Algieri is an underdog against the "Pacman" in their WBO welterweight title fight on November 23, but Pacquiao refused to dismiss the American and even branded him as a difficult opponent in a recent interview that was posted on Boxing Scene.
"Chris Algieri poses many puzzles for me to solve. In terms of his height and reach, only Antonio Margarito surpasses him in the scope of opponents I have faced," Pacquiao said.
"Algieri is also the most scientific, fluid, and fittest fighter I have ever opposed. All of those factors, plus he is five years younger than me, make him the most dangerous opponent of my career," he added.
Algieri will have a huge height and reach advantage over Pacquiao in their title fight, something that the Filipino acknowledged will be a problem.
"Algeri's reach and height will require me to work on closing the distance with him in the ring, and I will need my speed more than ever to be able to score damaging blows to him, while avoiding his own counters," Pacquiao noted.
The "Pacman" also said it will be vital for him to force Algieri to fight his fight.
"I do not intend to fight Algieri's fight. I intend on fighting my fight, and more importantly making him fight my fight. This will be a battle of wills as much as it will be a battle of blows," he predicted.
Pacquiao said he was impressed with Algieri's recent performances, including his unanimous decision win against his sparring partner, Ruslan Provodnikov.
"If you look at his recent fights, each victory for him was considered an upset. Yet Algieri never considered himself an underdog, he went into each fight confident and with the right game plan," Pacquiao said.
"No matter what happened in the ring, he was disciplined enough to stay with that game plan. And it worked. He out-fought them and out-thought them," he added.
With this in mind, Pacquiao said he is hard at work in training camp in order to give him the tools to beat Algieri.
"I am sacrificing everything to defeat him and produce not just a convincing victory, but my most impressive performance," he said.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
