The promoter for Chris Algieri will meet later this week with the head of the World Boxing Organization to resolve the possible stripping of Algieri?s 140-pound world-title belt.
Algieri promoter Joe DeGuardia said he?ll urge WBO President Paco Valcarcel to allow New York?s Algieri (20-0) to await the outcome of his Sunday morning [Macao time] welterweight world title fight against Manny Pacquiao before choosing his next bout.
Should Algieri produce a stunning upset, a rematch clause will be exercised and he?d defend a new WBO welterweight belt, DeGuardia said.
Should he lose, Algieri has until mid-March — nine months from the date of his June upset of hard-hitting Ruslan Provodnikov — to defend the 140-pound belt against one of the WBO?s top 15 contenders of his choosing.
The WBO informed Algieri earlier this month that it intended to strip him of the 140-pound belt as soon as the fight against Pacquiao begins.
?Win, lose or draw [Sunday], that [140-pound] title is his,? DeGuardia said. ?Chris? position is he?s here to win the 147-pound title.
?But the WBO has precedent to allow a champion to fight for another belt, and this is their own belt.
“That?s the way I?m expecting them to rule [this week] and, frankly, that?s what?s going to happen ? one way or another.
?He shouldn?t lose it out of the ring.?
Algieri, after all, only opted to pursue the fight of a lifetime.
