Boxing News 2014: Chris Algieri Hungry For Huge Upset Victory Against Manny Pacquiao

Manny Pacquiao will be in a dandy of a fight on Nov. 22 as undefeated American challenger Chris Algieri declared that he’s motivated enough to pull off the upset and confident of his game plan against the Filipino pugilist.

Algieri has already started his training camp for the biggest bout of his career and the former kickboxing champion’s mindset is that of an underdog who wants to prove that he belongs with the elite boxers in boxing like Pacquiao.

“I’m very hungry for this fight,” Algieri said via CBS New York. “I’m training very hard. We’ve got a great game plan and I’m feeling very confident even this far out and it’s only going to grow as we get closer.”

Algieri (20-0-0, 8 knockouts) showed that hunger and confidence when he eked out a victory over the much favoured Ruslan Provodnikov of Russia last June 14, 2014. Algieri preserved his undefeated run and at the same time won the World Boxing Organizaton (WBO) World light welterweight title via split decision, 114-112, 114-112 and 109-117.

Algieri went down twice in the first round of the bout against Provodnikov but did enough the rest of the match to gain the right to fight one of the top pound-for-pound boxers in the world in Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 knockouts).

Algieri’s training camp is held in Long Island, New York halfway around the world from the venue of the huge fight, at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort in Macau but already he’s anticipating that his hometown crowd will egg him on and support him come fight night.

“The viewing parties are going to be very numerous on Long Island,” Algieri stated via the same article. “I know a bunch of them are being set up to be official ‘Team Algieri’ parties.”

Unheralded and a heavy 8/1 underdog months before the fight, Algieri knows the tough task ahead saying that “there’s nobody in the world like Manny Pacquiao” giving credit to the Filipino’s unorthodox style which centres around his speed and power. For comparison, Algieri was a 21/4 underdog against Provodnikov.

Algieri is saying the right things so far; respecting the world-class Pacquiao and yet trusting his own talent and believing that an upset is a possibility come November.