Former world champion Ruslan Provodnikov sees no reason why Manny Pacquiao will cruise to a dominating win against Chris Algieri in their upcoming fight on November 22 in Macau, China.
Provodnikov, who lost his World Boxing Organization (WBO) light welterweight title to Algieri via a split decision loss in June, said in an interview with BoxingScene that there's nothing special with Algieri.
Provodnikov was responding to the recent statement of Algieri, who said: "I learned to not make mistakes. That fight wouldn't have been close if not for the first round. It would have been an easy fight. That first round skewed the scoring so much. I just had to follow the game plan."
The Russian boxer remained firm on his stance that he should have kept his world title, saying that Algieri did not do enough to score a win in their previous showdown because the 30-year-old is just good at dancing around the ring.
"Chris has no doubt in his mind that a boxing match is dancing around the ring to survive," Provodnikov said. "If that's the case then he is definitely the best in this sport. Now he has to learn to be more modest and adequate in his achievements."
Algieri, who holds a perfect 20-0 record with eight knockouts, will look to win a second world title in his WBO welterweight title fight against Pacquiao, but he will be a heavy underdog in their upcoming showdown.
But while Pacquiao knows that he will be the favorite heading into his title defense, the Filipino boxing icon said in an interview with The Guardian that he won't underestimate Algieri.
Pacquiao said that it has been a while since he last fought a much taller fighter, but the 35-year-old champion, who is four-inch shorter than Algieri, believes that his experience will be his main advantage.
"It's not the first time I fight a guy like him - all action, from all angles," Pacquiao said of Algieri. "It's been a while since I fought a guy as tall as him [5ft 10in]. This is fun. My advantage is my experience. I have to use that. I believe he is the sort of opponent who will make a good fight."
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