MACAU – Chris Algieri is being treated like a rock star here in Macau and the undefeated boxer with celebrity looks is enjoying every minute of it.
Algieri flew in last Friday for Sunday’s showdown with Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao at the Cotai Arena of The Venetian, and is being paraded like he’s here to do a concert.
He was mobbed by fans and hotel employees at the main lobby of the enormous five-star hotel, some waving cardboard posters of the good-looking fighter.
Algieri also had his handprints molded the way it’s done by Hollywood stars. In one gym session here, Algieri posed before the cameras like Lou Ferrigno.
“Great fan support here,” Algieri said Monday.
Pacquiao, who plays the lead role here, left General Santos City yesterday afternoon, in one of two A320 airbuses provided by AirAsia.
Pacquiao entourage alone, perhaps numbering 300, is enough to fill the main lobby of the hotel.
The reigning WBO welterweight champion sparred a couple more rounds at the Wild Card in General Santos City before packing up for Macau.
It’s fight week here, and on Tuesday, the two boxers will be formally welcomed at The Venetian.
The final press conference is set Wednesday to be followed by the official weigh-in Saturday morning. The fight will take place Sunday noon.
Even before he came here, Algieri said the days and weeks leading to the fight were like no other.
“It’s been fantastic. It’s the kind of stuff that you want as a fighter coming up. I am now a champion and fighting at the elite level and you want this kind of exposure,” he said.
“A lot of guys say this, but when it comes they really don’t want it. I’m not that kind of guy. This stuff gets me up. I’ve got a lot of pressure on me and I ride it to the top,” Algieri added.
Well, he has to feel the pressure because Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, said a few days ago that the fight could be over in one round.
“I hope he (Pacquiao) gets him in one,” Roach said.
But Algieri has insisted that Roach’s words can’t do any damage.
“My stance is to not go back-and-forth and I am not fighting Freddie. That’s not the man I have to box with so I am not going to go back-and-forth firing darts at each other,” said Algieri.