Chris Algieri’s corner kept on saying in-between rounds that their fighter was “right where we want to be.” This was all right in the early rounds against Manny Pacquiao. And even when the American was floored in the second round, the coaching seemed to be well placed.
But after the sixth round, Algieri was decked twice more. The coaching pitch was still the same. It was clear that Algieri was not in the same league as Pacquiao, who went all out to floor the American three more times to hammer out a decisive unanimous decision.
It was clear that Mommy Dionisia, Pacman’s engaging and colorful mother, had a better plan all along. She prayed over Manny before the fight, during the battle and right before the decision. Despite their differences now on how to now pray to the Almighty, it was clear that the two still had a bond that only they could connect to.
The usual questions as to whether Pacquiao let up and released the gas pedal and did not have what it takes to completely destroy Algieri with a thunderous knockout are mute and useless. Pacquiao still has it because you don’t floor an opponent who is four inches taller, with a longer reach of five inches and is younger by five years that easily.
His volume of punches was too much for Algieri to handle. Again, no matter how much video of Pacquiao you watch or how many southpaw sparring partners you get, there is no easy way to handle Pacquiao once you are with him in the ring. Pacquiao’s power, once it connects, is a force of nature.
Throughout the fight, Algieri’s legs were all jumbled up like spaghetti in a bowl when Pacquiao would attack. Two of the knockdowns may have been complicated by the slick corner Algieri backpedalled into but the four other knockdowns, especially the first one in Round Nine, was so devastating that there was no question of who was the far superior fighter.
So Algieri is out of the way for now. So did anybody call Floyd Mayweather Jr. or did anyone from the undefeated American call Bob Arum? Are we now finally going to see a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight happen? There’s nobody left for those two and this generation deserves the fight it wants.
Or do we get Mommy Dionisia to do one of her prayers to make the fight happen? She’s been successful in Pacquiao’s last two fights and could make the fight of all fights happen.
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