MACAU (AP) – Manny Pacquiao couldn’t resist having a little fun after getting the signature win he desperately needed for the fight boxing fans desperately want to see.
No reason not to enjoy himself after sending Chris Algieri to the canvas six times yesterday night in a performance that will once again heat up talk of a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“He’s going to fight me? Yes! Yes!” Pacquiao said, jumping up and down in the ring after tearing apart a reluctant Algieri on his way to a lopsided decision win. “I am ready to fight him next year.”
Pacquiao was playing off a new commercial where he celebrates after thinking Mayweather has agreed to the match. But he might have boosted his stock enough to entice Mayweather into the ring finally.
“I really want that fight,” Pacquiao said. “The fans deserve that fight.”
Pacquiao got the big knockdowns he was looking for, battering Algieri around the ring at will yesterday in a lopsided welterweight title fight.
Pacquiao chased Algieri from the opening bell, knocking him down repeatedly and dominating. About the only thing Pacquiao didn’t get was his first knockout in five years, settling instead for a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision against an opponent who seemed unwilling to engage.
By the time it was over, Algieri had gone down six times. And Pacquiao had dispelled notions he might be on the decline.
“It’s not just his hand speed,” Algieri said. “He’s a great fighter. He does everything well. Manny has perfected his style of boxing.”
Pacquiao prayed in his corner while waiting for the decision. But it was Algieri who never had a prayer.
Pacquiao knocked Algieri down once in the second round, two more times in the sixth and twice more in the ninth. After a final knockdown in the tenth round, he seemed to back off in a fight that had long been decided.
Two ringside judges scored the bout 119-103 while the third had it 120-102. The Associated Press had Pacquiao winning 120-102.
