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.
