"Absolutely! Absolutely! 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," stated WBO jr. welterweight champion Chris Algieri, who is confident that he'll have not only the height, but also the size advantage when he steps into the ring on November 22 to face WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao. According to Algieri, he actually preferred for the fight to take place at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds, however, it was Pacquiao's team who insisted on the taking place at a catchweight of 144 pounds.
"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%," Algieri explained during a recent conversation with FightHype.com. "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."
Algieri believes that Team Pacquiao's desire for him to move down in weight has more to do with getting him back to fighting with a certain style than it has to do with knockout power. "You can't be a guy shot out of a cannon for 12 rounds, like he was when he fought Lehlo Ledwaba at 122 pounds, when you're 145 pounds. It's a different weight class; it's a different sport, you know. They're fought at different speeds. The output is different. I don't care who you are, if you're putting on 25 pounds, you're going to move differently and you're going to fight differently," Algieri added.
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