Boxing: Can Chris Algieri Shock the World?

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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Some walked by him without even noticing. Others stopped, looked on briefly as if they should recognize him, did a double-take and then moved on. Others did know his face and his name and took selfies with him.

If Chris Algieri pulls off the impossible and beats the legendary Manny Pacquiao for the WBO world junior welterweight championship on Saturday in Macua, China, no one may walk by him and wonder who he is again -- as they did in early August in Atlantic City, where Sergey Kovalev was pounding on Blake Caparello. Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) will take on Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) on HBO pay-pay-view, and the Long Island, N.Y., native knows no one is giving him a chance. Many, as Algieri found out over the summer, do not even know who he is.

“That’s been my life. I’ve been overlooked,” said Algieri, who attended Kovalev-Caparello as a fan. “No one knows me even as I’m about to take on Pacquiao, but the thing about it is, I’ve never trained full-time, never been committed to boxing full-time as I have now. I’ve worked or went to school when I was fighting. It was something that I always did as a side job or a hobby, though I took it seriously. Anytime you set into the ring with a pro, you have to take it seriously, but this opportunity has changed my life. It’s made me see other possibilities, and I like the fact no one thinks I can win. No one thought I could beat [Ruslan] Provodnikov, and look what happened there.”

What happened there was Algieri recovered from a pair of first-round knockdowns and went on to win the majority of the rounds afterward. He perplexed Provodnikov with his quick hands and fast feet. He seemed to grow stronger as Provodnikov slowed with each passing round. Algieri’s split decision victory over Provodnikov won him the “Pac-Man” lottery.

Why does Algieri have a chance against Pacquiao? For one, Algieri towers over the smaller Filipino. Algieri is 5-foot-10 and Pacquiao is listed at a little more than 5-foot-6, even though he is probably closer to 5-foot-5. Algieri holds a five-inch reach advantage over Pacquiao, 72 to 67, and he has a great Provodnikov-proof chin. Algieri absorbed some bombs against Provodnikov and kept coming, and he had the wherewithal to get out of harm’s way when it appeared he would not escape the first round.

Algieri also owns key intangibles: He is smart and does not panic. The college-educated Algieri is flirting with medical school. His ability to make quick decisions could spell the difference. If Pacquiao gets him in any kind of trouble, Algieri does not seem to be the type of fighter to succumb that easily and turtle up. What’s more, Pacquiao has not stopped anyone since he scorched Miguel Cotto in the 12th round on Nov. 14, 2009. “Pac-Man” has shown some wear and tear during that span. He remains dangerous and he is still a first-ballot, unanimous hall of famer, but he is far more vulnerable now than he has ever been. In short, Manny Pacquiao is not the Manny Pacquiao the boxing world once knew.

“I’m more focused right now on me and what I need to do,” Algieri said. “This is the first time that I am fighting when I am not working. I’ll be a full-time boxer for this camp, so all of this other stuff I have been doing is kind of on par with stuff I have been doing anyway. I am a guy that does a million other things in addition to boxing. It’s nice to throw all of my time and focus into boxing.”

Algieri even cut into the softer side of curmudgeon Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who uttered during the press tour leading up to the fight: “This promotion and this event has been like a real-life ‘Rocky’ story. Now we know that Rocky came from the streets of Philadelphia and was uneducated and we have a Rocky here that is highly educated and very articulate, but this is truly a Rocky story nevertheless. If I had scripted this and sent the script in to HBO, it would have been rejected because of being unrealistic, but here we are. It’s real -- it’s real life -- and Chris Algieri is the modern-day Rocky.”