Chris Algieri has traveled a long way during the past year, literally and figuratively.
Algieri displayed remarkable courage by overcoming two first-round knockdowns and a severely swollen right eye to outbox Ruslan Provodnikov and win the WBO junior welterweight title 11 1/2 months ago. That career-changing win also secured Algieri a $1.6 million payday for fighting Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao five months later in Macau, China.
The mainstream attention that accompanied opposing Pacquiao made the college-educated former kickboxing champion a star.
Nevertheless, in some ways Algieri (20-1, 8 KOs) has been relegated to the position he occupied this time a year ago. Despite his success in and out of the ring, Long Island?s Algieri is considered almost a hopeless underdog entering his fight against Amir Khan on Friday night at Barclays Center (9 p.m., Spike) ? just the way he was approaching the Provodnikov fight last June 14 at the same Brooklyn arena.
England?s Khan (30-3, 19 KOs) is supposed to beat Algieri easily in their 12-round welterweight bout and immediately resume his long-running campaign to land a fight against boxing?s biggest star, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs). While Algieri has been asked repeatedly why he?s taking such a difficult fight in his return from suffering six knockdowns during a unanimous-decision defeat to Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) on Nov. 22, Khan has been criticized for not facing a tougher opponent.
Algieri has taken the same approach to challenging Khan as he did before he upset Provodnikov (24-4, 17 KOs), a rugged Russian who was supposed to tear through him.
“All the talk is none of my concern, to tell you the truth,” Algieri said during a recent conference call. “I?m focused on training, preparing the best that I can for this fight. I?ve been working hard, working on a lot of new things with [new trainer] John David Jackson. ? I?m just a very hungry fighter at this point. I?m coming off my first loss as a professional.”
The talented Khan is much more skilled than Provodnikov, but not nearly as tough. He has been beaten three times, twice by powerful punchers who knocked him out (Danny Garcia and Breidis Prescott), and once by a technician, Lamont Peterson, who edged Khan by split decision.
Algieri isn?t a puncher and isn?t as good as Peterson. Then again, he wasn?t supposed to have what it took to upset Provodnikov.
