MACAU—When Chris Algieri fought Ruslan Provodnikov last June, he caught the attention of five-time Trainer of the Year Freddie Roach.
Pitted against Manny Pacquiao, however, Algieri disappointed Roach on Sunday.
Roach said the Algieri he saw in Macau was a far cry from the tough, resilient boxer who fought back from two first-round knockdowns to stun the Russian Provodnikov and capture the Wold Boxing Organization light welterweight crown.
“He showed heart and balls,” Roach said of Algieri then.
But after feeling the sting and snap of Pacquiao’s punches on Sunday, Algieri transformed into another fighter.
“All he did was run,” said Roach, noting that Algieri never engaged Pacquiao toe-to-toe as he promised in the runup to the headliner of Clash in Cotai II at The Venetian Macao.
Roach did not blame Algieri entirely, however.
He had repeatedly said that Algieri is not in the level of Pacquiao, an eight-division world champion.
Even when Algieri boasted that his ring generalship, not his reach advantage, would propel him to victory over Pacquiao, Roach gave the American the benefit of the doubt.
When Algieri announced that he would be able to hurt Pacquiao and stop him altogether, Roach just shrugged it off.
But after Algieri’s near-shutout loss to Pacquiao, Roach had something to say for all the world to take note of: “The master boxer was given a master class by Professor Pacquiao.”