You saw it happen. And then saw it happen again. And again. Chris Algieri, Long Island’s favorite son, got to and kept getting to what many would say is/was an elite class fighter in Amir “King” Khan, a fighter who was supposed to be head and shoulders above the former champion kick boxer, Algieri.
After-all, Khan made easy work in the past against fellow metropolitan boxing talents like Luis Collazo, Zab Judah, and Paulie Malignaggi.
Algieri (20-2, 8 KOs) may have lost the fight tonight to Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) by unanimous decision (115-113, 117-111, 117-111), but his stock as a world class fighter rose straight through the roof of the Barclays Center with as good a performance as Chris Algieri can give at this point in his boxing career. And that’s pretty darn good it turns out! The fact is Algieri has just twenty-two professional fights under his belt, with no amateur boxing experience. I repeat, none.
So how did he do it? First and last, he used unrelenting aggression, which allowed him to cut off the ring a fleet-footed Khan to work his body and get close enough to land some powerful left hands. Algieri also was ready to take two in order to give one. Fighting someone with the reflexes of Khan, it is inevitable that you will get hit while mounting an attack or even pulling out from one. Many times in the fight Algieri braced himself for the blur of fists coming his way by keeping a high guard and squatting low so the punches that passed through were at least not coming straight on. This allowed Algieri to come forward.
How else did Algieri perform so well against “King” Khan? Well, maybe it was something he already did. Sometimes in order to go forward, you first have to fall backward. With the 2014 loss to Pacquiao, many fight pundits felt Algieri really did not belong on the big stage. Yeah, to whoop up on a brutish Provodnikov is nothing to sneeze at but when it came to A-class fighters of great skill and excellence, fighters like Khan, for instance, Algieri just wasn’t there. That is until John David Jackson became his new head trainer.
Most renowned of late for being the trainer of reigning WBO, WBA, and IBF light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev, Jackson has also brought up five other world champions, as well as being a two time world champion himself.
In the post-fight press conference, Jackson mentioned that he can train any fighter for a tailor-made style for whoever the opponent is. Jackson further explained that he does not look to simply improve on what a fighter already does well, but actually to change a fighter—teach him, as it were—so that he can truly take advantage of his dance partner in that ring. Jackson said that he can teach many styles because he himself was able to be a chameleon in the ring as a champion fighter. Judging from his commitment to the fight plan, Algieri is definitely a teacher’s pet. As a result, tonight fight fans enjoyed a new and improved Chris Algieri.
For twelve rounds Algieri looked to “dishearten,” as Amir Khan mentioned in the post-fight presser, the Bolton, England two time world champion. After the fight, Khan also admitted that he and his camp did not expected such a come-forward Algieri, although his trainer Virgil Hunter mentioned that he warned Khan to be wary of Algieri, as Hunter noticed the focus in Algieri leading up to the fight.
More than likely Hunter had ridden Khan all during his 13-week camp with such a warning, and for which Khan divulged that if he hadn’t prepared so well, the Chris Algieri who fought tonight would have given him a beating (his words, not mine).
And still Khan suffered a beating in another sense—to his reputation. In being taken to task by Chris Algieri, Amir Khan will have a hard time convincing the world he is a worthy opponent for Floyd Mayweather, Jr. But perhaps this will work to Khan’s favor, as my colleague Anthony Rivera suggested. Very rarely do we see Floyd choose to get in the ring with a fighter at the height of his power. And after his performance against Chris Algieri, Khan certainly looked less than full strength.
– Ryan Agius / @RyanJAgius
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