About an hour prior to Manny Pacquiao’s utterly dominant perfomance this past Saturday night at The Venetian in Macau, China, I sat down and outlined exactly what I thought would happen on 24.7 The Stream in Chicago.
During my live on-air interview with host Todd Bates, he paused to reflect on the article written prior to this one, Pacquiao/Algieri: “On The Run” [Vol.IV]: Director’s Cut.
One line in particular had him laughing out loud uncontrollably, as I’d stated that Chris Algieri would “display the guts of a burglar and get mugged like an unsuspecting tourist” along with a few other things. He asked why I was so sure of what would happen as we took a break from radio.
“Because its a total difference in class,” I stated, while dining on chinese takeout. “They’re about as different as this shrimp w/broccoli and that KFC you’re eating. There’s no comparison and he won’t win a round. He won’t quit, but you’d understand if he did.”
Right after that conversation I got on social media and made an official prediction: “Manny Pacquiao will stop Chris Algieri in the 10th round.”
T@z
*** *** *** *** *** ***
Ok… So I was like, totally f*ckin wrong about this fight.
BUT, I was little closer to the truth than Algieri’s legendarily psychic trainer Tim Lane. During the 9th round, HBO’s Max Kellerman interviewed Lane to get his take on what was happening and how he see’s the fight going. Lane, incredibly, told Max that he had Algieri “in a cage” and that he was about to “let him go”.
Said he’s actually about to knock Pacquiao out. Yeah.. He actually said this.
You can’t see Max’s face but I could almost feel his facial expression, even as I raised my eyebrows listening to him. Manny, incredibly, acted as if he heard the bullsh*t coming out of Lane’s mouth, and timed Algieri with a spectacular straight left to drop Algieri for a 6th time. You should watch the video of this via deadspin- its funny as hell.
Algieri would go on to run like hell (just as he’d done the entire night) and survive the 12 round distance, having exhausted his 36 minutes of fame. While his truly legendary counterpart Pacquiao had shown an energetic menace not seen since his 2009 demolition of Miguel Cotto.
So impressive was Pacquiao, that it immediately intensified demand for the most demanded non-event in sports history: Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather.
Out of my peripheral vision, I could see Todd’s empty box of KFC and it made me think of what an empty piece of chicken Floyd must feel like now. Pacquiao mocked his ass in a hilarious FootLocker spoof before the fight, and repeated it again in the ring after mopping the floor with Algieri.
With much of his fanbase now onto the game he’s been playing in avoiding Pacquiao, and ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith confirming the massive amount of money Showtime has lost (over 16 million) in its deal with Floyd – “Money” needs to step up and meet his destiny.
When a network has lost money dealing with the supposed biggest draw in boxing, despite owning the highest grossing bout in history (Mayweather’s 2013 bout with Saul Canelo Alvarez), then the most obvious bout needs to take place. If it doesn’t, history will make it obvious who avoided it.
Eat all the chicken you want Floyd, but at some point you’ll have to go to the bathroom. Either sh*t or get off the pot.
