Pacquiao vs. Algieri: Highlights, Post-Fight Reaction to Pac-Man's 6 Knockdowns
Manny Pacquiao severely outclassed Chris Algieri on Saturday evening as boxing's only eight-division world champion defended his WBO welterweight title with relative ease in Macau.
The 35-year-old victor never looked out of his comfort zone in claiming his unanimous decision win. Boxing Insider provides official scorecards from the result, which tell a tale in just how relentlessly Pacquiao took the fight to his victim:
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The result means Pacquiao has now won three consecutive fights since suffering back-to-back defeats in 2012 against Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez, two of which have come in front of Asian audiences.
The setting played no part in the match, however, as Pacquiao was shown to be the superior competitor in every regard, knocking his opponent down no less than six times before the bout was through.
Algieri showed a chin of steel in being able to respond against such a brutal onslaught, but in terms of mustering his own challenge, there was little to speak of as Pacquiao's speed simply made him too elusive a target.
Some were left questioning why the fixture wasn't stopped by the referee and, as Dan Rafael of ESPN points out, others criticised "Pac Man" for not chasing the knockout with more fervour:
However, the Filipino titan has built his career on intelligent structuring of matches, and his nonstop barrage of well-selected punches were more than enough to pave the way to victory.
The knockdowns themselves were fine examples of that pragmatism, venomous moments of opportunity that provided the highlights in an otherwise calm display from the welterweight champion.
From the offset it seemed clear who would dictate the tempo, and after landing a big right hook in the second round, Pacquiao's swarm began by swelling Algieri's left eye.
It would prove to be the start of his assault, and despite his speed under pressure, Pacquiao was almost peaceful in his work, leaving Algieri to chase the knockout during the fight's latter stages.
As Rafael reports, Pac-Man is now in the hunt to seal a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. next year:
It was always inevitable that talk of the long-anticipated fixture between two of this generation's greatest servants would be hyped as a possibility in lieu of a Pacquiao win.
Lyle Fitzsimmons spoke to Bleacher Report's Stephen Nelson in light of Saturday's result to discuss the possibility of finally seeing this fixture come to fruition:
Without damning Algieri of the fine work that saw him go the distance against an opponent clearly strides ahead of him, it was disappointing that such a talent didn't provide more of a test.
Not least of those left unimpressed with the challenge was Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach, who was quoted by the Daily Mail's Jeff Powell giving a derogatory assessment of his fighter's slain foe:
"All he did was run. He showed none of the guts that got him off the canvas to win his light-welter title against Ruslan Provodnikov."
Harsh words, perhaps, but Roach was in no way off the mark by suggesting this wasn't the same Algieri we saw against Provodnikov. Granted, the step up in class would always be a test, but the occasion itself seemed to overwhelm before the first bell had sounded.
Or at least that's the impression "The King of New York" gave while backing off Pacquiao's probes with worrying frequency, struggling to land any telling blows.
As ESPN shows, Algieri landed just 108 of his 469 thrown punches, equating to 23 percent against an opponent that just ghosted out of his grasp too easily.
For Pacquiao, future prospects turn to bigger and better things, and fans can only hope his next competition provides a more thrilling affair. Mayweather would be the dream.
Algieri, on the other hand, has a reputation that now needs some rebuilding. His perfect record has received its first blemish, and he'll be left disappointed to have looked all too amateurish against far classier opposition.
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