BY NOW, everybody seems to be scratching their heads on how the Manny Pacquiao-Chris Algieri fight came into naissance considering it turned out to be such a horrible mismatch.
Remember though that Algieri was never the first option and promoter Bob Arum had already pre-booked the venue and the date before any opponent was named.
Marquez balked. Mayweather didn?t want to have anything to do with Manny. No other fighter was available given the amount of time left and the preparations and the contractual stipulations that had to be ironed out.
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Enter Algieri. A tall, handsome American with an immaculate record who just came off an inspiring victory where he had a life and death struggle with Russian banger Ruslan Provodnikov.
A storyline was born and so a pay-per-view event was created.
MISMATCH. The thing with a true mismatch is that it is hardly the result of one fighter?s unilateral act.
It is often the confluence of two factors: One fighter being so superior and the other exhibiting total ineptness.
This was the case last Sunday with Manny showing up in deadly form while Algieri seemed way in over his head.
Right from the start, Algieri appeared mortified at the sight of Pacquiao coming after him and he immediately backpedalled for dear life.
For all his pre-fight bluster about utilizing his height and reach advantage and using his jab to control the fight, he did neither.
Instead, he hunched and stooped low in order to prevent his chin from being fully exposed-thereby negating his height advantage, and he covered up while retreating and rarely threw the jab.
The Pacman saw a scared, inept fighter in front of him and buzz-sawed through his opponent for 12 painfully one-sided rounds.
The punch stats will bear out how lopsided the fight was: Pacquiao threw a total of 669 punches and landed 229 for a 34% rate while Algieri?s paltry output registered only 108 out of 469 punches for a low 23% connect rate.
I had to chuckle and shake my head in bewilderment when one of the HBO commentators opined that they thought Algieri could have won one round.
Really guys, and which round was it?
My score of 120-102 was identical to Judge Michael Pernick?s tally while the two other judges both saw it as 119-103.
PROGNOSIS. Things don?t look to good for Algieri. He talked a lot of smack to build up the fight, but did nothing to back up all prolific talk. The lopsided nature of the proceedings did nothing to boost his stock.
Those tassels on his track shoes didn?t help matters as he resembled the fleet-footed Hermes?the messenger of the Greek Gods, ready to flee at any given instant.
The only thing going for Algieri was that he would land a good right hand sporadically, but it didn?t carry enough torque to make it much of a threat and win him some rounds on the card.
At least he showed up in excellent physical condition, which was the reason he was able to get up from those knockdowns and survive such a horrible beat-down.
But from a promotional point of view, he certainly didn?t provide boxing fans any reason to plunk in any more of their hard earned cash for a pay per view event with him on it.
Manny looked terrific and flashed the deadly form that turned him into a multi-divisional champ and a ring legend. Take away that one punch accident he had with Juan Manuel Marquez two years ago and you can argue that he hasn?t lost much.
But I do worry about those right hands that found their mark. Had it been Marquez or Mayweather behind those blows, the results could potentially alter the outcome of a fight.
Still, you couldn?t have asked for a better performance from our ?Pambansang Kamao? who turns 36 years old next month.
On Sunday?s column I will discuss the scenarios surrounding Manny?s potential foes.
LAST ROUND. It?s on Dinah Craven who celebrates her birthday today. Cheers!
(Follow me on Twitter @thelastround)
