Algieri won’t retreat, will go after Pacquiao

MANNY Pacquiao and challenger Chris Algieri strike a pose during yesterday’s press conference for their fight on Sunday in Macau. ROY LUARCA

MACAU—Confident he can take the power of Manny Pacquiao’s punches, Chris Algieri vows to go toe-to-toe with the ring icon when they square off for the WBO welterweight crown Sunday at The Venetian Macao’s Cotai Arena here.

“I’m not a back-pedaler,” Algieri said Wednesday night. “At times, I’ll go toe-to-toe with him. I’ll be throwing combinations.”

Algieri’s confidence stems from having survived Ruslan Provodnikov’s heavy blows to win the WBO light welterweight crown in June. The undefeated American even promised an action-packed first round, noting that they’re both in great shape.

“We’re going to go after each other,” said Algieri, who added he won’t bulk up too much for the bout, set at 144 pounds, so he can stay in step with Pacquiao.

Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach, meanwhile, said he still believes the fight will not go the distance, saying that his ward can finish off Algieri in six rounds at most.

Roach shut down Pacquiao’s training Thursday, but not after receiving heavy blows from the eight-division champion.

“I’m done. I quit,” Roach told Pacquiao after getting hit by a controlled but stinging three-punch combination to the head and body.

Top Rank chief Bob Arum expects Sunday’s fight to generate about 900,000 pay-per-view (PPV) buys based on brisk ticket sales so far.

Arum said 95 percent of the tickets have been sold as of Wednesday. The 82-year-old promoter believes the rest of the tickets for Cotai Arena, which can seat 13,500, will be wiped out before Thursday ends.

Arum is certain Pacquiao-Algieri will eclipse the sales generated when Pacquiao first fought and beat Brandon Rios by unanimous decision in this former Portuguese colony last year.

Pacquiao-Rios drew 13,101 fans and generated 450,000 PPV buys.

Holes in Pacquiao style

Algieri (20-0 with 8 knockouts) also noted that his trainers have thoroughly studied Pacquiao and found “holes in his style.”

On top of the list is Pacquiao’s vulnerability to an overhand right, something Mexican rival Juan Manuel Marquez loved to exploit. Marquez dealt Pacquiao his biggest loss thus far, a sixth-round knockout in 2012, when the Filipino icon walked into a right straight by the Mexican with a second to go.

Coincidentally, that was the last time Pacquiao hit over a million PPV buys.

NOTES: According to Bob Arum, a group of pastors will sing the Philippine national anthem for the Pacquiao-Algieri showdown. Two lovely women were reportedly barred by chief trainer Freddie Roach from the training facility Thursday. Roach saw them recording the whole training session Wednesday and he suspected them of leaking it to the Algieri camp.