Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank
This Saturday, Chris Algieri will face off against Manny Pacquiao in the ring in a 12-round championship bout.
Pacquiao, who is currently ranked No. 4 on The Ring’s pound-for-pound list, has knocked out more opponents than Algieri has even faced.
With that being said, here’s three tactics that the underdog should keep in mind if he wants to have a chance of beating Pacman.
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1. Stand Tall
Photo by Ed Mulholland
Has anyone ever fought a 12 year old, but instead of throwing a punch, you just hold their head back while they attempt at wild swings? I get this image after I look at the face-off picture for this bout.
Now, three inches isn’t that large of a gap between the 5’10” Chris Algieri and 5’7” Manny Pacquiao, but the gap widens when Pacquiao has a tendency to hunker down in his fights and Algieri has a tendency to do the opposite.
Both styles obviously work, but unfortunately this isn’t Pacman’s first rodeo.
He’s used to being the smaller man. His footwork is quick and allows him to cut all the angles he desires (which is a lot) and he can throw a flurry faster than my cat does when it attacks the dog.
The best way for any fighter to keep the little guys at bay is to stand tall and throw effective straights, forcing the smaller opponent to have to work much harder to get the inside attack. In an interview before fighting Ruslan Provodnikov, Algieri admitted that jabs weren’t really his forte when he first started boxing, due to his MMA startup.
We’re hoping that 20 fights later, he’s learned how to throw a proper jab.
2. Don’t Go For the Knockout
Photo by Ed Mullholand
It’s no secret that Chris Algieri isn’t a power puncher. With only eight knockouts in 20 straight wins, even your grandmother could figure that out.
It’s not even like his knockout record came from KO’s either. They’re just flat, basic, technical knockouts. Which in turn makes “The King of New York” a smart fighter, a trait that he flaunts around a lot with his master’s degree to back it up. Maybe not as much as he flaunts his spandex pants, but you get the picture.
What we’re asking of Chris this Saturday is to not get dumb when he goes up against Manny Pacquiao.
This isn’t like the Bernard Hopkins-Sergey Kovalev fight where we saw two top-tier guys from different generations going at it. This is Algieri testing the waters to see if he can hang with the top dogs.
We’ll be proud of him for just surviving, honestly.
But the New Yorker doesn’t want to just survive, he wants to keep his undefeated status alive, and in order to do that, he needs to play Pacquiao’s game of keeping it smart, utilizing all 12 rounds, and not getting carried away with crazy fantasies of KO’s.
3. Sit Back
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When fighting a boxer as experienced and successful as the Pac Man, it becomes a little fruitless to even look in your basket and count your strengths.
It makes a little more sense to just check out his weaknesses instead.
Manny Pacquiao is a counter-punch artist. He waits for the opponent to come forward so he can pop their arm down before parrying.
The logical thing someone can think of then, is to tell Chris Algieri not to fall into this trap. Sit back, and let Manny come to him.
What we could end up seeing from this tactic is an incredibly expensive stare down. The two of them will dance around the ring, throw a feint, throw a jab, and dance some more. It will be boring, but this tactic may just be boring enough to drive Pacquiao into doing something stupid.
