"Yeah, absolutely. It's been a great training camp. We've been learning quite a bit. John has been bringing out a lot of aspects of my style, things I can do in the ring that I haven't had an opportunity to show just yet...I'm just a very hungry fighter at this point. I'm coming off my first loss as a professional, and watching Pacquiao and Mayweather fight this weekend has spurred me on even that much more, made me that much more of a hungry fighter," stated former world champion Chris Algieri, who spoke to the media during a recent conference call to promote his upcoming May 29 clash with fellow former world champion Amir Khan. Check out what else he had to say!
Chris Algieri: Hello, everybody. I'd like to thank Lou DiBella Entertainment for working with my promoter Joe DeGuardia's Star Boxing. It's a pleasure to be back at Barclays Center. We fought a year ago last June, had a great fight, won my first world title. I'm also excited to be fighting on Spike TV. Thank you for hosting the event. It's a whole new network to fight on. I'm very excited about it all.
Q: Chris, you've had time to work with John David Jackson now. Do you see him changing you in any significant way?
C. Algieri: Yeah, absolutely. It's been a great training camp. We've been learning quite a bit. John has been bringing out a lot of aspects of my style, things I can do in the ring that I haven't had an opportunity to show just yet.
We're both very excited about this fight, excited about what we're going to be able to do on fight night the 29th. Learning new aspects in a sport I love has been an eye-opening experience and enjoyable one as well.
Q: Taking someone on like Amir Khan, someone with his experience, the people he's fought, I know you've kind of made the step up in these last two fights to a higher level, but this could have been an opportunity for you to take a little bit easier fight. Why did you keep it this tough right here?
C. Algieri: You know, I've never been that guy, to take an easy route or an easy fight. I've come up very fast in both of the sports I've come up in. Even at a young age when I was kickboxing, I took on big fights. In my young boxing career, it's been a constant step-up my entire career.
I have not been one of those guys who has moved along gingerly. I've been excited to tackle big opponents and big fights on big stages. This is par for the course for my career.
Q: Chris, you were in the ring with Pacquiao before. Obviously there's a shoulder injury he says he's had for quite some time. Was there anything you felt when you were in there, maybe you saw a difference in him, different from when he fought you?
C. Algieri: I didn't really see anything physically. I saw a little more mental. He seemed more focused from my fight, to tell you the truth. Even at the weigh-in, he was kind of bubbly and smiley at the Mayweather weigh-in. He wasn't that way with myself when we were in China. That's neither here nor there. You don't know whether that could be anything. That's kind of a hard question to answer for someone else.
Q: What does this fight mean for you going forward? A win against a top name in boxing would do wonders for your career. Tell us what a win would mean for your career moving forward.
C. Algieri: Yeah, I don't want to speak for Amir or any other fighter out there, but we're all competitors. We're all out there to win. There's a reason we do this at the elite level. You have to have a burning desire to be a winner.
Amir is a champion, a former champion. I'm a former champion, a champion myself. That will and desire to always want to win is there. There's a lot of questions that are being asked. You have to win this fight. Of course, you have to win this fight. That's how boxing is. That's what competition is. You have to win to get the big fights.
That's one of the great things about this sport: when you keep winning, good things happen. Of course, we're all very hungry to get this victory and move on with our careers. I'm in exactly the same place. This is a huge fight, a huge opportunity. As with any other fight, I want to win.
Q: Chris, in this fight there's been a lot of discussion what Amir is going to do in his next fight, all this. You're in some ways being overlooked in this. Tell us what you think your advantages are over Amir and why you think you're going to be able to win this fight.
C. Algieri: All the talk is none of my concern, to tell you the truth. I'm focused on training, preparing the best that I can for this fight. I've been working hard, working on a lot of new things with John David Jackson. Great sparring so far.
I'm just a very hungry fighter at this point. I'm coming off my first loss as a professional, and watching Pacquiao and Mayweather fight this weekend has spurred me on even that much more, made me that much more of a hungry fighter.
It's one of those things, you have a guy in great shape that is really hungry for the win. I think that's a big advantage in any fight.
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