I was interviewed by a CUNY journalism student, which failed signally in bringing Top Rank or Tecate girls to my side?
Moe: What?s the matter, you scared? Larry: No, just apprehensive. Moe: That?s a mighty fancy word. What does that ?apprehensive? mean? Larry: It means you?re scared with a college education.?The Three Stooges in Merry Mavericks
Manny Pacquiao and Chris Algieri hosted their final U.S. press conference today at the Liberty Theater in Times Square to talk about their November 22 12-round championship bout at the Venetian Resort?s Cotai Arena in Macao, China. At stake, Pacquiao?s WBO welterweight title. Also present were Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach, Algieri trainer Tim Lane, promoters Bob Arum, Joe DeGuardia and Artie Pelullo, and President and CEO of Sands China Ltd. Ed Tracy.
The Filipino southpaw is a 19-year vet (56-5-2, 38 KOs) who last fought this April, beating Timothy Bradley by unanimous decision. At 35, and following being sent off to join Peter Pan in Neverland by Juan Manuel Marquez in December 2012, ?PacMan? may not quite be what he used to be. But with the probable exception of Floyd Mayweather Jr., he remains the best welterweight alive.
A college boy who fights out of Huntington, New York, 30-year-old Algieri is a six-year pro (20-0, 8 KOs) who most recently fought in June, scoring a surprising split decision win over power-punching Ruslan Provodnikov, thus gaining the WBO junior welterweight title. But did you see his right eye? It looked like Carmen Basilio?s left following the loss of his middleweight crown to Sugar Ray Robinson back in ?58.
I have an aversion to trash talk, but Pacquiao and Algieri were non-confrontational to the point of blandness. The Filipino anticipated a ?good? fight, while the Huntington pretty boy one-upped him by predicting that it will be ?great.? He also wished ?the Pacquiao team all luck during training,? but not during the fight presumably. Put the lack of fire down to the boys coming off a long media tour.
Tuning out much of Arum?s palaver, I instead elicited a chortle from my fellow scribes with one or two witticisms. I was also interviewed, but don?t ask me why, by a CUNY journalism student, which failed signally in bringing Top Rank or Tecate girls, or Algieri groupies to my side. I then had a few words with WBO light heavyweight champ Sergey Kovalev, whose unification bout with WBA and IBF titleholder Bernard Hopkins is coming up on November 8. And more than a few with former WBC middleweight, IBF super middleweight, and WBA light heavyweight champ, and Thomas Hearns nemesis, Iran Barkley.
The presser did nothing to confirm or deny my already firm prediction for Pacquiao-Algieri: Tony Galento couldn?t lose to Lou Nova, a ?bum that learned how to fight in collitch.? The same is true of Pacquiao, who?ll take this one by clear-cut unanimous decision.
