MACAU (AP) – No one questions Chris Algieri’s toughness, not after he got up from two first round knockdowns and fought half-blinded the rest of the way to somehow pull out a decision win in his June title fight with the feared Ruslan Provodnikov.
Hard to say anything negative about his boxing ability, either, behind a left jab that has carried him to 20 wins in as many professional fights.
But when it came time to put him in the spotlight against Manny Pacquiao, promoter Bob Arum struggled to find a hook that might convince boxing fans to part with their hard-earned money for a pay-per-view fight that to many looks like a mere blip in Pacquiao’s path for the bout they really want – a long awaited matchup with Floyd Mayweather Jr. for the bragging rights of the entire boxing world.
A fighter with a master’s degree in clinical nutrition who likes to prepare his meals and tweet pictures of them? Nice, but big punches are what sells in boxing, not big degrees.
A 30-year-old from a working class neighborhood on Long Island who became a world champion while still living in his parent’s basement? Good story, but boxing is full of stories that don’t really sell.