Pacquiao still the barometer

There seems to be a palpable feeling going about that most folk are not too keen about Manny Pacquiao’s upcoming welterweight battle against the undefeated (20-0) Chris Algieri on Nov. 23 in Macao.

Well, of late this has been a common trend with most Pacquiao fights.  But just when you thought there wasn’t much interest, people line up a day before or just in time to catch the fight at the theaters.  Those accustomed to the endless stream of TV commercials will watch just as well.

After all, it is Pacquiao fighting and we’re down to his last couple of big fights.  We all want to be there even if we weren’t around at the beginning of his career.  His detractors are waiting for a major debacle while the faithful others want to be on the sideline for a glorious finish of a great Filipino boxing champion.

So it’s Algieri for now until somebody named Floyd Mayweather Jr. decides that there’s just too much money to be earned in a Pacquiao fight.

Seasoned boxing analyst Al Bernstein says that Algieri is a fresh, new face on the boxing block.  He adds that Algieri is not a recycled fighter and deserves this shot at Pacquiao.  He has what it takes to go toe-to-toe with Pacquiao.

In a recent bloody battle with Russian Ruslan Provodnikov, Algieri survived two KOs and boxed out a decision in the end.

In that same battle, however, Algieri went home with a badly battered right eye that was almost shut.  Checking this fight out on YouTube, you couldn’t help but recall the Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito fight in Dallas a few years back.  Pacquiao punished the taller Margarito, a fight the referee should have stopped because of the wounded face and nearly closed eyes of the Mexican.

Algieri has the height advantage at five feet 10 inches against Pacquiao’s five feet six.  But as in the Margarito fight, Pacquiao doesn’t need too much height to cause damage.  He just has too much hand speed even at 37 years old and will find the angles faster than Algieri.

It’s interesting how Algieri is being depicted as the underdog with even Sylvester Stallone lending a hand to shower the young fighter with the Rocky aura.  Rocky of course is cinema’s ultimate underdog who turned his fortunes around.

It’s a great thing that Pacquiao is not the loud-mouthed, bad champion like Apollo Creed in the Rocky series.  Instead, he must be simply dishing out that impish smile of his because he is still the standard by which many fighters today have to be measured.

Follow me on Twitter @sportssev.