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Algieri promises action-packed fight against Pacquiao


MACAU — Chris Algieri promises an all-out brawl when he challenges Manny Pacquiao for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight crown this Sunday at Cotai Arena inside The Venetian here.
 
Overflowing with pride and confidence, the 30-year old Algieri declared that he's ready to go toe-to-toe with Pacquiao and vowed to attack the Filipino ring icon right from the opening bell of their scheduled 12-round clash.
 
"It's going to be an action-packed first round. I will fight hard from start to finish," Algieri told a pack of local and international journalist moments before he took the podium for the final press conference of the biggest, and riches, fight of his entire professional boxing career.
 
"I think both of us will go hard and try to make a statement. Manny has a lot to prove in this fight. I get the feeling that he will also come down hard to make a real statement."
 
True enough, Pacquiao's game plan is to jump the gun right at the opening bell.
 
Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, said they are sticking to the gameplan of a lightning-quick start that will send Algieri sprawling to the canvas, quite similar to what Russian slugger Ruslan Provodnikov did when he clashed with Algieri last June.
 
Roach added that they are looking to drop bombs on Algieri's mid-section since he has no defense and has a legs that is as weak as a pretzel. 
 
Also, Roach noted that Algieri is obviously struggling in beating the catchweight of 144 pounds, making him weak and sluggish come fight day. 
 
The official weigh-in is set on Satruday morning and it will be impossible for Algieri to trim the extra two pounds or more, Roach added.
 
“That's why my prediction for a first round knockout still stands,” said the five-time Trainer of the Year who groomed Pacquiao into the kind of warrior he is today.
 
"He can run, but he can't hide. And when he does, it’ll all be easy for us. Manny will starch him with peppery combinations, he wouldn’t know where they’re coming from.”
 
The last time Pacquiao scored a stoppage was when he battered Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto in the 12th round of their welterweight battle in 2009. Since then, he failed to come up with an emphatic victory against Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley and even lost to Timothy Bradley in 2012 and Juan Manuel Marquez by way of knockout.
 
His loss to Marquez was his first knockout loss since 1999.
 
"That's how hungry he is," Roach said. "It's about time for Manny to win by knockout. So when he said that he's going to stop Algieri in the first round, I never cast a single doubt." — STR/JST, GMA News
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