Vintage Pacman overwhelms foe

Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao showed flashes of his former self, with his explosive fists and old fury, chasing American challenger Chris Algieri all day that led to six knockdowns and a shut-out unanimous decision at the Cotai Arena here yesterday. But the eight-time world champion missed scoring a knockout that could have sealed the showdown that the world has hungered for all these years: A fight for the ages and the greatest. “I want that fight. The public deserves that fight. It’s time to step up and say yes,” Pacquiao said, alluding to the mega-fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The unbeaten American fighter was like a pesky presence in the Filipino champ’s mind and talks of the duel dominated the pre-fight hype, and Pacquiao needed Algieri to send the message across. In fact, he sent the tall American six times to the canvas, unwittingly showing various forms of a knockdown, going down in a corner, somersaulting from the impact of a hard right, dropping sideways by the ropes and absorbing a torrid left to the neck, among others.

The first knockdown, which looked more like a slip, came in the second round. But the succeeding ones, twice each in the sixth and ninth and once more in the 10th, were legit. Algieri tumbled backwards to his corner in the ninth when, on the retreat, he took a left straight from Pacquiao. In the 10th, another combination sent Algieri down for the last time. Pacquiao obviously went for the knockout, which he hasn’t provided his fans for a long time now, chasing the 5-foot-10 Algieri around the ring all night. But Algieri showed more of foot speed than footwork inside the ring and was hard to catch. He refused to engage. Each time he did, he ended up on the floor.

The three judges had it 119-103, 119-103, 120-102 for Pacquiao, who retained his WBO welterweight title. It was the third straight victory for the former pound-for-pound champion from Sarangani in Mindanao following two straight losses in 2012.

Algieri took his first defeat in 21 fights.