While Manny Pacquiao has been making headlines non-stop, especially with world boxing champion Floyd Mayweather getting keen on taking on the Filipino welterweight, he has kept his eyes on his next opponent, Chris Algieri, for their next fight on Nov. 22.
The 35-year-old Filipino boxing champ has turned his attention to full-time training, acknowledging the mixed possibilities for his bout with Algieri in China.
"I'm not taking Algieri lightly," Pacquiao said, as reported by BoxingScene. "He's taller than me and moves around the ring with savvy. That's why I started my training early."
Moreover, Pacquiao's assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez has recognized Algieri's strengths in the ring.
"Algieri uses the ring well and he loves to lean on the ropes," he commented. "We must devise a strategy to count this."
On the other hand, Algieri already expects a triumphant win over Pacquiao in their upcoming fight. As he has told International Business Times, the 30-year-old New York-born boxer believes that he will easily win over the first ever eight-division world champion.
Last June, Algieri triumphed over his Russian opponent, Ruslan Provodnikov, and acquired the WBO junior welterweight title from their match in Barclays Center. He is now preparing for a pay-per-view bout with Pacquiao, considering the upcoming fight as something he has "dreamed of."
"This is exactly what a young fighter wants," Algieri said. "This is where you see yourself before you become champion and you dream about these kinds of fights. I wanted to be a world champion and I also want to fight the best, and you can't get much better than Manny Pacquiao.
Meanwhile, when it comes to his recent bouts with Mayweather, Pacquiao has been sending him tweets purportedly aimed at his fake "Showtime: All Access" show, which Mayweather himself admitted was a means for his match with Marcos Maidana to sell.
"@FloydMayweather's testimony to the commission on All Access' authenticity tells me everything I need to know about his desire to fight me," the Filipino boxer tweeted.
To this, Mayweather responded by taking a jab at Pacquiao getting beaten up by Juan Manuel Marquez in their last fight.
"Miss Pac Man is broke and desperate for a pay day. Your Pay-Per-View numbers are a joke," Mayweather tweeted back.
