People on the East Coast of the US, from 8 to 80, looked at this as the longest winter of their lives, from Boston to Brooklyn, most of ’em have been pleased as punch to see the sun, and feel that delightful trickle of sweat which runs down from your back to the behind.
So it was within that context that many of the boxers who’ll glove up and rumble Friday night in Brooklyn, at Barclays Center, posed for pics under the Brooklyn Bridge on Tuesday afternoon.
Yep, there were game faces on Amir Khan, the Brit star who is in the mix to get a Floyd Mayweather lottery ticket op, and Chris Algieri, the Long Islander tasked with derailing the Khan momentum train. But with the sun blaring down, everyone, really, possessed an extra tick of sunny disposition as they chatted with press about the card, portions of which will run on SPIKE.
Haymon Boxing and DiBella Entertainment, along with Joe DeGuardia, Algieri’s promoter, are putting the event together. Javier Fortuna and Costa Rican star Bryan Vasquez also showed up to hype their title clash, which will support Khan-Algieri. Marcus Browne, the pugilistic pride of Staten Island, along with Teddy Atlas, was present and accounted for, as was Heather Hardy, the first lady of Dibella Entertainment, who scraps Friday night.
Khan, who has a loyal fanbase in England, but also no shortage of bashers, who enjoy seeing him get busted on in the tabloids, has taken some heat for not accepting a challenge from fellow Brit Kell Brook, and instead signing on to meet Algieri. Algieri wants to prove those bashers are just haters and he belongs on the biggest stages…
The NY-based boxer was last seen getting trounced by Manny Pacquiao, but showed not a hint of being gun shy when we chatted Tuesday. He told me that his sessions with new trainer John David Jackson have paid immense dividends. I asked Algieri, boxing’s top avocado advocate, how he beats Khan.
“You put pressure on him, you keep pressure on him, you don’t let him rest,” he told me. “He’s a sprinter, he needs to spring and then rest, and catch his breath, I’m just not going to let him catch his breath.”
The fighter has a new trainer,Sergey Kovalev’s trainer, John David Jackson, who told me that he is bringing out some hidden power in Algieri. Might that be a key to his effort on Friday? “I’ve always had power, we just had to fine-tune it to find it. I’m more comfortable with it, really setting down on my shots, taking my time, moving less?I think that’s going to show up on May 29,” Algieri maintained.
“It’s a fan friendly fight for sure,” he noted, saying that both men throw lots of volume, and now, adding power to the mix, that should make for good watching. “I will get my 21st win and it will be another magical night at the Barclays,” he predicted.
And wait?might the winner get a shot at Floyd Mayweather? “That’s the word on the street!” he said, grinning, that shining sun taking a bit of the edge off the making weight/ticking down to fightnight gameface.
Here is a release which went out following the media session:
Photos From Ed Diller/DiBella Entertainment
