Still champion! Pacquiao knocks down Algieri six times, wins by unanimous decision
MACAU - Manny Pacquiao thoroughly dominated his undefeated challenger Chris Algieri en route to a unanimous decision victory, Sunday afternoon at the Cotai Arena in Macau.
Algieri’s camp talked big prior to the fight saying that it will be the Chris Algieri Show. His trainer Tim Lane even said that his guy would stop Pacquiao inside ten rounds. However, the American shrunk at the gravity of the moment, aided by Pacquiao’s flying fists.
Algieri ran around the ring trying to survive. In the few times Pacquiao caught him flat-footed, it was disastrous.
Pacquiao knocked down Alieri six times officially in the fight, allthough one or two of these could have been ruled as slips. Michael Buffer read the scorecards as 119-103, 119-103, and 120-102 but the numbers, gaudy as these are, could not completely encapsulate just how dominant Pacquiao was in the fight.
“Tonight I did my best. I’m so satisfied with my performance tonight. I came to fight. I did my best. That’s enough for me,” Pacquiao said in the post fight interview.
“I’m very confident I’d win the fight. I was trying to go for a knockout but he was fast. He was moving.”
Move was all Algieri did in the fight. He stretched his legs before the fight, which was a foretelling of what the 13,202 fans inside the arena were about to witness.
After eating one of Pacquiao’s patented left hooks, Algieri lay flat on his back while the crowd chanted for his head. Pacquiao tried his best to oblige but he ran out of time.
Wanting a knockout, a first for Pacquiao since Miguel Cotto, the largely Filipino crowd egged Pacquiao on but knocking out a fighter who was satisfied his just surviving proved to be too hard. Pacquiao landed a couple of good lefts in the 12th round but Algieri made sure he’s stay out of trouble the rest of the way.
Algieri was met with a smattering of boos when it was his turn to be interviewed. The fans wanted a fight. Pacquiao tried to give it to them, but Algieri was not as kind.
“Manny is the best in the world,” Algieri said, which pacified the hot-headed crowd. “His style is great. He’s got so much experience. Then plan was to get him in the later rounds.”
As all Pacquiao fights end, the Filipino legend was asked about fighting Floyd Mayweather.
“He’s going to fight me? Yes! He’s going to fight me!” he replied, re-enacting his popular Footlocker commercial.
Pacquiao knows that this mega-fight has and will always be beyond his willingness to make it happen. Making fun of the situation and laughing about it was all he could do.
