MANILA – Perhaps learning an important lesson from his devastating sixth-round knockout loss against Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez, world champion Manny Pacquiao is not taking for granted any of his opponents inside the ring.
Pacquiao said part of his preparations against undefeated Chris Algieri in their Nov. 22 fight in Macau, China is the review of all the previous fights of the taller Algieri.
“We studied carefully his previous fights. We don’t want to be complacent so that we will not be caught with lucky punch. You have seen how I prepared well for this fight,” Pacquiao told a media interview as quoted by www.philboxing.com.
Pacquiao said he felt more confident compared with his previous fights because “God is with me.”
“I’m more confident now compared with my previous fights,” Pacquiao said, expecting the fight would not go the distance.
He asked his countrymen to pray for his victory and safety during the fight.
Pacquiao (56-5-2, with 38 KOs) will be defending the World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title he regained from erstwhile undefeated American fighter Timothy Bradley last April 12 in Las Vegas.
Bradley (31-1) took the WBO belt from Pacquiao on June 9, 2012 via a split decision victory.
As Pacquiao steps in the ring for the 64th time on Saturday night, he will be facing yet another undefeated fighter who upset Pacquiao’s former sparring partner and friend Ruslan Provonikov last June 14.
The 30-year-old Algieri sports an unblemished 28-0 ring record, but with only eight stoppages.