Manny Pacquiao will defend his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title against Chris Algieri on Saturday at Venetian Resort in Macau, China. Will Pacquiao score a knockout win against Algieri?
Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach is confident that his prized fighter will score an easy win against Algieri in their upcoming title fight, saying that Pacquiao will only need one round to dispatch his unbeaten challenger.
Roach said in an interview with PhilBoxing that he was impressed with Pacquiao's worth ethic in training, saying that the camp for the Algieri bout ranks among the best camps in Pacquiao's career.
"This is the one of the best camp we've held. Better than, say, Manny's previous eight fights or so," Roach said. "Credit should go to Manny, too, for his work ethics, sincerity and determination in following the training regimen we crafted for him."
Pacquiao's longtime adviser, Michael Koncz, echoed Roach's prediction, saying that he sees no reason why the former pound-for-pound cannot score a knockout win against Algieri on Saturday night.
"I'm confident that we will see a knockout win on November 23," Koncz told The Manila Times, referring to Pacquiao, who has not score a stoppage win since his 12th-round TKO win against Miguel Cotto in 2009.
On the other hand, former world champion Amir Khan also predicted a victory for Pacquiao. But unlike Roach and Koncz, Khan said that the fight would go the distance and that Algieri has an outside chance against the former pound-for-pound king.
"I still favor more towards Manny and I think it will go the distance, but Algieri might surprise a few people with his performance," said Khan, who sparred and trained together with Pacquiao when he was still under Roach.
Khan said that Algieri's style is tailor-made for Pacquiao, but he quickly added that Pacquiao has been slipping over the past few years, citing the 35-year-old's performance against Timothy Bradley, Brandon Rios and Juan Manuel Marquez.
"Algieri's style suits him, but Pacquiao's last few performances have not been the best," Khan said via BoxingScene. "He has been caught a bit and it might be tough for him this next one. In his last four fights, Brandon Rios was made for Pacquiao and the Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez fights took a lot out of him."
