RIDING the crest of his impressive fifth-round devastation of Chris Algieri, unbeaten welterweight Errol Spence, who has a record 20-0 with 17 knockouts, has followed promoter Lou DiBella’s boast that he was ready to bet his house and lot on him beating eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao.
This is should Pacquiao come out of his announced retirement and fight again following his dominant victory over Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley in their third fight last April 9 in Las Vegas, in which he dropped the American twice, once in Round 7 and once more in Round 9.
Spence decked Algieri three times before the referee decided to call a halt to the one-sided bout.
And although Pacquiao dropped Algieri six times, he couldn’t put him away, which is sparking Spence’s confidence that he could beat the Filipino ring icon.
Boxing Scene reported that when Spence was asked to explain why he was so successful in finishing Algieri off and why Pacquiao, after six knockdowns, was unable to close the show, said: “While Pacquiao was strong and fast, he lacks some of the basic fundamentals for a good boxer —like cutting off the ring.”
Pacquiao’s inability to properly cut off the ring allowed Algieri to last the full distance and also hurt the Filipino star when he lost a 12-round decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last May, according to the opinion of Spence.
When Algieri was seriously hurt, Spence prevented him from getting away by cutting off the ring.
“It goes back to what my coach said. Manny Pacquiao is a hard puncher, he’s quick—but he lacks fundamentals and that’s what I’m big on….fundamentals. I can cut off the ring, I can vary up my punches. Manny Pacquiao, he can’t cut off the ring—as you’ve seen with Floyd and as you’ve seen with Algieri. When Chris Algieri got hurt with Pacquaio, he was able to move and recover. When I had Chris Algieri hurt, I didn’t allow him to do that,” Spence said.