Errol Spence Jr. vs. Chris Algieri: Winner, Recap and Reaction
On Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brookyln, New York, Errol Spence Jr. (20-0, 17 KO) did what Manny Pacquiao and Ruslan Provodnikov could not. Spence stopped Chris Algieri (21-3) with a punishing and professional demolition job to earn a fifth-round TKO victory. Spence floored Algieri three times in the fight.
The boxing world exploded with praise for the former Olympian after his win. FightHubTV's Mick Akers, ESPN.com's Dan Rafael and Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole chimed in:
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Spence announced he's ready for all contenders during the post-fight interview, per Premier Boxing Champions:
After a somewhat slow first round, Spence went to work in the second. The 26-year-old began to land hard body shots and fierce straight rights through Algieri's guard. Spence scored his first knockdown of the fight with a left hook that caught Algieri on the right temple.
Algieri didn't go down at first, but he stumbled to the canvas a half-second after the shot landed. Algieri pounded the canvas in frustration, but the shot dazed him. He would make it out of the fourth, but he'd see the end in the next round.
In the decisive round, Spence came looking for the finish. A straight right hand put Algieri down for a second time. Referee Benjy Esteves Jr. decided to give Algieri a chance to recover. He could not.
A big right hand sent Algieri sprawling on the seat of his pants into the ropes, and Esteves had seen enough.
Provodnikov floored Algieri twice in the first round before the rugged New Yorker got off the canvas to win a unanimous decision in 2014. In November 2014, Algieri was knocked down six times in a lopsided unanimous-decision loss to Pacquiao.
Algieri had never been stopped, but Spence made it look easy. It wouldn't be unusual to see Spence get a shot at the winner of Keith Thurman vs. Shawn Porter. The bout has been rescheduled for June 25, per Dan Ambrose of Boxing News 24. It was originally supposed to happen on March 12, but Thurman was in a car accident, and, thus, the bout had to be postponed.
While facing Algieri was a significant step up in quality of competition for Spence, facing Thurman or Porter would be an even bigger jump. Algieri is a quick and skilled fighter, but he doesn't have much punching power.
Spence walked through his shots to get to his own offense. He won't be able to do that against Thurman, Porter or even Danny Garcia. That's not to say Spence couldn't beat all three, but there's no question there are bigger challenges ahead for the promising welterweight.
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