Algieri chooses Mayweather, explains why, also compares old to new Pacquiao.

I've never really had a chance to sit and here a complete breakdown on Algieri's experience with Pacquiao and his prediction for the fight, but here is a recent one on ESPN.

"I expected Manny to be a little more reckless like he's been in past fights, most notably the Marquez fight, all of them really. I think he's really improved as a fighter. An old dog can learn new tricks. He showed a lot of poise in the fight with me, but he still looked like he had the fire of old. . . .he was really prepared, in great shape, and he was kind of able to mesh his furious style with being a better boxer.

I mean, he looked sharper than ever. He showed a lot of things that really I and my team did not really expect. You know, the hand speed, the punching power, those were all expected, but his timing and his rhythm and, of course, his awkward punching- which you really cannot prepare for- but, he's got this amazing ability to still generate power without having his feet set which makes him a dangerous opponent very everybody, anybody."


Algieri explained how he chooses Mayweather to win due to reasons we all know- doesn't make mistakes, tight defense, etc - but one interesting thing was... he said Mayweather looked aged against Maidana, and said fighters age overnight. He continued saying if Mayweather did get old overnight then he could see Pacquiao winning.

Another quote,

"I don't think it's Floyd's defense that will be the difference, but his counterpunching. I think that's where the problems come from. I think if he Floyd tried to stand in front of him and shoulder-roll defense then he's going to get hit. Pacquiao's punches come from very strange angles. It's not so much that you can't see them, it's more of you just don't expect them to be coming from that angle and still be able to generate power. Because sometimes you're in a position where you know a guy can't hit hard with that hand so there's less of a danger. Pacquiao's not that guy. He's dangerous from positions where you wouldn't think he would be. So, if Floyd tries to stand there and kind of pick shots off, Pacquiao's speed and punching variation will present a lot of problems, but I don't think it's going to get to that. I think Floyd's ability to counterpuncher from the outside is going to be the difference."

You can see the full interview here http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=12548655

 

Honestly not surprised with his pick. I tend to see more aggressive fighters pick Manny and pure boxers pick Floyd. Algieri makes good points though.

 

Same. Minus the one he did for his fight with Pacquiao haha