Pacquiao vs. Algieri: Examining Both Stars' Immediate Future After Title Results

After a dominant performance that earned him a lopsided unanimous-decision victory over Chris Algieri in Macau, China, on Saturday night, Manny Pacquiao is seemingly ready for the Fight of the Century.

Per several reports, talks have begun to finally put Pacquiao in the ring with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told GMA News that he is more optimistic now than he was a few years ago that the bout would happen.

Arum indicated that the networks (HBO and Showtime) have begun talking, and that a preliminary site for the megafight would be AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Pacquiao has now won three fights in a row with each win arguably being more impressive than the last. After taking nearly a year off when he was knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez, Pacquiao battered the durable but outclassed Brandon Rios in Nov. 2013.

He then avenged a controversial loss to Timothy "Desert Storm" Bradley in April 2014. Saturday night's demolition of Algieri featured six knockdowns. While some of them should have been ruled slips, there is no question Pacquiao's punching power is still there.

That's especially the case if he fights below 147 pounds like he did Saturday against Algieiri.

Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Algieri is a tough fighter. Ruslan Provodnikov put him down twice and couldn't finish him. There's really no shame in the fact that Pacquiao couldn't complete the job. Joe KO Box lauds Algieri's toughness and conditioning:

As of now, Pacquiao is as dangerous and marketable as he has been in the last four years. That could be the gift and the curse for Mayweather.

Despite being blown away, Algieri still has the talent and skills to give several prominent fighters a difficult fight. Some will look at the way Pacquiao destroyed him and use that to discredit Algieri's talent.

Every opponent isn't a future Hall of Famer who is arguably one of the 25 best fighters of all time. Algieri is still an athletic, 5'10", 140-147-pound fighter who holds the WBO light welterweight title. There will be other opportunities, and depending on who he faces next, Algieri could rebound successfully.

An interesting opponent might be Bradley.

Desert Storm took exception to Algieri implying that he was not known as a fast fighter. You can see and hear Algieri's comments, as well as Bradley's response, in the video below.

As fighters who are both signed with HBO and guys who lost to Pacquiao recently, it would seem to be a logical fight. The video is produced by the fighter's promoter, Top Rank. They may have already had plans to put this together if Algieri lost as most expected he would.

Bradley is scheduled to take on Diego Chaves on December 13. Should Bradley win, the timetables would match up nicely.

Per ESPN's Dan Rafael, Algieri made $1.67 million for his work against Pacquiao.

While he would have undoubtedly loved to win, that's not a bad consolation prize. The true test to Algieri's mettle will be how he responds to the first defeat of his combat sports career.

Only time will tell.

Follow Brian Mazique on Twitter. I dig boxing and MMA.