Pacquiao planning on beatdown

This is not the fight Manny Pacquiao wants.

If it were up to Pacquiao, he would be fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. tonight (early Sunday in Macau) in a mega-million dollar fight that would have the sports world abuzz.

Instead, Pacquiao is facing Chris Algieri, who won his first world title in June and doesn’t figure to pose a serious problem to Pacquiao, the World Boxing Organization welterweight champ.

Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 knockouts) is a 9-1 favorite to beat Algieri at the Venetian’s Cotai Arena in Macau in a fight that will be televised by HBO Pay Per View. He has said all the right things about Algieri, the WBO’s junior welterweight champ who is 20-0 with eight knockouts.

But would Pacquiao have played basketball while preparing to fight Mayweather? Would he talk more about a potential opponent than about his opponent if he were fighting Mayweather?

Of course not.

But Pacquiao did both and also filmed a commercial for Foot Locker that mocked Mayweather. So it’s clear he’s not too concerned about Algieri, a 30-year-old who, most boxing experts say, must fight a perfect fight and also get lucky to beat Pacquiao.

“I do have one specific goal, and that is to give the boxing fans the fight they have always asked for,” Pacquiao said in addressing Mayweather. “I want that fight, too. I believe good-faith negotiations could produce that fight. But it is impossible to negotiate when you are the only one sitting at the table. Two fighters who want to fight each other have never been kept from fighting each other.”

Even Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s longtime trainer, has talked about Mayweather this week in China, basically calling out Mayweather to fight Pacquiao.

“I’m going to have to tell Manny don’t beat Algieri up too bad because Mayweather will run even more,” Roach told reporters in Macau on Friday. “He’s scared of us now, and he’s going to be even more scared of us after we destroy this guy.”

Roach is confident tonight’s fight won’t go the distance and that Pacquiao will score his first knockout in five years. Pacquiao last knocked out an opponent in 2009, stopping Miguel Cotto in the 12th round.

“Maybe three rounds at most,” Roach said.

The bout is for Pacquiao’s title and will be fought at a catch-weight of 144 pounds at his insistence.

“The reason we are fighting this fight at 144 pounds is because I wanted to see how I performed at a lower weight,” the 35-year-old said. “If I do well, I could easily fight at 140 for my next fight. One hundred forty is the weight I walk around at when I’m not training for a fight. So that is no issue, and even 135 would be easy for me to make.

“The real question is how do I feel and how do I perform when I return to those lower weights? I could be faster than when I fought at welterweight and super welterweight, and if my power remains the same, I may be able to score more knockouts at lower weights. I weighed 138 when I knocked out Ricky Hatton, 142 when I stopped Oscar De La Hoya and 144 when I scored a TKO of Miguel Cotto. Many people consider those fights some of my best, so why not go back down if that is where the bigger and better fights are going to be fought?”

So while Pacquiao has Mayweather on his wish list, the reality is he’s fighting a younger, hungry boxer who is embracing his newfound celebrity within boxing and entering the ring with no fear of losing.

“Chris Algieri poses many puzzles for me to solve,” Pacquiao said. “In terms of his height and reach, only Antonio Margarito surpasses him in the scope of opponents I have faced. Algieri is also the most scientific, fluid and fittest fighter I have ever opposed.”

Pacquiao said he did not overlook Algieri in his preparation, playing basketball and shooting commercials aside.

“My success begins and ends in training camp,” he said. “You win a fight by winning each round, and it is the same in training camp. I give my all each and every day and focus on being the best I can be physically, mentally and spiritually. That is how I am preparing to fight Chris Algieri. I am sacrificing everything to defeat him and produce not just a convincing victory but my most impressive performance.”

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.