While training for his upcoming fight against unbeaten American Chris Algieri, WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao has discovered that he can recoup his natural speed and power if he slides farther down to the light welterweight limit of 140 pounds. Pacquiao will face Algieri next week in Macau, China at the catch weight of 144 pounds and if he performs better at that weight, he could take another downswing to 140. ?The reason we are fighting this fight at 144 pounds is because I wanted to see how I performed at a lower weight. If I do well, I could easily fight at 140 for my next fight,” Pacquiao said. Pacquiao needs to find out if indeed he will feel better and perform well as he returns to his old fighting weight. “At 140 is the weight I walk around at when I?m not training for a fight. So that is no issue, and even 135 would be easy for me to make. The real question is how do I feel and how do I perform when I return to those lower weights?” asked Pacquiao, who has regained his natural speed Pacquiao has been knocking out opponents when he fought actively below 144 although he was younger then. In 2008?fighting below 144?Pacquiao knocked out David Diaz in the ninth round of their lightweight fight. Still at three pounds higher than the lightweight limit of 135, Pacquiao scored a devastating knock out win over Ricky Hatton. Except for the Cotto fight which was fought at 144, Pacquiao has since failed to score a knockout win while fighting at 147 all the way up to the weight limit of 154 when he faced Antonio Margarito for his his eighth weight world title. If Pacquiao performs well at 144 against Algieri, he should be motivated to make the desired weight adjustment even farther down to 135 lightweight limit. Pacquiao has spent time fighting in the welterweight limit because most of the fighters that belong here are known moneymakers. They generate more revenues for the promoters who cash in on pay-per-view buys. They include Floyd Mayweather,Jr., Tim Bradley, Juan Manuel Marquez, Marcos Maidana and Amir Khan, among others. In the 140 pounds limit, Pacquiao will find unbeaten Danny Garcia waiting to share the spotlight with him. Other potential opponents in this weight limit include Lucas Mathysse, Lamont Peterson, Ruslan Provodnikov, Mike Alvarado, Adrien Broner and Jessie Vargas. While Pacquiao won’t run out of worthy opponents in the light-welterweight limit of 140, many of the welterweight (junior middleweight} contenders (except Floyd Myweather, Jr.) could also be enticed to move down to 140 in order to land a lucrative fight against Pacquiao.
