Algieri backpedals as the 11th round ends

MANILA, Philippines–Chris Algieri tapped his reserve winds and threw a combination to Manny Pacquiao at the start of the 11th round.

Another episode of Algieri’s backpedals but Pacquiao wanted a fight as the champion closed in on the American and landed another left straight.

Pacquiao acknowledged Algieri’s efforts as chants of “Manny! Manny!” from the thousands of fans in Cotai Arena showered the Filipino.

And it’s a clinic for Pacquiao as the fight went to the 12th and final round.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Algieri won’t retreat, will go after Pacquiao

MACAU—Confident he can take the power of Manny Pacquiao’s punches, Chris Algieri vows to go toe-to-toe with the ring icon when they square off for the WBO welterweight crown Sunday at The Venetian Macao’s Cotai Arena here.

“I’m not a back-pedaler,” Algieri said Wednesday night. “At times, I’ll go toe-to-toe with him. I’ll be throwing combinations.”

Algieri’s confidence stems from having survived Ruslan Provodnikov’s heavy blows to win the WBO light welterweight crown in June. The undefeated American even promised an action-packed first round, noting that they’re both in great shape.

“We’re going to go after each other,” said Algieri, who added he won’t bulk up too much for the bout, set at 144 pounds, so he can stay in step with Pacquiao.

Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach, meanwhile, said he still believes the fight will not go the distance, saying that his ward can finish off Algieri in six rounds at most.

Roach shut down Pacquiao’s training Thursday, but not after receiving heavy blows from the eight-division champion.

“I’m done. I quit,” Roach told Pacquiao after getting hit by a controlled but stinging three-punch combination to the head and body.

Top Rank chief Bob Arum expects Sunday’s fight to generate about 900,000 pay-per-view (PPV) buys based on brisk ticket sales so far.

Arum said 95 percent of the tickets have been sold as of Wednesday. The 82-year-old promoter believes the rest of the tickets for Cotai Arena, which can seat 13,500, will be wiped out before Thursday ends.

Arum is certain Pacquiao-Algieri will eclipse the sales generated when Pacquiao first fought and beat Brandon Rios by unanimous decision in this former Portuguese colony last year.

Pacquiao-Rios drew 13,101 fans and generated 450,000 PPV buys.

Holes in Pacquiao style

Algieri (20-0 with 8 knockouts) also noted that his trainers have thoroughly studied Pacquiao and found “holes in his style.”

On top of the list is Pacquiao’s vulnerability to an overhand right, something Mexican rival Juan Manuel Marquez loved to exploit. Marquez dealt Pacquiao his biggest loss thus far, a sixth-round knockout in 2012, when the Filipino icon walked into a right straight by the Mexican with a second to go.

Coincidentally, that was the last time Pacquiao hit over a million PPV buys.

NOTES: According to Bob Arum, a group of pastors will sing the Philippine national anthem for the Pacquiao-Algieri showdown. Two lovely women were reportedly barred by chief trainer Freddie Roach from the training facility Thursday. Roach saw them recording the whole training session Wednesday and he suspected them of leaking it to the Algieri camp.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Rios says he wasn’t hurt, lauds Pacquiao’s speed

MANILA, Philippines – Even with his face swollen from all the beating, Brandon Rios insisted that Manny Pacquiao didn’t hurt him throughout their 12-round welterweight bout Sunday at the CotaiArena at The Venetian Hotel and Casino in Macau.

“He never hurt me,” Rios, who sustained a cut just below his left eye, said during the post-fight presser after Pacquiao cruised to a trouble-free unanimous decision win.

But what the 27-year-old Rios, who folded under the bright lights of his first pay-per-view fight, couldn’t ignore was Pacquiao’s undiminished quickness and hand speed.

“What got me was just the speed and the awkwardness,” Rios admitted. “He’s very fast. He has a lot of different angles. He’s difficult to box against.”

“I put my heart and soul into this fight. The best Manny Pacquiao showed up tonight.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

‘Careful’ Pacquiao learns lesson from Marquez loss

The sellout crowd at Cotai Arena inside the grandiose Venetian Macau Hotel and Casino rose to its feet in anticipation of a knockout that never came.

And there’s a reason behind it as Manny Pacquiao would admit.

“I’m very careful. I learned from my last fight,” a victorious Pacquiao said in an interview with HBO’s Larry Merchant before breaking a smile.

Pacquiao, whose hand was finally raised after scoring a lopsided decision over hard-as-nails Brandon Rios, didn’t show any effects from his devastating knockout loss to rival Juan Manuel Marquez 11 months ago as he reverted back to old lethal form.

“Recovering from the knockout and putting on a good show like the young Manny Pacquiao,” he said of his stirring comeback performance.

There wasn’t a knockout, stoppage nor even a knockdown but Pacquiao’s performance nonetheless showed flashes of his old self as he circled around a flat-footed Rios after throwing combination after combination like that of his sterling showing in his 12th round stoppage of Miguel Cotto four years ago.

The only difference was the brash Rios stayed on his feet and repeatedly gestured he wasn’t hurt despite his head getting cocked back over and over from Pacquiao’s flurry.

“I didn’t see Rios as an easy opponent. He is tough,” Pacquiao, who turns 35 next month, commended. “He is one of the toughest opponents of my career, he took a lot of punches.”

The bell rang signaling the end of the 12-round bout with Pacquiao’s face draped in sweat while Rios’ showed a badly beaten fighter, his left eye deeply cut, his right eye swelling and nose bloodied.

The crowd sensed a knockout was looming in the dwindling seconds. It never happened and judging by how Rios looked as the bell sounded, Pacquiao perhaps didn’t need one.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Pacquiao is back, beats Rios in 12 rounds

MANILA, Philippines– With a fight that went the distance, eight-time world champion Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao made his comeback known with a convincing victory over Brandon “Bambam” Rios at their bout held at the Cotai Arena at the Venetian.

Dubbed as The Clash in Cotai, the 12-rounder saw Pacquiao dominate the bigger Rios landing uppercuts and straights, with the southpaw cruising to a unanimous decision victory, 120-108, 119-109, 118-110, adding the WBO International Welterweight Championship belt to his impressive trophy case.

Pacquiao, coming off two straight defeats, took a careful approach against the hard-hitting Rios who looked like a smaller Antonio Margarito after the southpaw landed quality power punches.

“I wanted to give a good show,” said Pacquiao who put on a methodical showcase throughout the 12 rounds.

From the opening bell, Pacquiao threw his left straights as if it were jabs, landing massive blows to the head of Rios who sustained a cut above his left eye in the fourth round.

A tired Rios only to land light jabs, relying on the clinch to hit power punches on the smaller Pacquiao with the former nursing a swollen right eye after his left brow blew open.

Continuous combinations opened up the match for Pacquiao as he took the driver seat as early as the fifth round then maintained his careful pace until the final bell.

Though Rios managed to bring the fight to the ropes, but Pacquiao’s evasiveness dwindled the Mexican’s chances of landing points in score card as Pacquiao’s constant counters proved too much.

In an act of pure sportsmanship from the Filipino, Pacquiao gave his felled opponent a hug after the bell signified the bout’s end.

source: sports.inquirer.net