Manny Pacquiao and Chris Algieri INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/Screengrab from Youtube
Fighting Manny Pacquiao with a crown on the line and big money on the side are too hard to pass up for Chris Algieri.
The 5-foot-11 American of Italian and Argentine descent finally agreed to tangle with Pacquiao for the World Boxing Organization welterweight title on November 23 at The Venetian Macao’s Cotai Arena.
Algieri, 30, a former kickboxer and wrestler, and his co-promoters, Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing and Banner Promotions’ Artie Pelullo came to an agreement on Tuesday and informed Top Rank top honcho Bob Arum about the details.
“We have a deal,” Arum told ESPN.com. “On my end, it wasn’t a hard deal at all. I came up pretty much with what they were looking for and then Joe and Artie had to sit down with Algieri and cut it up fairly amongst themselves.”
Pacquiao, on the other hand, welcomed the development.
“As long as it is OK with Bob Arum, there’s no problem with me. I’m not afraid to face anybody in the ring,” Pacquiao told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone.
Though the Sarangani representative and eight-division world champion acknowledged Algieri’s edge in height (Pacquiao is 5-6 1/2) and reach (Algieri has a wingspan of 72 inches against Pacquiao’s 67), Pacquiao said he’s used to fighting bigger guys like Antonio Margarito (5-11), Oscar de la Hoya (5-10) and Miguel Cotto (a beefy 5-7).
Virtually unheralded, Algieri was thrust into the limelight following his split decision upset of Ruslan Provodnikov for the WBO light welterweight belt on June 14.
Having watched Algieri’s narrow victory over Provodnikov, Pacquiao said he’s already devising a strategy on how to handle Algieri.
“I’m going to broach this strategy with coach Freddie Roach once our training camp starts,” Pacquiao said.
According to DeGuardia, who predicted that his ward will emerge victorious, all the terms have been reached with Top Rank and only the paper works need to be wrapped up.
Though he won’t go into specifics, DeGuardia disclosed that Algieri, 20-0 with 8 KOs, will earn a career-high of over $1.5 million plus pay-per-view upside.
Pacquiao is expected to earn at least $20 million guaranteed outside of pay-per-view shares.
It’s a win-win situation for Algieri as among the points agreed upon is that he’ll keep the 140-pound crown even if he loses to Pacquiao.
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