MANILA, Philippines – Manny Pacquiao and Chris Algieri will hold their November 23 fight at a catchweight of 144 pounds – at the insistence of the Filipino’s camp.
Algieri made the revelation in an interview with Fight Hype’s Ben Thompson, saying he originally wanted to face Pacquiao weighing exactly within the welterweight limit (147 pounds), a division where the Filipino has been seeing action for a long while.
“Absolutely! Absolutely! [on whether he prefers being a welterweight]. And even being around him on the press tour, I think that was painfully evident that I am the bigger man even though we're fighting in technically his weight class," the undefeated American explained.
"In fact, I wanted the fight to be at 147. I wanted to fight for a true welterweight title. The catchweight was on their side 100 percent," he added.
Though currently the WBO light welterweight champion, the New York-based Algieri enjoys a huge height advantage over Pacquiao. He stands at 5-foot-10, three and a half inches taller than the fighting congressman, the WBO welterweight titlist.
Team Pacquiao is no stranger to asking for fights to be held at a catchweight, obliging naturally bigger opponents to shed some pounds during fights.
Algieri, for his part, stressed he has no problem campaigning at the welterweight division. Too bad he’s not calling the shots in the Pacquiao fight.
"I'm a boxing purist. I wanted to fight for a welterweight title at 147 pounds because that's what a welterweight is. They would not budge on that," he said.
Pacquiao and Algieri will lock horns at the Cotai Arena inside The Venetian Macao in Macau, China. - Dino Maragay