of his life in the first round of their fight last June. Both Pacquiao and Provodnikov trains under Roach. They are also former sparring partners. The difference between Pacquiao and Provonikov lies on their capacity to go for a KO win in a situation where an opponent is vulnerable. Pacquiao is noted for being a good finisher while Provodnikov seems tentative and in the Algieri fight he was a bit hesitant to go for the kill. Roach understands though that his young Russian pupil has got a lot more to learn But given the same scenario where Pacquiao finds his target in the first round where Algieri gets badly hurt, Pacquiao is expected to go all out for the kill as he used to do in the past. Pacquiao has not scored a knockout win since winning over Miguel Cotto five years ago via KO in the last round. There were talks that his religiosity had something to do with his long knockout holiday. But as training progressed for the Algieri fight, Pacquiao seems motivated for a win via the short route to satisfy the clamor of his fans. A knockout win by Pacquiao over Algieri in the first round would be a great motivator for the eighth division titleholder to go for knockout wins in his remaining fights.
