Freddie Roach breaks down Manny Pacquiao versus Chris Algieri

Manny Pacquiao

THE JAB

โ€œHeโ€™s got a good jab, a good left hand. I think thatโ€™s his best weapon,โ€ Manny Pacquiaoโ€™s trainer Freddie Roach said of Chris Algieri, their opponent on Sunday (November 23) at the Cotai Arena in Macau.

But he cautioned, โ€œMannyโ€™s got a real good jab. He probably has the best jab in the business but he doesnโ€™t like to use it that much. In this fight heโ€™s going to have to and we worked on that quite a bit. He used it a lot of in the De La Hoya fight, it worked very well and I think thatโ€™s part of the plan. If we can take his jab away and use ours faster and more effectively, I think thatโ€™ll be the key to the fight.

โ€œ[Algieri] has a pretty good jab but you can take that away easily. Itโ€™ll be taken away in the first round, heโ€™ll stop throwing it.โ€

MOVEMENT

โ€œIโ€™m expecting him to move and try to outbox us,โ€ Roach continued. โ€œItโ€™s a big ring, it maybe favours our opponent a little bit. I would like a smaller ring but itโ€™s a ring that weโ€™re used to. It was the same last time. It didnโ€™t help our last opponent and I donโ€™t think itโ€™s going to help this one either.

โ€œI think his defence is pretty good because of his foot movement. Not because of blocking punches with his hands. He has good foot movement, he floats around the outside of the ring, but that is not impossible to cut off. If a good fight knows how to cut the ring off and set traps, itโ€™ll only work for a certain amount of time.

THE APPROACH

โ€œ[Body shots] come into play, take the legs away. Theyโ€™re very important in a fight like this for Manny. But the thing is, [Algieri is] kind of tall, rangy and so forth, high guard, the body is open. Itโ€™ll be part of our attack,โ€ Freddie said.

โ€œ[Pacquiao] has to get in close. Mid-range is Algieriโ€™s territory.

โ€œWeโ€™re going to try to make it exciting. Weโ€™re going to cut the ring off. Weโ€™re going to set traps. Weโ€™re well prepared for that style. Weโ€™re not going to make this a boring fight. One thing about Algieri, if you get him in position and you start exchanging with him, he will throw back. He is brave. You saw with Ruslan [Provodnikov], he has guts. Weโ€™re going to get him into exchanges and thatโ€™s going to help the fight.โ€

Pacquiaoโ€™s trainer does see flaws in the challenger. โ€œSquare on, a kickboxer, a lot of mistakes,โ€ Roach insisted. โ€œKickboxers usually donโ€™t do well in boxing in the history of the sport. Iโ€™m not saying everybody. I question his strategy but weโ€™ll see.โ€

PACQUIAOโ€™S EXPERIENCE

โ€œWhen [Algieri] fought Ruslan he showed a lot of heart and a lot of balls to get up,โ€ Freddie conceded. โ€œHe was hurt really bad, his eye was shut and so forth. Ruslanโ€™s a good young fighter, heโ€™s still very young. He blew the Bradley fight because he overdid it and blew that fight because he didnโ€™t really know what to do with the two knockdowns. He got so tired trying to finish the guy. Ruslanโ€™s a heavy puncher and so forth but heโ€™s not Manny Pacquiao and Manny Pacquiao is a much better boxer, much smarter, much more experienced. If Manny knocks a guy down twice, he knows what to do with it. Believe me.โ€

CLICK HERE FOR ALGIERIโ€™S OWN TAKE ON THE FIGHT

TO READ MORE ON PACQUIAO-ALGIERI CLICK HERE

For the full Pacquiao-Algieri preview donโ€™t miss this weekโ€™s issue of Boxing News, available via our app on iTunes and Google Play.
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