The Top Rank Inc. executive said even Pacquiao himself knows it will be a challenge to face the taller, younger and hungry American boxer.
“Anybody who thinks that Manny Pacquiao is gonna have a cakewalk with Algieri has another thing coming,” Arum said in an interview on DZMM’s “Teka Muna.”
“Because the guy who has taken Algieri the most seriously is Manny Pacquiao.”
Arum said aside from Algieri’s physical advantages against the smaller Pacquiao, the American fighter has a fighting style that poses problems to the eight-division champion.
The 5'10'' tall Algieri possesses a longer reach and this complements his counter-punching strategy. This has worked well for the New York-based fighter, allowing him to win 20 fights in a row.
“Algieri is a terrific fighter, he's great conditioned, he has a marvelous jab. He's extraordinary intelligent in the ring,” said Arum.
“Manny realized that Algieri presents major problems and he schooled himself to meet those problems.”
This is why Pacquiao immersed himself into perhaps the best training camp he had in years, he said.
“He's worked hard. He's focused. He's put in more time. Sparring partners are better in this camp than have been in many few years,” said Arum.
The Provodnikov upset
The Long Island native won the Pacquiao sweepstakes when he unexpectedly gutted out a split decision upset against fancied Russian brawler Ruslan Provodnikov last June.
Arum said Algieri ruined their plans of staging a showdown between Provodnikov and Pacquiao because of his win.
“He upset Provodnikov and made it shift our plans to fight Algieri. That was an unbelievable, gutty ‘Rocky-like’ performance. He's knocked down in the first round, his eyes were closed, he came back and outboxed Provodnikov and won the fight. This is a real tough kid,” said Arum.
The Pacquiao-Algieri WBO welterweight title fight will take place at the Cotai Arena in the luxurious Venetian Macau.
Arum said tickets have already been sold out since a lot of Filipinos and several high rollers from the US flew in to watch the fight live.
The card is also expected to draw 300 million viewers in China, he said.
“The fight will be broadcast on Sunday morning on Chinese national television networks, 9 regional networks and 2 internet portals. So they're looking at an audience as large as 300 million viewers. Tremendous buzz in China not only for Manny but also for their superstar Zou Shiming,” he said.
Interestingly, Shiming will be figuring in a flyweight title eliminator against Thailand’s Kwanpichit Onesongchaigym, who looked like a “carbon copy” of Pacquiao.
The bout is also well-covered by the US press, which has shown interest in Algieri’s story.
“We have a marvelous tour out from the US, Chris is a New York boy from Long Island and every single New York paper is here in Macau so the coverage from all over the US, the LA Times, Reuters, I mean it's almost like the Filipinos’ coverage for Manny Pacquiao,” said Arum.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
