Pacquiao to revive vicious streak vs Algieri

MACAU – “Two days na lang (Just two days more)!”

Manny Pacquiao repeated the statement several times as he shook out before a workout on Friday afternoon, November 21, signifying that there were just two days left before he fights Chris Algieri at The Venetian Macau. 

Restless from sitting inside his penthouse room at the luxury casino, Pacquiao insisted on one final training session with Freddie Roach. For 6 rounds, Roach held the mitts for Pacquiao, bracing as he pounded the padded chest protector with additional, unannounced punches, including one straight left to the solar plexus that momentarily knocked the wind out of Roach.

“Today, I’m feeling good. I’m ready for the fight. For the battle,” said Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 knockouts).

The mood in the gym wasn’t moribund, however. Pacquiao was all smiles, mimicking the turnaround jumpshot he uses on the basketball court and reciting lines from his recent commercial for American shoe store Foot Locker. (“He’s going to fight me!”) 

(WATCH: Pacquiao pokes fun at Mayweather fight in commercial)

“It isn’t so much the physical shape as it is his mentality,” said Roach, when asked about what makes Pacquiao so potent a fighter as he heads into his clash with the unbeaten New Yorker.  

“He’s really fired up. Usually when he hits me with a good shot sometimes and he knows he hurt me, he’ll say sorry. This time he just fucking stays on me. He knocked me down one day on the mitts. He knocked down two sparring partners for the first time in a while. Everything I see is very good.” 

(RELATED: ‘Pacman’ Pacquiao expected to gobble up Algieri)

Roach, like much of the public, had been critical of Pacquiao’s in-ring compassion in past years, where the 8-division champion intentionally backed off of compromised opponents to avoid seriously hurting them. 

That was in sharp contrast with the hungry, vicious Pacquiao who first hit American shores in 2001 with a sixth-round upset dismantling of Lehlohonolo Ledwaba, or the breathtaking violence that he exhibited in his star-making eleventh round technical knockout of Marco Antonio Barrera in 2003. 

These were leaner times in Pacquiao’s life, before the mansions and endorsement deals and private planes. This was before he became the player-coach of a professional basketball team just because he was Manny Pacquiao.  

Many wondered whether he could still fight the same way he did when he was a desperate young fighter trying to secure his place in the world, now that he had millions to his name. 

There were hints of his killer instinct in his most recent fight, when he turned the tables on Timothy Bradley to avenge an earlier controversial decision loss. Pacquiao pushed the fight throughout, desperately seeking the knockout that has eluded him for the past 5 years. 

Roach thinks the ruthless version of Pacquiao – and the knockouts – are ready to re-emerge. 

“I think it bothered him when people talked about him not knocking people out, being too compassionate and being too nice. I’m one of those people too because I’m hard on him over why he doesn’t finish [off] people,” said Roach.

“He’d say, ‘I just wanted to win the fight, I didn’t want to hurt the guy.’ Well you know Manny they’re trying to hurt you and one punch could change the fight. We saw that in the fight recently that one punch did change the fight.  

“He’s trying to use his combinations and speed, and if he hurts [Algieri] I think he will finish him.”

Algieri, 30, of Huntington, N.Y., has shown himself to be a durable fighter, surviving two first round knockdowns and a badly swollen eye in his last bout against Ruslan Provodnikov, to win a split decision and the WBO junior welterweight title.  

Algieri’s best weapon is his left jab, and Roach feels the key to victory will be if they can negate that punch and establish their own southpaw right jab.

“If [Algieri’s] jab doesn’t work he’s gonna be lost out there. He’s got a pretty good jab, a good left hand,” said Roach. 

“Manny has a really good jab. He probably has the best jab in the business but he doesn’t like to use it that much. For this fight he’s gonna have to. He’s working on it quite a bit. He used it a lot against [Oscar] de la Hoya and it worked well.” 

Roach says Pacquiao has returned to the regimen that initially brought them success, with more emphasis on hitting the heavy bag and fewer rounds on the punch mitts, which have less give and make for a harder punching Pacquiao. 

None of the reports of Pacquiao’s preparedness have shaken the Algieri camp, however. At Thursday’s media roundtable, trainer Tim Lane compared the lack of questions to the sound of the arena on Sunday. 

“It’s funny because this is the gonna be the sound of the arena except for the 30 fans we have. It’s going to be quiet time,” said Lane. 

(RELATED: Pacquiao is another level above Algieri, says Roach)

Lane, who guided Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) from a career in kickboxing to professional boxing without any amateur experience, has been very vocal about his fighter’s chances, going as far as predicting an Algieri win by knockout, despite having only stopped two of his last 9 opponents.

“I truly believe the fight will not go the distance. I believe that Manny is gonna go to sleep and go back home and retire,” said Lane. “Chris Algieri is too much.” 

He added: “No one has ever known or seen anything like Chris Algieri. There’s been bits and pieces of people with greatness but Chris Algieri has the full circle. When you have the full circle and you have the full universe on your side, when you do everything right, you don’t cut corners and you’re always honest with yourself, this is what happens.” 

For Roach’s part, he feels Algieri has no real punching power and discredits Algieri’s handlers as kickboxing people in a boxer’s world.

“He’s a kickboxing coach, that’s all I have to say,” said Roach, who fought 53 times as a pro boxer from 1978-86. “They’re very cocky people and I just don’t like that. Everyone sees it, Manny does too.”

“ I question Lane’s strategies but we’ll see.”

If both camps are accurate in the assessment of their fighters, the thing the people wanted will finally happen. And it won’t be a shoe sale, but a knockout. – Rappler.com