FREDDIE Roach indeed says it as he sees it.
He hit it right when he openly declared Oscar De La Hoya could no longer pull the trigger.
This was before Golden Boy’s sensational 2008 KO loss to Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas.
Against Antonio Margarito, Roach did not have to emphasize on the limitations of the tall but flat-footed Mexican.
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De La Hoya and Margarito were two of the taller opponents Pacquiao had beaten with relative ease.
Now comes Chris Algieri, listed at 5 feet 11 inches, who has signed up to challenge for Pacquiao’s WBO welterweight crown in November.
Before this, Roach did not seem too interested in Algieri, but instead wanted his ward Ruslan Provodnikov to be able to get back at the 30-year-old American fighter.
Algieri, virtually unheard of, upset Provodnikov via a split decision last month to win the WBO light welterweight crown.
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Curiously, Roach has sworn that Algieri won’t be an easy assignment.
At the same time though, Roach has refused to declare if Algieri would be a particularly tough foe.
The closest Roach could say was that Pacquiao would have to move in, work inside to offset Algieri’s reach and height advantage.
Roach also sounded firmly sure Pacquiao would emerge victorious in the defense of his newly regained world welterweight boxing title.
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Here at home, there was very limited input on Algieri, who naturally has been seen as a relatively light assignment for Pacquiao.
One reason given was Algieri’s suspect punching power, as manifested in his inferior KO rate of only eight stoppages in 20 wins.
But there next came startling new revelations.
A couple of days after the announcement of the Pacquiao-Algieri bout, inputs on Algieri’s overall worth started to filter in.
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For example, there was Maloney Samaco reporting for Philboxing.com on Algieri’s enviable martial arts credentials. Samaco said Algieri, a black belter at age 15, won the amateur US Kickboxing Association Northeast Championship. As a pro, Samaco bared Algieri won the International Sport Karate Association welterweight crown and later the World Kickboxing Association super welterweight title with a clean 20-0 record, the same slate he has maintained in the professional boxing world.
Noted Victor Salazar of Tha Boxing Voice: “Algieri is a rangy fighter with a jab. He puts together nice combinations and has good footwork.”
Yes, short of telling Algieri is an elongated version of Juan Manuel Marquez, Pacquiao’s next foe has been described as a good counterpuncher who’s also a great mover.
What they failed to state is if Algieri could roll well with the punches, which would be very vital once Pacquiao starts raining firebombs from different directions.