Former Jr Welterweight belt holder Chris Algieri (20-2, 8KOs) not too long ago was just an unknown fighter from Huntington, New York where most of his fights were held at the Paramount Theatre. It’s been a crazy past 22 months for Chris since his last fight at the Paramount. He first got the opportunity of a lifetime last June as the main event headliner at the Barclay’s Center challenging then WBO Jr. Welterweight titleholder Ruslan Provonikov and overcoming two knockdowns to squeeze out a split decision. The eye-opening performance against Provo earned him an even greater opportunity, a crack at superstar Manny Pacquiao. Though Algieri laid an egg against Pacquiao, regardless of his performance the fighter from Huntington had made it.
Algieri knows he’s been very fortunate over the past year but feels there’s still much more to accomplish.
“My potential has not been reached yet, I still have a lot more to do,” Chris Algieri told Boxingvoice’s Nestor Gibbs in an interview published on TBV’s Youtube Channel. “I’ve been very fortunate but a lot of that fortune comes from the opportunities that have been presented to me that I’ve taken. A lot guys pass over on opportunities and miss out on certain things. I’ve been the kind of guy that doesn’t want to miss out on any opportunity out there.”
Algieri is definitely not the type of fighter to turn down big fights and his most recent outing he took an opportunity against another name fighter in British star Amir Khan this past May. Though Algieri would drop a unanimous decision, he gave a great account of himself giving Khan a life and death struggle finally earning some respect from the boxing world.
The Khan fight was Algieri’s first under trainer John David Jackson and the new union seemed to bring out a better version and a more aggressive Chris Algieri and hinted that more aggression could be seen in future fights.
“It’s always going to depend on the opponent, John and I come at a fight and we approach it in a way that each fight is different,” said Algieri. “That aggressive style is in my nature, I got to show that in the Amir Khan fight and I think moving forward that’s something we’re going to see a lot more of.”
After a tough schedule of opponents, Algieri will finally get a sort of soft touch based on his recent opposition when he returns to the Barclay’s Center on Saturday night. But his next opponent is a tough fighter from Ecuador named Erick Bone (16-2, 8KOs) who gave top welterweight contender Shawn Porter a tough fight before being stopped in five rounds in his last outing.
Algieri however, sees Bone as a very dangerous opponent and feels once you reach this level there are no easy fights.
“He’s a really tough guy, he’s a scrappy guy and he’s in a place in that I was in a few years ago. This is the fight of his life, so I’m sure he’s going to be well prepared. There are no easy fights out there, especially at this level, so I gotta be prepared 100 percent,” stated Algieri.
A win on Saturday night will mean even more big opportunities for Algieri to take and what’s interesting is that Chris has no allegiance to any network and perhaps could see him back on HBO or another PBC card in the future, but will have to win on Saturday night to keep this good fortune going.
“I’m happy where I’m at now, but you never know you could see me on different networks,” said Algieri. “I’ve had to the opportunity to fight on so many different networks and I’d like to keep that going.”
